Steven Parente has set his sights high. Over the years, Parente has gone from training employees in retail banking to setting retail strategy for a $1.6 billion bank as the senior vice president and director of retail banking at Bank Rhode Island.
“I am proud of what I have accomplished so far, and someday I hope to have the opportunity to run a financial institution,” Parente said.
His ambition should come as no surprise when you look at how far he’s come.
A Rhode Island College graduate with a psychology degree, Parente first entered the financial-services sector in 1994, helping MetLife develop training and customer service standards. That’s where he met his mentor, Frank Duchala, who taught Parente his “PIT” method. “Allow your team to Participate, keep them Informed, and show that you Trust them,” Parente explained. “I use it every single day.”
Pawtucket Credit Union hired him in 1999 as director of employee and sales development. He used the opportunity to build his understanding of bank products and services, coaching and motivating.
By 2001, Citizens Bank had hired Parente to run its East Lyme, Conn., branch. In two years, the branch doubled its deposits to $69 million. As he put it, “nearly doubling the size of a branch will get you noticed.”
Eventually, Citizens promoted him to regional manager, overseeing 16 branches, 125 employees and more than $1 billion in deposits. Successes led him to manage an even bigger region in Rhode Island.
Still, there was something missing. “I wanted to set the retail strategy for the bank and manage retail’s priorities,” he said. “In 2009, I got my wish.”
That’s when Bank Rhode Island – the state’s second-largest independent bank by deposits – hired him as director of retail banking. In 18 months, he has revamped retail management and delivery strategy at the bank. “They were willing to give me responsibility for all of their branches, plus more,” Parente said. •
