Fleet Bank’s top Rhode Island executive, Neil D. Steinberg, is leaving to become vice president for development at Brown University, his alma mater, starting Aug. 23.
Steinberg, who has served as chairman and CEO of Fleet Bank–Rhode Island since last September and had been Rhode Island president for two years before that, is the third prominent Rhode Islander to leave since Bank of America announced it was taking over FleetBoston Financial Corp. last fall.
Anne Szostak, Steinberg’s predecessor as chairman and CEO and a corporate executive vice president, announced her retirement last December and left quietly in the spring. And former FleetBoston president Eugene McQuade, an East Greenwich resident, stepped down in May.
Bank of America spokesman George Owen said the Charlotte, N.C., company has not yet chosen replacements for Steinberg or Szostak. Asked whether the executives might come from out of state, he said it would be “purely speculative” to say.
“We try to get the best person for the job,” Owen said. “It may be a former Fleet person, and it may be a Bank of America person. We have to take a look at who we have in the market first, and go from there.”
Owen tried to deflect any suggestion that local executives might be fleeing the company. Steinberg, Szostak and McQuade all left because it was the right thing in their lives at that point, he noted. For Steinberg in particular, he said, going to lead Brown’s fund-raising efforts “is clearly an incredible opportunity for him.”
In a conference call with Owen, Steinberg himself sounded similar themes.
“The upshot is, I am going from one world-class institution to another,” said the Pawtucket resident. “This opportunity came to me. I have very close ties with Brown, and there’s a tremendously exciting effort being led there by Brown President Ruth Simmons.”
“It’s really, in my mind, a question of going to somewhere rather than from somewhere,” Steinberg added. “I wasn’t looking to leave Bank of America. My roots are deep here. … It’s kind of an opportunity to kind of spread my wings and try a new challenge.”
Asked whether Fleet’s Rhode Island presence and community involvement would be diminished by the departure of three key figures, Steinberg said the bank has “very capable, well-trained, veteran people here who will pick up the ball and go on.”
Steinberg said when he took the helm at Fleet Bank–Rhode Island, he wasn’t well known, but “with the title comes the involvement,” and his successor will soon become a familiar face as well. And the bank will “absolutely” continue its community involvement under Bank of America, he said, because Bank of America has “the same template” for engaging with the community.
“The support is there, the commitment is there. I think you will see that going down the road. It’s just a matter of time.”
As Brown’s chief development officer, Steinberg will be responsible for the planning, managing and operating of all fund-raising programs, including the annual fund, planned giving and major gifts. He will also direct Brown’s next comprehensive campaign, to support Simmons’ ambitious Plan for Academic Enrichment.
“During nearly three decades since he graduated from Brown, Neil Steinberg has built a career based on creativity, solid accomplishment, executive vision and extraordinary energy,” Simmons said in a news release. “His professional experience with large, complex enterprises and his hands-on approach to government, community and university service will add great strength to our fund-raising effort at Brown.”
Steinberg graduated from Brown in 1975 and began his career as an assistant branch manager at Fleet – Industrial National Bank at the time. He rose to vice president and manager of the New York Loan Production Office in 1981.
In 1990, after six years as a partner in a Rhode Island-based investment banking firm, Steinberg returned to Fleet as senior vice president. He was promoted to executive vice president in 1996, leading Fleet’s successful acquisition of Summit Bank.
Along with his position at Fleet, Steinberg is chair-elect of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and serves as a director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, the Providence Foundation and the Urban League of Rhode Island, among many other professional affiliations. He is co-chair of the comprehensive campaign for the Providence Black Repertory Theatre and a member of the Brown University Civic Leadership Council. He was a member of the transition teams for Gov. Don Carcieri and Mayor David Cicilline.
