Page 13 - BusinessWest May 27, 2024

EXPERTISE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
When you arrive at a certain size, your banking needs become more complex. With Country Bank’s commercial banking team, you get customized problem-solving, higher lending limits, industry expertise, and highly responsive service.
Country Bank’s productive partnership with the WooSox is reflected by its prominent right-field signage.
After that institution went public and was acquired, she left, earned her MBA, and moved to Capital Crossing in the late ’90s, doing a lot of work with distressed real estate. Danversbank, her next stop, was a reunion of sorts with some individuals she had worked with at Boston Private.
“They were like Country Bank is today, a nice, local, mutual community bank,” she said, adding that she served Danversbank as senior vice president and chief accounting officer. “But they went public in 2008 and were sold in 2011, and my position was eliminated.”
So, the same year, she joined the team at Country — and has never looked back.
“The mission is to be the bank of choice in Central and Western Mas- sachusetts,” McGovern told Business- West. “I’m excited to lead as the first female president of Country Bank as we approach our 175th anniversary. It’s a good opportunity to get out and talk in the community, talk to our customers, put a new face in front of them. It’s been really exciting.”
“In a challenging time of food insecurity and other challenges out there,
it’s important to give back to local nonprofits. They need our support to do their important work. That’s valuable to our staff, and I believe it’s valuable to our customers as well.”
From a bottom-line perspective, she said, Country is doing well, even showing growth in the mortgage market, despite high rates and higher prices.
“Obviously people still have to buy and sell homes and move differ- ent places. The pipeline may not be as robust, but there’s still a lot of activity.”
On the commercial side, the bank is being selective, focusing on building lasting relationships and not targeting huge volume for its own sake, to maintain liquidity. “We’re looking for 5% to 6% growth in loans this year, so we’re keeping busy for sure.”
Geographically, the bank is in a growth mode as well. With a physi- cal footprint that currently stretches from Springfield to Worcester, with the Ware headquarters between those two cities, County is adding two additional locations to the east this year — a second in Worcester and one in Uxbridge — while making plans to add two more branches to the west, in Springfield and another community.
Earlier this year, the board of trustees announced it had full con- fidence in McGovern to lead that strategy, as well as all of Country’s other operations and activities in the community. Paul Scully, who has been president and chief executive officer since 2004, remains in the CEO role.
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