Today’s female bank executives say the next generation of women following in their footsteps appear to face a smoother path than they did. iStock illustration

Four women have become heads of local banks and credit union so far this year, and female executives say that they have more opportunities than before.

Former M&T Bank Eastern Massachusetts President Grace Lee was recently named the CEO of St. Mary’s Credit Union while Danielle Milner became the first female president and CEO in Boston Firefighters Credit Union’s history. And Raichelle Kallery assumed the post of president and CEO of The Savings Bank while MutualOne Bank named Kristin Carvalho its new CEO.

While only 22 of the state’s 128 banks have women CEOs right now, according to trade group Mass Bankers, that’s an improvement on the national average.

The American Bankers Association reported last year that while more than 50 percent of all U.S. bank employees are women, only 7.5 percent of banks are led by a woman CEO.

“I feel like it has certainly moved in the right direction,” Cambridge Savings Bank Head of Consumer and Small Business Banking Angela Conti said of the growth in female leadership in banking over the last 20 years. “I’d say we’re not at the end-state goal yet. I feel like there’s still more work to be done.”

What Helped Today’s Execs

Massachusetts Bankers Association President and CEO Kathleen Murphy said that the state has been ahead of the curve in terms of recognizing leaders for their talent and not being focused on their gender or other descriptors.

“In Massachusetts, I’d say the aperture of the lens has been much broader in terms of recognizing leaders regardless of gender and I think that’s why we see a number of banks that have over time been led by women here in Massachusetts,” she said. “We had our 100th anniversary in 2005 and there were a number of banks that were led by women at that particular time. If you look nationally, we were ahead of our time. But that’s because women are given opportunities to grow and to develop within the bank as they move and seek certain goals in terms of their positions.”

Thurlow credited her mentor, Donald Hicks, former Reading Cooperative Bank president and CEO for her ability to one day become a bank CEO.

At first, Conti said, bank leaders often told her to become more outspoken or adopt a tone that felt unnatural to her as a self-described soft-spoken introvert.

“I remember when I started out, I would get coaching feedback that tended to push me towards assimilating with the norm,” she said. “Comments like, ‘You’re just not assertive or aggressive enough. You need to speak up more and make sure that you demonstrate that your voice needs to be heard.’ I tried and did not do all that well.”

Once Conti found her own voice – and was encouraged to lead in her own way – she felt like she was able to truly flourish in her career.

“I found that I was able to connect with leaders who are willing to take that chance on me,” she said. “That difference, not fitting the mold but creating your own voice and demonstrating your effectiveness, I think really has set me up for success. That’s through both hard work and diligence and perseverance, but also through great mentors and sponsors throughout my career, who I really can’t thank enough for seeing something in me, taking that risk, giving me that latitude to be able to try a different path and to demonstrate that there could be even bigger impact from allowing me to be me.”

Prospects for the Next Generation

For the next generation of female bankers and women bank leaders, the opportunities for growth are much brighter, both Conti and Thurlow said, in part thanks to the leadership diversity that already exists in Massachusetts’ financial institutions.

“When you have more women that are CEOs, then I think it’s only natural that you will see more representation in senior leadership roles in organizations,” Thurlow said. “Whether it’s any form of diversity, when people see someone that looks like them or has the same experiences as them, able to do something it actually can empower people and give people permission to go for that shot”

The next generation will be stepping into a much better corporate climate, Conti said.

“It’s actually been quite tremendous the amount of progress that’s been made thus far,” she said. “What I see in the future is that that momentum will continue. The future of banking is very bright, in my opinion. I feel like women today find their voice sooner and they can learn from those of us that might have attempted to relate and might have learned along the way.”

Sam Lattof

Mass Bankers’ Murphy said the trade group tries to support women bankers with conferences for young professionals, like the group’s Emerging Leaders conference held last week. They allow women with an eye on the C-suite to connect and network with current bank CEOs while also learning valuable knowledge that can help them grow as professionals.

“The leaders that are on this panel with me just talked about the importance of continuing to learn, and not to expect that others are going to see your interest in continuing to grow,” Murphy said. “Also, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. It’s always having that willingness to network and being sort of open about getting perspectives from others.”

But Massachusetts still has miles to go before it approaches gender parity at the senior executive level. Conti urged all bankers to see it as their job to lift up female bank employees and future leaders.

“It’s not really the job of women to make sure women advance,” she said. “I’d say some of my biggest sponsors have been men who have seen something in me and have helped me to progress in my career. So I feel like with that mindset where folks recognize that if you bring different perspectives into the room, you’re going to get a better outcome, I see this only continuing to progress. I think the next generation is going to do tremendous things, and I’m very excited about it.”