🔒Savage’s ‘down-home’ style delivers for Webster Bank

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Joe Savage's 2014 appointment as Webster Financial Corp.'s president was the “longest victory lap in history,” according Sarah Barr, the Waterbury bank's communications vice president.

It began in the boardroom, went around the table, and spilled out into the hallway.

The employees at the home office were happy; same with employees at the branches.

“It was that popular,” Barr said. “Joe is that popular.”

Webster Chairman and CEO Jim Smith puts it this way:

“I know I speak for the bank and the community when I say, 'well done and well deserved Joe,' ” Smith said.

Savage's lifetime is full of achievements, both personally and at Webster.

He plowed through the muddy field of the Great Recession when he was heading up the bank's commercial division.

He has an NCAA championship to his credit and runs a reasonably large institution with a “down-home” style, what Barr calls, “the real deal.”

“There is nothing fake about him,” Barr said.

What does Savage think about all that praise?

He joked that his style can be translated as “hokey,” but he would never change it.

“It's just me,” Savage said.

Beyond his personal popularity, Savage helped guide the bank through the Great Recession, which hit Webster particularly hard. Bad loans cut into the bank's earnings and hurt the company's stock price, but Webster has experienced a strong recovery.

Last quarter, Webster posted record net income of $50.5 million.

Savage, who has spent 13 years at Webster, said he and the commercial team, which he led prior to being named president, decided to look the recession in the face and stare it down by tackling bad loans and keeping customers well informed.

“I think the key to all of it is that we talked to people throughout everything that had happened,” Savage said. “We assured people that we were working with them, that we were standing by them, that we cared about them, that we cared about their communities.”

He paused for a moment.

“And I think we have done alright as a result,” he said.

Barr said Savage used his down-home approach to deal with individual and business customers during the recession.

“During the Great Recession, when other banks were running away from their customers, we were running toward them,” Barr said. “That is Joe's leadership. He coached, encouraged and even humored his colleagues. He created an expectation of success and a belief in their value.”

Smith said Savage delivered a “consistently high performance” over a dozen years at the bank prior to being named president.

One of Webster's keys to success, Savage said, is acting like a community bank, even though it's one of the largest Connecticut-based lenders with $23.6 billion in assets.

“The bank handles a lot of business loans that can be as small as $100,000 but we are also not going to ignore the opportunity to lead a $100 million deal where we would retain $20 million to $30 million,” Savage said. “We are comfortable as a community bank that can provide, when needed, large bank product and services.”

Savage also has a competitive drive to win, which can be traced back to his track-and-field days at Manhattan College. He was on the 1973 NCAA indoor championship team that set a new world record in the distance medley relay.

Savage ran the half-mile and the mile.

Smith said Savage is both a coach and a friend who reinforces, “a winning culture.”

“And he is a fierce competitor who models the values that bring Webster's 3,000 bankers together,” Smith said. 

Barr said the “same drive and determination that he brings to the bank,” Savage brings to his community service as well.

Savage, a Simsbury resident, was the chair of the 2013-2014 United Way Campaign for the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. 

He serves as a director of the MetroHartford Alliance and the Travelers Championship committee. 

He also serves on the board of the Bushnell Performing Arts Center and the Connecticut Bankers Association. 

He is a director emeritus for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.   

“This business lets me maintain my competitive nature and still do something that is good for the state, the people and the communities in which they live,” Savage said. 

Joe Savage

The Basics

Name of organization: Webster Bank

Title: President

Size of organization: 3,000 bankers

Education:  Bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College; MBA from Seton Hall University

Previous job: Executive vice president of communications and energy banking group for CoBank in Denver (1996-2002)

On the job

Guiding business principle: Creating an exciting, fun and competitive workplace

Best way to keep your competitive edge: Remain intensely physically active

Proudest accomplishment: Pride I take in generational event — how Webster helped customers during the Great Recession. I can’t say enough about being such an integral part of a group who ran towards our customers in their time of need, and not run away from them. We didn’t blink.

Goal yet to be achieved: To actually become good at golf

Favorite part of the job: Interacting with the people I work with

Least favorite part of the job: Meetings that run too long

Personal touch in your office: Photo of me and my son on one of the Colorado 14ers (mountains)

Judgment calls

Best business decision: Coming
back to Connecticut and joining Webster Bank

Worst business decision: Should have bought more Webster stock during the Great Recession

Biggest missed opportunity: Ditto

Best way to spot trends: Watch your kids — they’re on to the next big thing

Next big move: Launching golf career

Your pet peeve: Nay-sayers

Personal side

City of residence: Simsbury

Favorite way to relax: Golf, swim — exercise … . It’s cathartic.

Hobbies: Golf, gardening, being on
the lake

Last vacation: Cancun, Mexico

Favorite movie: “Braveheart”

The car you drive: Cadillac

Currently reading: “Sherwood”

Favorite cause: Catholic Charities/United Way

Second choice career: Track coach