“I think it’s important to know that there are about 4,200 banks and there are 350 women CEOs, only about 7.5 percent of all banks in the US. It’s still a low number, and people in my position want to give back to the community and open doors for other people,” says Josephine Moran, president and chief executive officer of Ledyard Bank. She opens doors to community banking needs and she opens doors for other women in finance to walk through. At Ledyard Bank, she gets to do both and then some.

 

Making Banking Better

Since ascending to CEO in May of 2023, Josephine has been laser focused on a very simple concept for banking: “Our vision is the bank that makes your life better.” In fact, she’d tell you that better banking comes about by constantly questioning the work you are doing.

“We have really undergone a major transformation in the past four years,” she says. “We looked at how we were servicing our clients and how we could do better. How could we make it easier, more convenient, and how could we really offer them different options without losing that personal touch? That was very, very important to us.”

Ledyard Bank’s online access for customers provides many digital conveniences. Through that digital lens, customers find budgeting tools, tools to help manage credit cards, rewards programs, and much more that the public expects from a 21st century digital experience.

“If they want to speak to someone during business hours or even after hours, they can call. If it’s late at night and they need something done, they can go online and have the same experience,” Josephine adds.

 

Helping Those Who Need It Most

Ledyard Bank is not your grandfather’s bank. While mixing finances with a strong community presence is not new, Ledyard has gotten really good at it, prioritizing helping those who need it most.

“We started our empowering nonprofit program because nonprofits are in need of understanding how to budget and do business in this new environment, such as how to obtain more funding.
We have a full program offered through our wealth side that provides coaching and counseling,” says Josephine.

Some people may not know that Ledyard Bank has expanded their wealth business, helping people with significant assets make key planning decisions for preserving long-term generational wealth. “We’re a little over a billion in assets, almost $1.1, but we have a $2.4 billion wealth business,” Josephine says. “We manage the assets here and it’s a significant aspect of our overall community bank. We’re able to support and help the client through their journey from basic money management all the way to estate planning and beyond.”

Ledyard Bank’s Hometown Heroes program is designed for United States military veterans and frontline workers, which includes firemen, police officers, and teachers, and offers special lending programs tailored to that group of community servants.

 

Beyond the Bank

Proving local involvement is a top priority; bank employees are encouraged to do their part away from work, according to Josephine. “We actually provide 16 hours of PTO (paid time off) that’s just for volunteer time. We have a volunteer committee that’s completely employee-run and one of their main tasks is to make sure they work closely with our contributions committee. We work hand in hand with recipients to whom we’re donating because it’s not just money, it’s also time,” she says.

Josephine is also frequently engaged with community causes like Habitat for Humanity and COVER in Vermont. She is chairperson of Granite United Way, as well as serving on many boards and committees. Industry volunteer affiliations include being a board member with Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Board of Governors member at her alma mater, the University of New Haven. “I go to all the events if I possibly can. I think it’s important to lead by example and make sure everyone knows that I’m involved and I’m going to roll up my sleeves,” says Josephine.

 

Bringing Community Together

Ledyard Bank is also providing resources for the new Ledyard Park next to their South Main Street location with the intention of creating an outdoor space to bring people together. “There wasn’t a community space where everyone could come together and we thought, wow, the alleyway’s not being utilized. We have all the space here. What a great use of that space for the entire community,” she says. (See sidebar.)

Back to door opening, a pivotal influence was Susanne Svizeny, now EVP and chief C&I officer at OceanFirst Bank, who as a regional president at Wachovia gave Josephine her first senior leadership role and became a lasting mentor. These experiences helped Josephine develop programs at Ledyard such as Women with Purpose, “which is a networking and an educational initiative that we offer to the community, and we do it in all our locations. We do about five program events a year and invite women in the community, whether they’re leaders, businesspeople, or young in their
careers, to learn and network. We open doors, we get to meet folks,
and we introduce them to each other. We’re in our third year now and
the attendance just gets bigger and bigger.”

After attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Josephine worked 10 years in the fashion industry, including a stint at Macy’s in Manhattan and working in the Garment District. After becoming interested in finance, she attended University of New Haven, where she received her Master of Science, Finance, and Financial Planning as well as executive MBA. She also developed a women’s program at New Haven to open doors, connect women, and provide different kinds of career advice so that they too can open doors for others in their future. 

 

Sidebar 

A Community Gathering Space

“The area really needed a gathering space.” Those words from Ledyard Bank President and CEO Josephine Moran capture a collective sentiment that residents and downtown businesses have likely been thinking for decades. The creation of Ledyard Park is underway in a spot that if you blinked, you’d probably miss it. Until now. This 24-by-78-foot new urban pocket park will be transformed to create endless community possibilities.

Ledyard Park is being developed between Ledyard Bank at 38 South Main Street in Hanover to the north and 4U Bubble Tea at 44 South Main Street to the south. MA+KE Architects of Hanover has teamed up with Bowman Consulting Group to turn a patch of underutilized and forgotten blacktop into a space humming with activity, music, conversation, and food truck visits.

“It needs to be a place that does multiple things,” says MA+KE Principal Chris Kennedy. “It needs to be a place where any day of the week people can come and have their lunch or just take a break with their kids. Additionally, the town would like to have someplace where they can do small events throughout the year.” Artistic local touches will add visual flavor, according to Chris.

“The plan is to put a mural on the south wall. Jay Campion, who owns the building on the south side of the park, is graciously allowing use of his exterior wall for the mural. As far as I know, the theme will have something to do with the Appalachian Trail coming through Hanover,” he says. To help support maintenance of the new park, engraved sponsorship bricks will be sold to businesses and private residents that will be incorporated into the walking areas. To purchase a personalized brick paver, go to the Explore Hanover website at www.explore
hanovernh.com/ledyard-park.

Planners add that everything was constructed to be inclusive of people with disabilities. “It’s designed in such a way that the walkway down on the right side will be fully ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible. You can also pull into any of the green spaces with a wheelchair. It’s universally accessible to everyone,” says Bowman’s Paul Simon, the project’s landscape architect.

“The park concept was conceived by the Hanover Downtown Working Group and pitched to Ledyard Bank, which embraced the idea and has been very generous in supporting it,” says Chris. “Paul and I collaborated on this through that downtown committee. We worked on all of that pro bono. When it came time to actually put the details together for construction, the town contracted with us to pull that portion together,”
he adds.

Paul has been happy to be a planning partner with Chris. “We see it as a really good community benefit and we’re so happy that Ledyard Bank has come forward to coordinate this with the town,” says Paul. “You don’t see something like this often and it’s great that there’s this collaborative effort.”