The number of banks in Massachusetts is on the decline, down 46 percent since 1980. In recent years, the commonwealth has been losing an average of five banks per year. But one number in the industry is on the rise: The number of woman chief executives at local banking institutions.

In 2001, there were 12 woman bank presidents or CEOs in Massachusetts. Currently, there are 17.

But the industry hasn’t simply added four female chief executives.

Of the 17 women currently running banks in Massachusetts, only six were top executives in 2001. Six others left the top job after 2001 – and the industry more than made up for the loss by adding 11 women as top executives, according to the Massachusetts Bankers Association.

Most recently, Carol McClintock, already president of Hyde Park-based Commonwealth Cooperative Bank, added CEO to her title in September when former CEO Norman Williamson retired.

Kristin Carvalho, president and CEO of Milford National Bank & Trust Co., said an informal group of female Massachusetts bank leaders meets about twice a year.

“And there are some tough women running banks,” she said.

“It’s particularly encouraging in a consolidating industry,” said Mass. Bankers’ Spokesman Bruce Spitzer.

Dan Forte, the association’s president, said the tide began to turn for women bank executives in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“We were running ‘women in banking’-type seminars and women were telling us, ‘If we’re really part of bank management, why do we need separate seminars?’ They requested that they wanted to be part of regular programming,” Forte said.

Expanding Comfort Zones

On one hand, bank jobs have always attracted women, but few have found their way to the corner office. Even with the marked increase of women CEOs in the last 10 years, it’s important to note that there are about 160 banks in Massachusetts – meaning women only run roughly one in 10.

Neighboring Connecticut has about a third as many banks, and just three female chief executives.

Still, the recent increase in women presidents and CEOs may indicate that boards of directors are finding women increasingly adept at bank management.

“One of the biggest training programs we do is the New England School of Financial Studies. Sixty-five percent of the students are women,” Forte said. “Women are much better communicators, and women tend to outlive men, so many senior customers are women and they relate to women.”

But it’s more than that.

The industry is changing, especially at the local level, according to Carvalho.

“Bank presidents are retiring and boards have recognized that they’re looking for the best person, not for a man or a woman,” she said.

It has taken years to convince male bank executives to consider women employees for advancement in significant numbers, and it has likewise taken a tremendous effort to convince women bank employees to aspire to management, said Dorothy Savarese, president of Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank.

But once precedent is set, she said, “It’s a self-reinforcing loop.”

“As people see people like themselves moving up, they’re encouraged to think, ‘Well, maybe I can do the same thing,’” Savarese told Banker & Tradesman.

But taking that first step isn’t always easy.

For managers, “reaching outside of the comfort zone is a good thing to do, but it takes a lot of encouragement,” Savarese said. “You’re more comfortable with people like you.”

The industry has been “dominated by women numerically, but it hasn’t been in management roles,” she continued. But it’s not all because male executives wouldn’t promote them.

Responsibility Roles

Women also tend to remain in traditional comfort zones. In banking, that has meant roles away from positions that have responsibility for profit and loss. One of the most common, according to Savarese, is human resources.

“It’s about encouraging women to pursue [profit & loss] responsibility and encouraging executives to put women in roles of responsibility,” Savarese said.

Janice Houghton, president and CEO of StonehamBank, said in community banks, the path to the executive suite goes through the lending department.

And a change in women’s attitudes about working at banks has helped more women take roles in lending. In recent years, more women have taken jobs and leadership positions in lending departments, Houghton said.

“That is perceived as the largest risk area, and for community banks that’s a huge part of their business,” Houghton said. “In the past, I think women have shied away from that. Now, I meet many women who are in lending.”

These trends make succession planning very important, especially to community banks, Savarese said. And in the absence of old-fashioned management training programs, informal “exposure to senior management” becomes the new standard.

“It’s self-reinforcing when people in senior management reach down and help people advance,” she said.

The ascendency of women to chief executive positions “will, in fact, continue,” Savarese said. “It certainly isn’t going to go in a straight line. Nothing ever does, but a lot of organizations are focused on this.”

Houghton also agreed with Carvalho that the attitudes of boards of directors are changing. The StonehamBank board is made up of six men and four women.

“The discussions are different because women are on the board,” Houghton said. “The old boys club is dead.”