David L’Heureux
Title: Market Manager, Commercial Banking Group,
Age: 49
Experience: 26 years
During our interview, David L’Heureux confesses that he always thought he would work for a small bank, but through a series of coincidences – or rather, a series of mergers and acquisitions – he wound up at the largest bank headquartered in Boston. L’Heureux joined Shawmut Bank in 1987 and stayed with the bank as it was acquired by Fleet and later divested over to Sovereign Bank in 2000. Now the market manager of Santander’s commercial banking group in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, L’Heureux was in a unique position to help smoothe out Santander’s recent name change.
Q: You guys just underwent a pretty significant name change – what were some of the common concerns your clients raised?
A: Well, the good news about that is the lending team I have in our Massachusetts commercial group is very experienced, with over 20 years average experience. Therefore, we have some long-time client relationships and a trusted advisor role with our clients. There’s certainly some apprehension with the name change but when they know that their relationship manager’s not going to change, their accounts aren’t going to change, their account numbers aren’t going to change, it’s kind of reassuring. They understand that as they look to grow, both in the U.S. and globally, they need a partner who has the resources to help them accomplish that. I think they’re positively disposed to that.
Q: How long have you been involved in the rebranding effort?
A: We’ve slowly been working the Santander culture and the Santander brand into our discussions and our interactions with our clients over the last year and a half or so. That’s been key. They understand that what Sovereign brings to the table, which is a local-based bank with local people and local decision-making, still remains. At the same time, you’re supplementing that with more resources, a broader global reach, and stronger capital, so it’s combined both sides of the coin. We don’t want people to think that we’re focused just on global business. We’re a bank that is headquartered in Boston. We’re the largest bank headquartered in Boston, which I think says something. We’re really committed to the area. It’s been that dual role of reassuring local decision making, local involvement, local contribution to expanded capabilities.
Q: Have you seen much of a culture change here with the name change?
A: It’s interesting because Santander operates in 40 different countries and 10 major markets, so the culture is as varied as you’d expect. What it really means is that if we’re looking to help a client do business around the globe, we have full teams in those countries around the globe. We don’t just have a correspondent bank and you can talk to them. We have corporate lending teams, we have merger and acquisition teams, we have foreign exchange teams in Brazil, in Spain, the UK, so it’s really bringing those resources to bear.
The culture is ultimately focused on the customer. Listen to them, simplify how we can help them, and enable them to achieve their goals. The culture is: a bank for ideas. It’s really up to each country to take that tagline and make it work in that culture and that environment, but it’s the same goal in the end: focus on the customer. If the customer succeeds, we’ll succeed, as well.
Top 5 Lessons My Daughter Learned In Elementary School:
- Listening is learning – speak less, and you will learn more.
- Work must be done completely, accurately and in a timely manner.
- Your imagination is the key to solving problems.
- Play nice with others.
- The world is your classroom, and learning never ends.
