Photo courtesy of The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod
Erik Porter
President and CEO, The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod
Industry experience: 25 years
Age: 46
Erik Porter has big shoes to fill when he succeeds The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod President and CEO Lisa Oliver upon her retirement in October. She has been the bank’s top executive since 2017 and is credited with leading a 72 percent increase in the bank’s assets during her tenure. Before joining the cooperative bank, The Coop’s first female CEO had 25 years of strategic leadership roles at KeyBank.
For his part, Porter has also held senior leadership roles at Metro Credit Union, Cape Cod Five, CFGI, Wainwright Bank & Trust and Wolf & Company P.C. He’ll put that to the test as he leads The Coop in a head-to-head contest with a relative giant in Cape Cod Five. While The Coop has more than $1.6 billion in assets and 170 employees, Cape Cod Five has over $5.7 billion in assets and more than 500 employees. Cape Cod Five also expanded its footprint to Central Massachusetts in recent years by merging its mutual holding company with that of Leominster-based Fidelity Bank.
Q: How did the bank craft a succession plan?
A: The process the bank did is they went out to market to evaluate what options they might have in the market. I know there were over 100 applicants that were reviewed. What they’re doing is looking at the long-term view for the organization, making sure that they feel as though that they have the person that’s best suited to accomplish the goals of the organization. So, from that perspective, I’m really excited that they thought that I would be that person. I think, from an internal perspective, I’d like to think that it’s good for our organization to have an internal person: somebody who helped craft the strategic plan, who really understands what our goals are as an organization – from a financial statement standpoint, from a commitment to the community standpoint, what our specific goals are with respect to how we’re going to be the best bank for Cape Cod. It should be more or less a continuation of what we’re doing today.
Q: How do you look to continue to improve upon the work your predecessor has done, but work in your own fashion as a leader?
A: I don’t want to necessarily single myself out, in particular. It’s a collective effort for all of our employees throughout the organization. Our leadership group really has a strong sense of giving back to the community. Many of our employees give back to many different boards throughout our communities that we work in and work for. Then we have our charitable foundation. We’ve given back to the community over $1 million, and we’ll continue to do so. We’re looking for ways in which we can expand upon doing that. Whether it’s working through communities and nonprofit organizations, through our charitable foundation, as well as on the business side of the house, if you will, which is trying to ensure that we’re providing financial support and literacy and the appropriate modern technology to make sure that the service is as best as we can possibly provide for our customers.
Q: How do you look to meet some of your goals and some of what you outlined in that strategic plan?
A: No matter the goals of our strategic plan and the organization, the No. 1 goal is to make sure that we have a really positive corporate environment. Our employees enjoy working here, enjoy what they’re doing, enjoy collaborating. We’re really working towards a succession of goals that are going to meet the needs of the community. We’re really committed to our community, our customers and our employees as an organization. Ultimately, the goal of the organization is try to do our best for those three groups.
From that perspective, we just went through an online banking conversion, and with that, we’re trying to enhance our capabilities to meet our product and service needs of our customers. That will benefit – from an improved technology standpoint – our base. Ultimately, it really does boil down to: What can we do to improve our overall customer service, to make sure that our customers feel like they’re getting the products and services that they need? How we’re doing that best, and how does that translate to supporting the community through business banking, customer banking, customer consumer banking, and how we can accomplish doing so, frankly, better than some of the alternatives that are out there.
Q: How important has it been for The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod to invest in those digital tools?
A: It’s always important, from a modern banking perspective, to make sure that we have the appropriate resources from a technology solution standpoint, but the other piece is really about financial education and being there for our customers. A large part of our customer base is of a demographic that really needs some additional support and care. Not only do they need to understand how best to take care of themselves and support themselves from a financial perspective, but also sometimes they need some help with that technology, which leads to that additional support and care that I think that we can provide better than others. It’s not only just about providing modern banking services, but it’s also providing that extra touch for your customers, and that’s particularly important here.
Q: Customers have lots of options in terms of digital-only banks. How important is it to offer customers face-to-face service, too?
A: I think it’s really important for all community banks to be there for the communities that they work in. But in particular, this [Cape Cod] community is very prideful and loyal and supportive to said community. Many go back generations locally. So, they support small businesses. They support the local team, if you will, and we try to make sure that we do our end of the bargain to support them. I think in this particular region, [the bank] does differentiate itself than some other regions, based on the tie and loyalty that our employee base has to the community, and the community has to itself.
Porter’s Five Favorite Golf Courses He’s Played
- Pebble Beach
- Royal Dornoch Golf Club
- Pinehurst No. 2
- Pacific Dunes
- Old Sandwich
