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www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 25, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 9 FOCUS: BANKING & FINANCE www.cocommunications.com When it comes to marketing your organization, choosing the correct path isn't always easy. We'll show you the way. been regional president for northern New England and upstate New York. Glidden said an executive recruiter called him about a job offer, and he listened, preparing to give a polite "thanks but no thanks" when the spiel was over. When he heard it was Liberty Bank, he changed his mind. "It was probably the only call I would have answered in New Eng- land," he said. Moving forward, Glidden said he aims to grow Liberty's small busi- ness loan portfolio and capitalize on the bank's newly acquired pres- ence in Hartford County. "We intend to continue to grow organically in Greater Hartford and in all of our market areas," he said. He's also focused on Liberty's commercial-industrial lending within and outside Connecticut. That includes one of Liberty's longtime niches — timeshare and resort financing, which it has built into an approximately $700-million portfolio in Florida, Colorado, Mas- sachusetts and other states. "It's a very profitable business," Glidden said. Redlining settlement While it was Liberty's strong brand and unique identity that drew the Springfield-born Glidden to Middletown, his arrival came on the heels of a lawsuit that threat- ened to mar Liberty's reputation. The 2018 legal action by the Hart- ford-based Connecticut Fair Housing Center and the National Law Center accused Liberty of violating federal "redlining" laws by allegedly denying loans at higher rates, or not provid- ing adequate mortgage lending-ser- vices to consumers living in African- American or Latino neighborhoods. Under the leadership of retiring CEO Chandler Howard, Liberty settled the suit earlier this year, just before announcing Glidden's hire. It pledged to open a Hartford loan of- fice, host financial literacy seminars and invest an additional $15 million in loans and grants to borrowers and nonprofits in low-income areas. Glidden said Liberty, which has an "outstanding" rating under the Community Reinvestment Act and never admitted wrongdoing, is cur- rently on pace to exceed many of those financial commitments. He said Howard was correct not to drag out costly litigation. "Why don't we not spend millions of dollars on lawyers, and ... instead put those dollars into a pot and accomplish what we both want?" he said. "The end result is a positive for those communities." Liberty Bank's annual net income 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 $0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000 Annual profits (in 000s) Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.