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B U S I N E S S P RO F I L E S 78 B U S I N E S S P R O F I L E S S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N S t o p b y a K e n n e b e c S a v i n g s B a n k b r a n c h this summer — there are four in Kennebec County — and you might be helping a Maine student earn a college degree. You might also be nurturing a new generation of young business people who are urgently needed in the state. One thing's sure. For the students who participate in Kennebec Saving Bank's annual internship program, your deposit, withdrawal or loan payment is more than a routine transaction. "During my internship, I learned many of the skills I still use today — especially 'soft' skills that are essential throughout busi- ness, such as communicating effectively with customers," says Craig Garofalo, who served as a KSB intern for three summers in the early 2000s. A Hallowell native who was then attending Babson College in Massachusetts, Garofalo returned to Maine each May and worked as an Augusta branch teller and in the bank's mailroom. Today, he's KSB's executive vice president and chief operat- ing officer. Garofalo's success story isn't unusual at KSB. In fact, nearly a dozen of the bank's 135 current employees — including also the bank's controller and its assistant treasurer — began their careers as KSB interns. Each summer, the bank hires about 10% of its staff as interns, most from nearby Maine communities. Over 100 students have participated in the internship program since its creation in 1996. e program began when the bank found itself short-handed during popular summer vacation weeks, according to President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Silsby, who had joined as a loan officer three years earlier. "We wanted the bank employees to be able to take full advantage of their vacation time during the summer in Maine," he says, "and coincidently that is when college students need to earn money." (Fun fact: For decades, federal regulators have encouraged banks to require two-week employee vacations as an internal guard against fraud and embezzlement.) But the interns quickly became much more than a staffing fix. "e students bring a unique kind of energy to our team," says Silsby. "ey also bring a fresh perspective that allows us to look at our business and the needs of our customers with a different lens. For a community bank like ours, that understanding is crucial." 'e best investment' e interns' contributions extend far beyond the teller counter. Depending on the interests and abilities of the students, and the needs of the bank, interns can find themselves working in unexpected roles. Zachary Nichols, KSB's digital services manager, began intern- ing as a teller in 2011, after his freshman year at the University of Maine. But he also spent his summers as a customer-service representative and in the KSB mailroom. He then received a special assignment — to coordinate the digital scanning and indexing of 175,000 important financial documents. Supervising three other interns, Nichols and his team completed the project accurately and on time, Silsby recalls, saving "what would have been a lot of expensive outsourcing costs." Nichols relished the chance to sample different functions at the bank. "I learned more as an intern by working in different depart- ments than I could have if I had stuck to one area. I owe it to KSB for letting me explore," he says. "What I learned along the way is important to who I am today. Especially skills like the ability to embrace change, and to communicate the value of change to others." Makenzie Carlow, a omas College junior interning in KSB's Waterville branch, is developing other skills. "rough my intern- ship, I've learned to ask for help when faced with something new, but also to be confident in what I do know," she says. "KSB has helped build my faith in myself and my abilities." In addition to gaining skills like these, KSB interns receive regular pay and may be eligible for class credits back at their college, depending on its policies. Two of the 11 students in the 2018 internship program are receiving credit. It costs KSB around $4,000 to employ an intern, and Silsby calls that amount "the best investment you could possibly make." Besides adding summer help, the internship program acts as a feeder system that identifies and cultivates new talent for con- sideration as permanent hires. Kennebec Savings Bank Some of the students who worked as KSB interns during 2017 are shown here at the Tappan-Viles Mansion, a 202-year-old Augusta house that is now the bank's headquarters. P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F K E N N E B E C S A V I N G S B A N K Building Maine's workforce, communities and more

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