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F O C U S H A L L O F F A M E BY LIVIA GERSHON Special to WBJ W hen he was growing up in New Hampshire, Peter Alden's dad was a banker, but he didn't start out wanting to follow in the family business. In college, Alden worked at Boston Logan International Airport, and, although he studied finance, he was more interested in the logistics of moving freight than loans and deposits. en he got a job as a teller at a bank in Nashua, New Hampshire and soon found himself rising through the ranks into branch management and commercial lending. "Lending money became very interesting to me, and studying people's businesses and the variety of businesses you're in contact with," Alden said. "I like the community involvement. I like helping people." So Alden stayed in the New Hampshire banking industry, helping to run community banks, cultivating close relationships with the people and businesses around them. In 2011, he got the opportunity to come south to Bay State Savings Bank in Worcester. While he didn't know Worcester well at the time, his mother grew up in Auburn, and he liked the fact Bay State is a mutual bank, meaning it's responsible only to its depositors, not to shareholders who are watching its quarterly earnings to make sure they're earning a profit. Alden has connected tightly with the Central Massachusetts community, said William Fay II, chair of the Bay State board of directors and vice president of Worcester firm Fay Brothers, Inc., which runs three funeral homes in Central Massachusetts. "He represents what Worcester's all about: looking aer each other," said Fay, whose family business was founded in the city in 1870. When Alden first arrived at Bay State, the bank was intentionally shrinking its operations to improve its financial situation. Alden made a plan to change that, putting it on a path of WBJ Hall of Fame Peter Alden President & CEO Bay State Savings Bank Headquarters: Worcester Other locations: Holden and Auburn His birthplace: Exeter, New Hampshire Residence: West Boylston Mindfulness, in the C-suite: Alden practices daily meditation. Alden nearly doubled the size of Bay State Savings Bank 22 Worcester Business Journal | March 6, 2023 | wbjournal.com PHOTO | MATT WRIGHT