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Jon Bernstein
Regional President, PNC
Age: 52
Industry experience: 27 years
After 25 years working in investment banking, Jon Bernstein decided two years ago that he wanted to stop the travel taking him away from Boston for much of the year. After mentioning his decision to one of his clients, PNC Bank, Bernstein learned that the Pittsburgh-based bank was hiring for a planned expansion in Boston. PNC already had a longtime corporate and institutional banking presence in the city, and the expansion includes new regional headquarters, growth in multiple lines of business and PNC’s first local branches – known in-house as “solution centers” – in Chestnut Hill and Burlington.
The bank has also expanded its philanthropy in the region, including through a partnership with 98.5 The Sports Hub to support early childhood education and funding for a GBH initiative to provide learning activities for children during the pandemic.
Q: How did you get into banking?
A: I graduated from college, and my one desire was to make the U.S. Olympic rowing team. I was on the U.S. national team for a couple years and blew my back out and missed the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. I went to Cambridge to row in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and get a master’s degree – and was dead broke. My parents looked at me and said, “You graduated from college, have a second degree and you have no job. It’s time for you to get to work.”
I went to visit my wife in New York City – my girlfriend at the time – and saw my friends, and they were hiring on Wall Street. In 1994, I got a job as an investment banker. I ended up covering the commercial banking sector, and at the time I thought it was awful. I grew up in Michigan, and I wanted to cover the automobile industry. I thought that was the coolest sector in the world. Then I learned that I loved the way that banks can interact with so many different elements of the U.S. economy and that banks are an incredibly efficient way to distribute capital and help create the growth of communities and businesses.
Q: How has PNC’s branch expansion been going so far?
A: We hired over 50 people, and it’s a local focus. We need people who know the town, know the community and understand the intricate dynamics of our city and communities. We’ve managed to find opportunities to grow and to partner with some great clients here in town, and the solution centers are just a natural extension of the investment that PNC has been making in Boston for a long time. What we’ve seen be successful across multiple channels is a combination of a really robust and dynamic full suite of technology and internet-capable solutions coupled with an in-person environment where people can go and tangibly get help in a manner they’re comfortable with.
Q: Has the pandemic altered any plans for your branches?
A: The pandemic has not altered the investment decisions that we’re making in the community or the investment decisions we’re making to grow our business here. We continue to hire; we continue to build; we’re continuing to expand. We’re looking to open more solution centers next year. This is a long-term investment to grow, and we already have 150 employees in Massachusetts.
Q: What will PNC bring to the Greater Boston market?
A: I think there’s three strengths. We’re the seventh–largest bank in the country, with this full suite of commercial banking products and software and services and technology and solutions. Some of the products are really outstanding and can provide a competitive alternative to existing payment systems, [the] technology solutions to help businesses operate. In the health care sector, our payment portals and our blockchain management are really competitive. Another piece of it is the partnerships with certain industries in the community. We talked about health care, and across the country we have great partnerships that we’ve formed with universities in our university banking product. That’s going to take some time to build those out and roll those out, but they form strong partnerships there.
Then the third piece is how we will invest in the community, which is important both from our philanthropic efforts but also our community development banking. On the philanthropic side, PNC has had a longstanding, 16–year investment in early childhood education. We have a $500 million initiative called Grow Up Great, and we’ve helped over 6 million children have a better start to their education. On the second piece, there’s a community development banking hire we’re trying to make.
We have announced as a bank a $1 billion investment to help fight structural racism, and that will come through in how we can use the balance sheet of a bank to provide capital in the communities. It’s a work in progress for us. I know there’s an urgent need now in many components, and I feel the urgency keenly. But we are trying to be constructively thoughtful to make sure that over the 10 years of this commitment, we can ensure to help and impact the greatest number of lives in a positive way.
Q: How else will PNC introduce its brand in the area?
A: We formed a partnership with NESN for the PNC Bank Digital Studio at NESN, where we will have content promoted and an advertising package with them through both their sports broadcasts as well as a landing page for additional content on their website and a constant outreach on videos that are produced in their really cutting–edge digital studio.
Carrying a brand takes time. I think the other piece to understand is that our culture and our people are very much part of how we identify ourselves. The solution centers have an outbound outreach into the communities. They’re going to join the local chambers of commerce. The members of the team are proactive in reaching out to small businesses to provide financial wellness products and services to them and their communities. We find ways to be constructive to our partners and communities.
Bernstein’s Five Favorite Recreational Activities in Greater Boston
- Walking on Crane Beach
- Rowing on the Charles River
- Hiking in Blue Hills Reservation
- Working on Allandale Farm
- Watching his son play hockey at any rink
