Ronald Molina-Brantley
Vice President, ReevX MyBanker, Berkshire Bank; Age 39; Education: American International College (MBA)
As vice president of Relationship Management for Berkshire Bank, Molina-Brantley was recently tapped to lead the ReevX Labs initiative for the city of Springfield. Utilizing community networks he’s built over time, and in a partnership with Valley Venture Mentors, he will provide programming and educational experiences, including financial-literacy and credit-repair courses, designed to boost financial success in the community.
Ronald Molina-Brantley Photo by Leah Martin Photography
What three words best describe you? Caring, loyal, driven.
What are you passionate about? Increasing generational wealth and entrepreneurship are two areas I’m most passionate about. For me, it’s extremely rewarding to provide support to individuals and/or businesses that have decided to take a chance on their dreams. In order to do that, the secret is sound financial planning. In these cases, I work alongside individuals and startups in thinking about how to establish short- and long-term financial goals, funding sources, investments, and other factors designed to ensure their financial success. Although financial success is defined by the individual and/or the business, their goals promote my efforts in increasing generational wealth. I do this by teaching financial literacy as an art to people that were never taught it. It is also important to mentor kids from a young age about money management, the ills of debt, compounding interest, and the importance of building multiple streams of income.
What person, past or present, would you like to have lunch with, and why? I’ve been fortunate to have some back-and-forths with Jack Welch in my youth as a caddy at Sankaty Head Golf course on Nantucket. Now that I am a more established leader, I would appreciate an opportunity to dive deeper into other aspects that would benefit from his mentorship. His recent passing is a loss for us all, but his lessons have had a huge impact on my approach to business, finance, and leadership. His work on how to succeed in an increasingly global environment, management, and Six Sigma has revolutionized the way businesses are conducted. “Before you become a leader,” he said, “success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” As Jack told me on numerous occasions, the best place to have a business meeting is on the golf course. So, for one last time, I’d have our meeting over a round of golf at Sankaty Head, like good old times.
