🔒Changing of the Guard: Incoming Chelsea Groton Bank CEO Joyce to oversee branch reinvention

When Anthony A. Joyce III takes over as the new president and CEO of Chelsea Groton Bank, he says he will continue the bank’s mission, including enhancing customer service while shepherding an ongoing branch reinvention.

Joyce is currently executive vice president and chief operating officer, but will take over the bank’s top spot on Jan. 1.

Joyce will replace B. Michael Rauh Jr. who is retiring at the end of 2022 after a dozen years leading the bank. Rauh will continue to serve as a corporator and trustee. The bank doubled in size under Rauh’s leadership and has surpassed $1.5 billion in assets.

Joyce is a lifelong state resident with nearly four decades of banking experience. He originally joined Chelsea Groton’s senior leadership team to lead its commercial lending group in 2013, and later was promoted to senior lender. Joyce was named to his current position in 2020.

The Groton-based bank has 14 branches throughout New London County and a loan production office in Hartford County.

According to Joyce, he plans to continue the bank’s focus on its customers, innovation and technology.

Joyce takes the helm as Chelsea Groton Bank reinvents its branches, giving them a makeover to shift from the traditional transactional model, with a wall of tellers, to having spaces that are conducive to hosting classes and gatherings.

The bank regularly hosts classes on financial topics, such as planning for college and retirement. Classes aimed at entrepreneurs tackle topics like marketing and taxes. They also host non-banking events, from cooking classes to pet adoptions.

The spaces are being redesigned to be easily converted to theater or classroom seating, depending on an event’s needs. The redesign includes spaces for private conversations, plus areas for videoconferencing so the bank can easily bring in outside experts.

New Haven Biz recently chatted with Joyce to find out more about his plans for the bank after he takes over in the new year.

What will be your priorities once you are president and CEO?

My main goal and priority is to continue to maintain the commitment the bank has to the community and employees. The bank has a great reputation, a good culture, and we're very supportive and involved in the local community, financially and with our time and talent.

The message I want to get out to everybody is that none of that is going to change. We're going to continue our very strong commitment to all of those things.

It has been a very successful run for the bank under (Michael Rauh’s) leadership, so there are some big shoes to fill. I hate to overuse the analogy of ‘If it ain’t broke, don't fix it,’ but things are in very good shape now.

My mission is to continue that along.

Do you foresee continued expansion of the bank’s lending footprint?

Yes. We’ll maintain the course we are on now.

From a strategic standpoint, we've tried to broaden our market outside of just New London County. We opened our loan production office (in Hartford County). We're going to do it in a measured fashion.

We are going to make further inroads into New Haven, Middlesex and Hartford counties.

The bank broke ground this summer on a renovation of its Groton headquarters. What’s involved?

There's going to be a dramatic difference. The whole facade is going to change. It is going to be a much more modern, contemporary-looking building.

From a customer standpoint, there is going to be more flexibility. We're going to have two drive-up virtual banking machines. There will be two video teller machines.

Inside, we'll have a fully modernized branch, where we will deliver all the traditional services, but there will also be a great deal of community available space. We have three very large conference rooms and a multimedia meeting room. The spaces can be divided for small and large group presentations.

From the employee standpoint, they are going to have a very well-designed, well laid out workspace with a lot of collaboration space. We’ll be encouraging people to not sit behind their desk eight hours a day, but to get up, move around and take advantage of the other workspaces that we'll have — not only to collaborate, but to work in a more relaxed and friendly environment.

It'll be very bright and open, with a lot of glass. We're really excited about it.

How is the bank moving away from traditional transactional spaces?

Each branch still has a traditional teller line, or some variation of that. The balance of the space is going to be used quite differently. Each branch has video-equipped meeting rooms.

If people are at a branch and want to talk to a subject-matter expert, instead of having to set up a separate time and a meeting with a different person in a different place, we can get them in touch with our cash management specialist, or a business lender on a video call right there.

The branches are designed to make it a comfortable, conversational space. If you are thinking about retirement, buying or building a home, or getting your child educated, this is a space to discuss what you should be thinking about.

We have written and video materials that we can pull up and demonstrate on the screen. We have a lending library, where customers can borrow books on different topics.

It's not just, ‘Let me go in and cash my check and make my deposit.’ It’s, ‘Let me go in and talk about the options that are available to me from a financial institution.’

The bank in recent years has been focused on adding digital tools to help make banking more convenient for customers. Do you expect this to continue?

Absolutely. Our commitment is to help our customers do business how and where they want. If people are more comfortable transacting business from home, we've engaged all of the mobile technology that's available.

We have Chelsea|Live (video banking). If it's inconvenient to get to a branch, customers can do it right from their desktop or mobile device. They can connect on a videoconference and be talking live with their banker. We can use technology to send documents back and forth through DocuSign in a secure method.

As technology evolves, we will evolve with it.

The bank regularly hosts classes focused on financial education, such as planning for retirement and buying a first home. Do you want to expand this?

When we get in our new (renovated headquarters) building, we will have a much bigger conference room. We can set it up in a way that they can have stadium seating, so we can deliver our programs to bigger groups.

As the economy changes and life’s challenges change, we'll continue to evolve our curriculum. We'll make sure we have ample classes to help people manage their finances.

Would you like to see an expansion of the bank’s real estate footprint?

We're always open and on the lookout for locations that would make sense for us — both from a loan production office standpoint, or a full-service branch.

We've talked to different landlords and landowners in the past. We will continue to do that just to try to find the right opportunity. We're not going to expand for the sake of expanding.

What could customers in New Haven County expect in terms of the bank’s westward expansion?

That's been a big driver behind our enhancements from a video, mobile and remote capability standpoint. A lot of our customers don't even use a brick-and-mortar branch. That's why we've been able to serve customers outside of our traditional footprint.

Our commitment is to make it so that if you don't set foot in one of our branches, you'll be able to transact business with us just as smoothly.

We've been pretty successful in making those arrangements work with customers down in the New Haven area, even though our closest branch might be in Niantic. We can still get everybody the business service they need through our other channels.

Are you getting more customers in the New Haven region?

Yes. We've made a pretty good foothold throughout central Connecticut, from Hartford, the I-91 corridor down into New Haven. I think we're making some good penetration into central and southwestern Connecticut. It's a pretty wide range of industries.