In 1986, David V. DeVault left his Providence accounting job to work at a small, publicly traded bank in Westerly. Within a year of joining the company, he was named chief financial officer. Friends asked why he would go there. They warned he would be bored.
Twenty-five years later, Devault still works for that bank in Westerly, only it’s not so small anymore. The Washington Trust Co. is now the largest independent bank with its headquarters in Rhode Island.
When he started at Washington Trust, it was one of a dozen similarly sized banks in Rhode Island. Today, most of the small banks are gone – as are most of the big banks – like Fleet, Old Stone and Hospital Trust.
That quarter century ago, Washington Trust had four branches in Rhode Island. Today it has 18 branches, with a 19th opening soon in western Cranston, to go along with four wealth-management offices, four residential-mortgage offices and three commercial lending offices, operating in three states.
In 1986, Washington Trust had fewer than 200 employees. Today it has nearly 600.
And when he began his career there, Washington Trust held $296 million in assets. Today Washington Trust, which trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol WASH, has $3.1 billion in assets – meaning the bank has grown by a factor of 10 during Devault’s time as CFO.
“If you had told me 25 years ago that we’d be a $3 billion bank, well that would have been a stretch. But the bones of the bank were very solid then, and you could see it had a lot of capacity for growth,” Devault said.
And grow it has. In the past two years alone, Washington Trust revenue grew 16 percent (2010) and 10 percent (2011), while net income grew a whopping 50 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
Washington Trust has done more than survive consolidation; it’s been an active player. The bank has acquired four financial institutions during Devault’s tenure, the most recent a 2005 acquisition of Weston Financial Group. There have been growing pains along the way, but Devault says it’s all part of the plan.
“Washington Trust has always had a well-thought-out, longer-term strategic plan and annual budgeting processes, where all issues are surfaced. Doing that well is the key to having plenty of time to figure out what needs to be done and how to pay for it,” said Duvault. “You really have to institutionalize the planning process, and I think that is something we have done very well here.”
Devault said one of his department’s most vital functions is to provide all business-line managers and operating-department managers with the right tools for financial planning.
He also knows the right tools are not enough. The financial team must understand the business intimately. “It’s very easy to sit at your desk and crunch numbers all day, but it’s important to get out and understand the business,” Devault said. “I want to see my staff grow and succeed, and to do that, they need to get out there.”
Devault’s boss sees that attitude as a strength.
“David is an absolute, consummate professional,” said Washington Trust Chairman, CEO and President Joseph J. MarcAurele. “He really has made it his business to understand absolutely everything that goes on in the company. He’s a complete wealth of knowledge of what is happening in this company and within all of the business lines.”
“One of my principles over the years has been to maintain appropriately conservative financial reporting … and that has served us well over time,” Devault said. “There are sometimes more than one way to account for things, and if you’re choosing the most aggressive method, that’s ultimately not sustainable. We are not overly conservative, but we’re appropriately conservative.”
MarcAurele praises Devault for his corporate performance. “I would say the board looks to him as much as they look to me,” he said.
Devault offers advice to anyone entering the world of finance with aspirations of becoming a CFO: never stop learning.
He suggests that finance professionals attend conferences and lectures, take classes and soak up knowledge from a firm’s professional advisers, such as attorneys and accountants.
“I try to learn something new every day, and I think I have learned something new every day,” Devault said.
To be CFO of a public company, especially in the age of Sarbanes-Oxley governance laws, requires a unique mix of skills.
“You need equal parts accounting, finance and business law,” said Devault. “You can never have enough tools.”
MarcAurele has a clear image of a good CFO, and he believes he works with one of the best. “It’s a combination of – first and foremost – integrity, which David has an abundance of, in addition to technical expertise and management ability. Normally you get two of the three; you rarely get all three. I think what distinguishes David is that he’s the total package.” •
