It’s not difficult to figure out why Mark Orent’s staff nominated him as a Community Bank Hero. His spirit and energy have been interwoven into Cambridge’s Central Square market for the bulk of his 30-year banking career.
He spent 10 years at Cambridgeport Bank. When it was acquired by Citizens Bank, he stayed at Citizens for two years as manager of the Central Square branch to ease customer concerns about its transformation from a small community bank to part of a much larger institution. As time went on, he saw the opportunity to join Leader Bank.
Orent likes to focus on what really matters. Bank staff can’t control the pricing of their products – but they can control the quality of their role in the community. “Do you really understand the market?” Orent asked. “The problem is that when something goes wrong, that’s when people find out what their relationship with their bank is, and that’s not a good time to find out.”
He has definite ideas about establishing standards for customer service, and has promoted the bank’s “Step Ahead” customer care motto. Each retail bank employee is fully versed in customer service. Colleague Sandra McCollin said that Orent also pays close attention to employees’ overall well being as individuals.
“We have become his extended family,” she wrote when nominating Orent.
Orent said smaller institutions are the grease on the skids of local commerce and charity.
“You never see big banks at local business events,” he says. He should know. He is involved with the Central Square Business Association, which seeks to attract business to the square and to aid in the growth of small businesses already there. He is also a Rotarian, and under that banner has participated in various community service activities. These include volunteering for grassroots endeavors of the Salvation Army, serving Thanksgiving dinners to the homeless, delivering thanksgiving turkeys and trimmings to needy families, and ringing the Christmas kettle bell. Through his local Rotary, he is also involved in awarding scholarships to Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School students.
McCollin cited Orent’s belief in people’s ability to change for the better when given a chance, whether they are customers or employees. He has advocated for “customers that most other banks didnt want,” she said – those with financial and personal difficulties. He sometimes had to defend those accounts to his superiors. But through his advocacy, “many of these individuals were able to start life all over again because someone believed in them,” McCollin added.
He is the same way with employees, she says.
“Many of the unsteady youth that he hired in the past have completed college degrees and are now successfully working in a wide variety of professions,” and even those who have moved on to different locations and careers maintain their loyalty to him. Many new customers seek him out as a referral from someone that knew him in the past, she says.
“What makes him most loved by all is that he is a humble man never seeking recognition or applause for anything he has done,” McCollin concluded. “His drive is from a human perspective, not just business as usual.”
