At age 72 and with no prior experience, James Doyle is starting a brand-new career at Taunton-based Bristol County Savings Bank. But as former mayor of Pawtucket, R.I., his 40-year career in public life certainly helped get his foot in the door.

 Doyle first became involved with the bank’s charitable foundation in Pawtucket a decade ago, and found himself with a job offer after he opted not to run for another term. Now working as a business development officer for the bank in Pawtucket – Bristol County Savings’ lone Rhode Island location – he’s putting his skills to work building business for his new boss.

James Doyle
Title: Vice President, business development officer, Bristol County Savings Bank; former mayor, Pawtucket, R.I.
Age: 72
Experience: Six months as a banker, 13 years as mayor

So after you decided not to run for mayor again, how did you find yourself with this job?

I was a little bit surprised. To have a career change at 72 years of age is unusual, and what basically happened was, [a few years] ago, [CEO Dennis Kelly] offered me a position in the bank. And I said to him, “I am going to run for another term,” and I did and I was successful. And when the word came out this time that I was not going to be a candidate, he came up to me and said, “Remember the conversation we had two years ago?” I said yeah, but I didn’t really think this time – I mean, I’ve aged two years, etc., sometimes you start to go a little out of the marketplace, so to speak … So he invited me up to Taunton, and he said ‘I would like to offer you a position as a vice president of the bank,’ and he said – his words to me, ‘I’ve been visibly impressed with you, with your personality, the way you get along with people.’ And the bank itself, at this time, right now, is trying to expand their presence in both Pawtucket – this is our only branch in Rhode Island, right here – and the south coast, which is New Bedford. So they had a program underway and they wanted me to be part of the Pawtucket expansion. … so I was very thankful obviously. I didn’t want to retire. I had no desire. It’s funny how people younger than I am can’t wait to get to 20 years of service. I don’t find that appealing at all.

You probably have a lot of connections useful to the bank.

If you’ve been in the position of mayor for 13 years, you know a lot of people. Obviously, you have to …. And people do recognize and remember me, and that’s something when you’re trying to get in the door. I’m kind of the door-opener for the bank, and I bring the technical experts with me, we have loan officers who work here. So I bring them with me depending on the accounts I call on, and we let them know what the bank has to offer.

You’ve been at Bristol County Savings since January – has there been a learning curve in this new job?

Absolutely…all I know about banking, you could put into your finger right here. It’s not a lot. But what’s happening is, as a former schoolteacher way back, I’m becoming educated in banking, and you pick up these little things. These people here are very, very good. It’s a great organization and it’s being part of a team.

What are you hearing from potential customers?

This day and age, people seem to be swaying away from the bigger banks. I don’t mean all of them, but you usually hit a hot button [with this topc]. … You know sometimes with bigger banks you can’t get decisions made by people at a local level, and some of them, to get a decision, it takes time. Here, you get an answer in a day from people who have the authority, number one, to do it. The second item that people are very disturbed by with some of the bigger associations, is an individual they may have become used to or depend on is gone. They’ll call and say, ‘Joe Jones isn’t here any more.’ You won’t find that with this institution, I find that there’s no turnover rate to speak of here, everybody loves it and wants to stay on. And that means an awful lot.

Is it tough to go from being the mayor, and being in charge, to having a boss again?

No. 1, I’ve never considered myself ego-centric or something such as that. The funny thing is, when I was the major of the city, yeah, technically you’re the boss, but you’re answering to 72,000 people, in a way. And believe me, some of the things that came across the desk, it can make you humble more than it can make you pompous. That’s the way it is. I’d always take advice from people … but these people [at the bank] have made it so easy coming in here, it was not difficult to relinquish, if you want to use the term, whatever authority I had. Let’s face it, I had a 52, 53-year [career], and I’ve only been the boss for 13 of them. So I can readjust pretty easily.

James Doyle’s Top Five Career Milestones:

• 13 years as mayor of Pawtucket.
• 27 years as a city councilor.
• He spent 18 years as a sales rep for Massachusetts Envelope Co. in Somerville; he also worked in the pharmaceutical industry.
• His original career was as a schoolteacher.
• As a child, he wanted to be a sportscaster.