Lisa Maass, newly seated as chief of Citizens Bank’s Connecticut franchise, says her focus is on building its reputation as “a very good commercial bank,” including ramping up staffing.
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Lisa Maass, newly seated as chief of Citizens Bank's Connecticut franchise, says her focus is on building its reputation as “a very good commercial bank,'' including ramping up staffing.
“We have a plan to succeed,” Maass said in an interview last week, days after the $173 billion-asset Rhode Island lender introduced her as its new Connecticut president. “We have a team that works well together.”
Already with about 700 Connecticut employees spread among more than 45 branches and loan-production offices statewide, Citizens has hired 73 workers so far this year, Maass said. The bank plans to add an unspecified number of new workers in the state later on, a Citizens spokesman said.
With them, Citizens will pursue expansion of its presence in the state's consumer-, mortgage- and commercial-banking markets, Maass said.
It will also maintain its active community engagement, a reflection of both the bank's and Maass' commitments to giving back.
She was a co-founder of “Read To Grow,'' the Branford nonprofit that in its 15 years has donated some 1.3 million books to individuals, school teachers, hospitals and other family-support organizations statewide to boost literacy among the neediest.
Citizens was a “Read To Grow'' founding sponsor and continues to financially support the literacy organization, said Executive Director Kyn Tolson. Maass also has a seat on its board.
“She's very smart and she's someone you can rely on to get to the heart of the matter right away and come up with solutions for people beyond your immediate concern,'' Tolson said. “She knows how to marshal enthusiasm and support.''
Maass says she's also enamored with banking. As Citizens' Connecticut president, she will divide her offices between New Haven and downtown Hartford, on the same 10th floor of State House Square as the office of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
“Delivering solutions. Meeting with customers,'' she said. “I've been doing this 22 years and I have customers who have been with me 20 years. It's been good to watch them grow.''
Maass says her outlook is upbeat for Connecticut's economy, which through employers' fresh investments in intellectual property and equipment, has sprouted enough jobs to nearly replace ones lost in the Great Recession.
“I feel positive about Connecticut,'' she said.
However, she admits to harboring worries about this state's budget deficit, as well as the stubbornly high achievement gap among Connecticut schoolchildren, many of whom struggle with food security.
The latter is why Maass and Citizens Bank are engaged with the Connecticut Food Bank, which also is a bank customer, she said. Maass sits on the organization's fundraising committee.
Citizens loaned the food bank $7.5 million to build its new Wallingford headquarters, into which it will consolidate several outlying offices when it opens later this year, she said.
— Gregory Seay
