Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 10, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 15 W W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P F O C U S Member FDIC Located in Worcester County. Supporting Worcester County. For more information, contact: Bob Paulsen Commercial Banking Center Manager 100 Front Street | Worcester, MA 01608 Cell: 508.254.8582 Robert.Paulsen@RocklandTrust.com Commercial Banking & Lending Treasury Management Services Investment Management Solutions* * Not Insured by FDIC or Any Other Government Agency. Not Rockland Trust Guaranteed. Not Rockland Trust Deposits or Obligations. May Lose Value. chusetts," said Carvalho. "You can prob- ably name the women that run financial institutions nationwide. Should you be able to do that? No." While female representation among banking executives is sobering, the number of women in the banking leadership is growing, especially within Central Massachusetts, Carvalho said. In 2024, the number of women leading the region's largest banks doubled from three to six. "We serve as a reminder that financial wherewithal is not restricted to a certain group of individuals or a certain gender," said Neshe. e state is home to a number of women who have played integral roles in growing their banks to the leaders they are today. Gilda Nogueira, former president and CEO of East Cambridge Savings Bank, led the institution for 11 years, retiring in 2023 aer having grown the bank's assets to $1.6 billion, according to a March 2023 press release. Dorothy Savarese, former CEO of Hyannis-based Cape Cod 5, led the insti- tution from 2005 to her retirement from the role in 2022, according to a February 2022 press release from the bank. Under her leadership, Cape Cod 5 more than tripled its assets from $1.4 billion to $4.6 billion, growing its employees from 295 to 550 and its number of locations from 16 to 26. Cape Cod 5 in 2024 merged its holding company with Fidelity Bank of Leominster. "ose women were there, just that much earlier than we are here, where they really did forge a path for those of us who are sitting in these roles today," said Neshe. Notably, both Nogueira and Savarese's Central Mass. bank's female CEOs The number of Central Mass. largest banks led by women starkly increased in 2024. Total banks Number of Highest ranked* Year ranked by WBJ women leaders woman-led bank 2015 46 4 #24 2016 44 4 #24 2017 45 4 #24 2018 40 4 #22 2019 39 2 #29 2020 35 3 #19 2021 35 3 #19 2022 30 1 #19 2023 32 2 #19 2024 32 6 #3 *ranked by local deposits SourceS: WBJ's Book of Lists and individual websites Kristin Carvalho, president and CEO of MutualOne Bank in Framingham Dana Neshe, chair, president, and CEO of Middlesex Savings Bank in Natick positions were filled by men upon their retirements. The female factor "ere's enough of us where we have a cohort, and I think that that's really important for folks to see if they're interested in rising to senior leadership," said Neshe. Promoting women to executive bank- ing positions has a positive impact on everyone, all three leaders said. Women excel in collaborative man- agement, which includes listening and including multiple people in the decision making processes. at trait is under- valued, particularly in financial services, Carvalho said. e banking landscape of the U.S. is changing rapidly. From shiing regula- tions to the impact of cryptocurrency, it is arguably now more important than ever to bring together diverse perspec- tives in order to stay competitive. Women "just bring varied experienc- es, and I think that that's beneficial. And I've seen it be more impactful, frankly, than just all men sitting around the table deciding what's going on," said McGov- ern. e corporate world was unforgiving to McGovern in her career as it related to her children. With her daily train com- mute to Boston and her husband work- ing on a construction site, she was oen the one responsible for getting home if anything happened with her kids. "ere was not a lot of empathy, frankly, in my career, and I bring that to my job every day, because I lived it," said McGovern. Women tend to bring that empathy to leadership, whether they are mothers or not, said McGovern. For Neshe, she sees women excelling at team building as they tend to be rela- tionship-focused. A 2019 study published by the Harvard Business Review analyzing thousands of employee reviews found women outscored men on 17 out of 19 key leadership capacities including in collaboration and teamwork; solving problems; and building relationships. Women surpassed men the most in terms of taking initiative, resilience, and practicing self-development. ese qualities are arguably even more important to have once an employee enters the C-suite, Neshe said. "Making sure that your team feels safe, feels empowered, allows them to do their best work, and that's ultimately what you're hoping to achieve," said Neshe.

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