Donna L. Abelli last week became chairwoman of the board of Independent Bank Corp., and its subsidiary Rockland Trust Co., and is the first woman in the bank’s history to hold that position.
While Abelli may be breaking new ground at Rockland, it’s not necessarily new ground for her. The Bentley College graduate and North Easton resident was also the first woman president of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs.
Abelli, a CPA, has been a member of the Independent/Rockland board of directors since 2005 and a member of its audit committee since 2009. She was elected to the chairwomanship by unanimous vote, and succeeds Chairman Thomas J. Teuten, who retired from the board at age 72, the board’s mandatory retirement age for directors.
Abelli, 54, told Banker & Tradesman her time on the board has been “the fastest seven years of my life. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I joined the board.”
That’s partially because she enjoys serving with “a fantastic group of people,” she said, and also because the pace of change in the industry has been quick during her tenure.
Ready For Regulations
She told Banker & Tradesman that her experience as an accountant, which includes advising publicly traded companies, prepared her well for the onslaught of regulations banks have been preparing for and reacting to in recent months.
“It’s always been a regulatory environment,” Abelli said. “And that’s good, but when you spend a substantial portion of your meetings on regulations or compliance, that’s time you’re not spending on the operations of the bank.”
Abelli said the board is very good at getting necessary information and materials before its monthly meetings, which makes it easier to discuss issues productively.
“I always encourage discussion,” she commented. “We have a talented management team, and we want to bring that out. I love to encourage debate and get conversations going.”
Christopher Oddleifson, president and CEO of Independent Bank Corp. and Rockland Trust, said the fact that Abelli is a woman didn’t really factor in the election equation.
“It was noted, but I wouldn’t say it was a huge, noteworthy event. It’s an interesting footnote that she’s a woman, but really we have a lot of confidence in her leadership ability. Any member of the board could be elected chairman, but she was unanimously elected. She has a detailed understanding and a clarity of thought that is a very attractive quality,” Oddleifson told Banker & Tradesman.
“The level of scrutiny and the level of management, accounting and compliance, it requires a heightened sharpness and engagement at the board level,” Oddleifson continued. “It’s an environmental change rather than a difference in accounting rules, but it has gotten a lot more complex, and regulators expect, and are vocal about, the need for directors to be more involved.”
The fact that she’s the first woman to chair the Independent/Rockland board isn’t lost on Abelli.
“I love being the first woman chairman,” she said. “I had the opportunity at the Massachusetts Society of CPAs of being the first woman chairman. I’m happy to be the first, and to say that I’m not going to be the last.”
