Career moves

When Laura Sikora interviewed at BMO Financial 20 years ago, she was struck by the fact that several people asked her what she wanted to do next. She got the message that her aspirations were important to the company, and now she has spearheaded a new micromentoring program to give others help with realizing their career goals. Employees who have specific skills they want to improve can get matched up with a colleague for some customized coaching sessions.

Centric Financial is one of the few publicly traded banking companies with women in the chief executive and chief financial officer roles. Centric is also distinctive for its enviable growth and performance. Those two facts are not purely coincidental, according to President and CEO Patricia Husic.

Women at JPMorgan Chase don't just settle for the formal check-the-box networking groups. Their grassroots efforts have launched multiple programs to raise the profile of women at the company and help them advance, including a new "30-5-1" campaign inspired by Marianne Lake. Other examples include the globe-trotting Women on the Move initiative and the ReEntry program to help ex-bankers return to the workforce after extended time off.

There's a lot to be done now that KeyCorp has closed on its deal for First Niagara, and it's telling who has been put in charge of the many different facets of the integration. While some might have just a few token women on their leadership team, Key can boast about the diversity of its bench strength.

For several years, Zions Bank has monitored salaries to ensure women aren't being paid less than men for comparable work. Last year, the monitoring went from a semiannual review to a constant lookout.

Lisa McDougald, the deputy general counsel at the $222 billion-asset BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Leon Holschbach, chief executive at Midland States Bancorp, a $3 billion-asset company in Effingham, Ill., were appointed to the board this summer.

Wellesley Bancorp in Massachusetts has appointed New England banking veteran Kathryn Hinderhofer to its board.

Brookline Bancorp in Boston has promoted its head of commercial real estate lending to leader of its entire banking unit.

One CU celebrates more than seven decades of service, while others offer scholarships, financial literacy training, random acts of kindness and more.

JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday named Todd Combs, a protégé of and possible successor to Warren Buffett, to its board of directors.