Vice President, Branch Manager, and Mortgage Specialist, Westfield Bank: Age 36

Banking was a surprise career for Sherleen Crespo — but, as it turned out, a pleasant surprise. “Fresh out of high school, I was a waitress, but I needed a career, and someone told me about banking,” she recalled. “I started part-time while going to night school — and I loved it. I had a great mentor, and I went full-time from there.” Since starting that journey 17 years ago, she’s advanced through a series of supervisory roles and joined Westfield Bank as a branch manager in 2017. These days, she manages a branch of eight employees in Westfield, with responsibilities including overseeing customer service; retail and business product sales, including mortgage origination; business development and community outreach; and employee development. “My main passion in banking is financial literacy,” she added. “That’s what drew me into banking: to help people, whether they’re kids with a small bank account, middle- and high-school students, or adults. I really enjoy being able to help them financially, teach them about about credit, and keep them on a plan, whether they want to buy a home or whatever their passion is.” In the community, Crespo mentors youth on job-readiness skills; volunteered with the We Care Initiative, which provided care packages for older adults during the pandemic; and has been a board member and #GreenNFit house captain at Revitalize Community Development Corp. for the past six years, helping renovate local homes and make them safer and healthier for their residents. “We help a lot of people, and it makes a really big impact,” she said. “When you see the events, how many people get together, how many houses, it makes such a difference. It’s really touching when you work with these families from beginning to end, to see how emotional they are because it’s something they may not have been able to afford or they can’t do physically.” But Crespo’s financial-efforts in the community may be closest to her heart, whether by facilitating educational sessions in local schools and businesses or serving on the local Credit for Life committee, which sets up day-long fairs for high-school seniors, where they choose a virtual career path and make decisions about saving, budgeting, and spending. Such efforts earned her the 2019 Business Investment Award from Parent Villages. “That’s something I’m really passionate about,” she said. “I’m able to be there for the kids, and it ties into what I do at work. It’s amazing.” —Joseph Bednar