John Merrill went from managing regional powerhouse Sovereign Bank’s business banking division to working at the roughly $500 million, Leominster-based Fidelity Bank, where he has three different titles – president, chief lending officer and “chief financial designer.” It’s a far cry from Sovereign, but Merrill heralds it as a return to his home turf. A Worcester native and proud resident, he’s in charge of promoting Fidelity’s strong customer service, particularly as the bank looks to grow in his own hometown.
John F. Merrill
Title: President, Chief Financial Designer and Chief Lending Officer, Fidelity Bank; Leominster
Age: 52
Experience: 28 years
So why leave Sovereign for Fidelity?
I was looking to make a career change for personal reasons. I was living in Worcester, [but] working in Boston, so [I was] leaving my house at 6 a.m. and getting home at 8:30 every night. It was a great opportunity [at Sovereign] but I knew I wanted to come back to Worcester County and I knew I wanted a leadership position. So I started to look around and say, ‘How can I be home and have a challenging career, and be able to help a community bank grow?’
By happenstance I ended up meeting [Fidelity Bank CEO] Ed Manzi, who was probably the most forward-thinking and visionary person I’ve ever met in banking. … A lot of banks say they’re local and have good service – well, you’d better do that if you want to be successful in a local marketplace. But his approach, and with the help of Jackie Sgro, who is the chief life design officer, between the two of them they were able to [create] a way of dealing with the customer that’s not revolutionary, it’s more common sense. A lot of banks are managed by the numbers, or they manage the bank by loans and deposits, but this is really managing the bank around the customer.
Life Design is a five-step process that we take our customers through, versus trying to sell them a product. And our five-step process is really to take the time to understand the customer, to understand the stage of life that customer is in. We don’t sell products initially, it’s more about understanding their needs, compiling the information you get from the customer or elsewhere, analyzing that and presenting it back to a customer to say, ‘Here are our recommendations, this is what I suggest.’
Yeah, we’ve got to sell loans and deposits and fees for services, but we’re not pushing that. We’d rather have a long-term, stable relationship, and to do that you’ve really got to take the time to understand and do a lot of follow-up with the customer.
And that life-design idea, that’s where your “chief financial designer” title comes in?
I represent more of the customer-facing work, especially on the commercial side. But I want to make sure that our customer-facing employees, and the people that are supporting it, are using the Life Design approach to its fullest.
So between the CEO and the chief life design officer, you’re all trying to implement this?
All of us together are executing and continually improving the Life Design approach, but we’re a small bank so we wear many hats. I’m also the chief lending officer, and from a product standpoint I’m responsible for all our credit products, residential mortgages, consumer home equity loans, real estate, commercial real estate, commercial/industrial loans.…Thirdly I have the title of president. Having the president’s title helps me with our commercial customers as we’re trying to do more with the Worcester market as we grow through central Massachusetts.
Why is Worcester a particular target for growth? Is it, in part, because of consolidations of local banks in the area?
… there is a lot of consolidation. This is a very exciting time to be in banking. When I say that, people go, ‘But oh my God the banks are going through all this turmoil,’ but the reason why it’s an exciting time is, right now, it’s very confusing to be an individual or a company handling their finances. The world has changed so dramatically. And it’s going to continue to change. Right here in central Massachusetts, if you look at the recent consolidation, a lot of customers of those banks are saying, ‘What does this all mean?’ The Life Design approach fills that void.
Merrill’s Top Five Reasons For Trying To Grow In Worcester:
- The new Worcester branch is one of the bank’s fastest-growing locations.
- Worcester is home to a larger population of individuals and businesses.
- “Life Design” idea well-received in Worcester.
- Other local banks have undergone consolidation, including Commonwealth National Bank’s merger with United Bank in Springfield.
- Merrill’s professional and personal ties create opportunity.
