Lending Perspective

David Hobert Brings Local Focus to People’s United Bank

David Hobert has deep roots in Western Mass. and a broad palette of banking experience. His new role allows him to put both to good use.

“I started as a teller for Westbank on Main Street in Holyoke in 1983,” he said, recounting the start of a career that took him to some of the region’s largest institutions over the past 30 years — currently as regional president of People’s United Bank, a position he accepted in February.

“I wanted to come back to my roots a little bit,” the long-time Longmeadow resident told BusinessWest, noting that his previous role was as executive director for Santander Bank’s global-banking business. “I missed the connection to the community, and the travel was quite extensive, and I felt I was ready to get off the airplane and get back in the car for the short drive to Springfield.”

In fact, from 2009 through last year, Hobert focused on Fortune 100 telecommunications, media, and technology companies for Santander. “I spent more than five years building that business, but one of the things I really missed was my roots and working in the community. But I stayed in touch with some of the local leaders in banking, seeking an opportunity to eventually manage a regional bank. Then this opportunity came up in January, and here I am.”

In that role, Hobert replaces the recently retired Tim Crimmins, who launched the Bank of Western Massachusetts in 1987 — just before the onset of a crippling recession — and grew it into a regional commercial-lending power, one that was acquired by Chittenden Bank in 1995 and then again by People’s United Bank in 2008. Today, it’s part of a $36 billion institution with more than 400 branches in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

That’s regional clout the old Bank of Western Massachusetts couldn’t match, but Hobert’s challenge is marrying that lending power with a strong community focus.

“I’m managing the commercial-banking business, working closely with our retail business to grow our market share, and working with the community through our foundation and sponsorships,” he said by way of explaining his day-to-day job. “The main thing, really, is just making sure that our clients, many of whom we’ve had for a long time, continue to get the best service and are offered the best product variety possible.”

For this issue’s focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest sat down with Hobert in his downtown Springfield office to talk about how he plans to do that, and why he’s bullish on the future of the region he has long called home.

The Road Home

After five years in a number of roles at Westbank in the 1980s, Hobert moved to Citytrust Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., managing its workout business for Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, and Stamford for three years. Then, in 1991, the graduate of Western New England College had the opportunity to move back to this region when he was hired by BayBank in a similar role.

He eventually started handling new loan business for BayBank and Bank of Boston; when those institutions merged, he was appointed team leader in Springfield and, when Sovereign Bank later bought the vested assets of Bank of Boston and Fleet Bank, Hobert became head of corporate banking for the Western Mass. region, before moving on to Santander in 2009 and, eventually, to his new role at People’s United.

He assumes regional leadership with a bank that reported a 12% earnings increase in its first quarter of 2015 compared to a year ago. “We’ve reported five consecutive years of operating-earnings growth — and in a very difficult time, when we’re coming out of a recession,” he said. “So that, in and of itself, is evidence that the business model continues to work, and work well.”

The bank’s client base is business banking and middle-market companies, most of which borrow anywhere from $100,000 to $10 million, although a few clients are larger. But Hobert stressed that the bank has always kept the lending window open to small businesses, a philosophy shared by Crimmins when he launched his enterprise in 1987 with partner Frank Fitzgerald, and by Chittenden Bank, which later purchased it.

“If you look back through the history of Chittenden, when the bank started in Bridgeport, they served middle-class people, while other banks were serving middle-market commercial customers,” Hobert explained. “So, from day one, right through the Chittenden acquisition and to date, our main business has been small business, middle-market business, and the consumer.”

To that end, customer service has always been paramount, he said. “Obviously, it’s a competitive market from a pricing standpoint; that’s no secret — and I believe the market is overbanked. So the way you maintain and grow your client base is by having consistent, excellent service and offering added-value products.”

Those include treasury management and the People’s United Insurance Co., which offers property, casualty, and workers’ compensation products.

“And then we have a strong wealth-management division with a long, proven track record, that focuses on both individual and institutional investment management. That’s an area where we’ve had some recent success and growth. Our wealth management, I think, is as good an offering as any bank in our footprint.

“Again,” Hobert said, “it all comes back to the people and the product. We don’t want to be all things to all people, but where we can add value, that’s where we want to focus our time, playing an advisory role for our clients.”

Street Level

It would be easy for a large bank to lose its focus on individual communities, but Hobert said People’s United’s CEO, Jack Barnes, emphasizes a street-level focus from the top down.

“The values we want to bring are, we want to offer empathy and expertise to our customers, we want to be a good corporate citizen in the community, and we want to understand the knowhow and growth potential of our employees,” Hobert said. “If we do those three things right, we can continue what was started 170-plus years ago in Bridgeport. Those are principles the bank has operated by for some time, and I believe they’re simple to follow, and, if you do them well, clients will stay with you.”

That community focus extends to the bank’s commitment to philanthropy, he went on. “Community development, youth development, and affordable housing are the three areas we focus on through our community foundation; then, separate from that are all the sponsorships we support. We provided more than $700,000 in support last year through a combination of the community foundation and sponsorships in Western Massachusetts, and we’ll continue to do that.”

In fact, the bank strives to support nonprofits in its business dealings as well. “I’d say that, in Massachusetts, we’re definitely one of the leaders in terms of nonprofit lending, which includes all the colleges and healthcare,” Hobert said. “They’re a large part of the community — important assets in the community — and they have the same needs as a for-profit business when it comes to capital.”

The fact that business borrowing is on the upswing among both for-profit and nonprofit companies is encouraging to Hobert, who credits factors like the flat organizational structure favored by Barnes and the bank’s geographically focused regional lending teams with growing and retaining business. And while People’s United has expanded through acquisition in the past, Hobert sees plenty of opportunities to grow within the bank’s current footprint — however overbanked it may be.

“Right now, we’re focused on organic growth,” he said, “but if the right acquisition surfaces in our targeted markets, we would consider that.”

For now, he’s happy to be the regional face of People’s United, especially at a time when the region is showing signs of economic life.

“Locally, I’m positive about what’s going on in our region,” Hobert said, noting developments such as Changchun Railway Vehicles’ investment in the city and vacancy rates in the downtown towers as low as they’ve been in years. “I think the biggest impediments companies face right now if the workforce. The demand is there for our local customers, but we need to work through our workforce-development programs to develop the skill sets in the region to fill these positions. But overall, I am upbeat on where things are going.”

As Tim Crimmins used to say, the lending window is open.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]