Eastern Bank Corp. has tapped a longtime leader in Boston’s nonprofit sector – a leader instrumental in guiding potentially lucrative development along the South Boston Waterfront and Boston Harbor – to join its board of directors.

Vivien Li, president of The Boston Harbor Association, will officially begin serving on the bank’s board after her tenure on the editorial board of ArchitectureBoston ends later this year.

The mutual bank recently acquired Wainwright Bank, making it a $7.6 billion institution with more than $800 million in loans, according to the bank’s 2010 annual report.

Eastern’s choice of bringing Li into its fold makes sense from a philanthropic view. Wainwright Bank was known as a progressive institution dedicated to supporting social justice issues, and Eastern has said the bank intends to continue that philanthropic activity. Li told Banker & Tradesman she would be active in helping to shape the bank’s charitable outreach efforts.

“Once people realized they acquired Wainwright, a number of requests [for support from nonprofits] came in to [Eastern], and [the bank wants] to be strategic about how they approach giving,” she said. ““It’s important to be focused and also to not only give money, but also to encourage employees to volunteer with nonprofits in their communities.”

But it also makes sense, from a business and strategy perspective, that Eastern would want Li – a noted Boston development gadfly who also chairs MassDevelopment’s Brownfields Advisory Group – on its board.

‘Very Interested’

Li has been instrumental and successful in guiding development, especially pressing developers to include engaging public amenities, in projects along the Harbor and Waterfront.

Eastern is admittedly “very interested in whatever role we can play in development,” along the South Boston Waterfront, President Robert Rivers told Banker & Tradesman. According to one developer that has done commercial business with Eastern, the bank typically makes loans for about $10 million to $20 million.

“In general, they’re interested in making good loans anywhere,” said Tom Alperin, president of National Development. “I don’t think a designated area is influential to their thinking as much as who’s the sponsor, or the fundamentals of the underlying deal. They’re very active in putting out capital. We’ve typically done deals with them from $5 million to $13 million.

Investing in the Seaport or Waterfront has been talked about internally at the bank, though not in a specific way, Rivers said.

“We look for areas where we might play a role … through members of our governance structure and others we know in the markets,” Rivers said. “[Li] is an extension of the marketing efforts we have always done in areas we’re interested in expanding to.”

Li told Banker & Tradesman that there had been no mention to her of branch expansion or lending in the Seaport.

An Important Role

Many bank directors are brought on board exclusively for their depth of business contacts, said Gary Markoff, a senior partner in the corporate and real estate department at Boston law firm Sherin and Lodgen.

Given Li’s current and past involvement with waterfront development in Boston, “clearly she will help the bank set policies that will forward a strategy, if they choose to, to develop business relationships in the Seaport area,” Markoff opined.

And her reputation alone as someone that knows the hurdles placed before developers could have new clients coming to banks for loans. As an independent bank director, she has a very important voice, and with her background, she will command attention, Markoff added.

Generally speaking, a bank director carries serious responsibilities because every board member has a fiduciary duty to the company – meaning they can’t passively sit through meetings, especially since the days of Enron and other major board oversight failures, Markoff said.

“They have to educate themselves on the business of the bank,” Markoff maintained. “They can’t just assume everything management tells them is right.”

Li insisted she would not turn herself into an Eastern Bank yes-man.

“I was very clear that if they wanted somebody that would be a rubber stamp, I was not the right person,” Li said.

State-chartered banks usually pluck board members from their own operating areas, or from industries in which the bank is looking for borrowers, “So it may be that they’re trying to expand into that area,” said Susan Barnard, a corporate lawyer with Sullivan & Worcester.

Directors weigh-in heavily on what markets make sense for lending and the types of commercial lending in which to engage, and much of that comes from the geographic areas people work in.

“The directors have a pretty strong direction over the bank’s strategy over time,” Barnard offered. “Most are representative of … what markets the banks are in and what types of loans they plan to make.”

Still, most directors do not make much of an impact in the first couple years on the job, said George Darling, CEO of Darling Consulting Group, which advises banks on investment management.