COMMUNITY BANK HEROES

A Banker by Chance, a Banker by Choice

A Banker by Chance, a Banker by Choice

As Jim Regan looks back at his long tenure leading Marlborough-based Digital Federal Credit Union, he describes one of the credit union’s big accomplishments during that time as “a relatively quiet effort.”

Community Good Works

Community Good Works

Bedford-based The Northern Bank recently awarded a $40,000 grant to the Nashoba Learning Group, a school for children and adults with autism.

2017 Community Bank Heroes

Every year, Banker & Tradesman sets out to recognize community bankers who stand out from their peers. These individuals not only excel in their careers, they also devote professional and personal time to making the communities they serve better places for all.

Richard Chavez

Richard Chavez

Tensions between southeast Asian and Latino youths in Lowell spilled over into gun violence in the mid-1990s, prompting local minority leaders to search for solutions.

Rachel Chisholm

Rachel Chisholm

Rachel Chisholm describes herself as a “people person,” and it is apparent that she thrives on her community involvement, dedication to advancing her employees and assisting her customers. “I love mentoring, developing, coaching people. Between that and the customers, I think that’s my favorite – really interacting. I’m a people person, so having that interaction with people is really the highlight.”

Annette Hunt

Annette Hunt

Annette Hunt entered the banking world as a teller when she was 17 years old. Decades later, she was a senior vice president at the recently acquired Medford Cooperative Bank, wondering if it was time to leave the industry behind and try something different.

Luba Levin

Luba Levin

Resilience and passion are what set Luba Levin apart and made her one of this year’s Community Bank Heroes. Levin learned resilience at an early age; her family emigrated from Russia to the U.S. in 1989 when Luba was just 12. Adjusting to a new language and culture was not easy, she said, but “it made me stronger and the person I am today.”

Tony Liberopoulos

Tony Liberopoulos

Tony Liberopoulos embodies United’s key employee cultural attributes: “he’s friendly, caring and respectful to co-workers and in our communities.” And that’s not effusive nomination praise; it’s how Liberopoulos lives his life.

Gladys Martinez

Gladys Martinez

When the Andover branch of Reading Cooperative Bank wanted to expand into the nearby Lawrence market, branch manager Gladys Martinez, one of this year’s Community Bank Heroes, knew just what to do.

Bruce Marzotto

Bruce Marzotto

With a four-decade track record in banking, Bruce Marzotto has gotten to the point where he’s now helping finance businesses in the third generation of the same family.

Susan Paley

Susan Paley

As a lifelong resident of Newton and volunteer in the community, Susan Paley was a natural choice for the position of vice president of community relations at The Village Bank. Her work in that position over the last decade also made her a natural selection as one of this year’s Community Bank Heroes.

Donald Queenin

Donald Queenin

There’s the right way, the wrong way, and the Woburn way – or so says Donald Queenin, executive vice president at Woburn-based Northern Bank & Trust Co. The line is one of Queenin’s many favorite (and oft-repeated) expressions, which his staff has come to affectionately refer to as “DQ-isms.”

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