Building a successful team needs to start with people who have the right expertise and mindset, said Mary Hines Droesch, a member of
The best team members "can see possibilities and not get stuck on: 'Oh, we've tried that before,' or 'We'll never get the funding for it,' or all the why-we-shouldn't-do-somethings," said Droesch, who is
The goal of the regional banking team members is to partner across their respective business lines or service areas to bring in more clients to
"It's much easier to convince them to offer these to their employees, given the relationships we already have," Droesch said. EBI added 180 enrolled companies in 2024, expanding the total EBI companies to 628, with 5.3 million eligible employees.
Lorna Sabbia, the head of workplace benefits, said that successful teams also need to foster frank and open discussions.
"It's all about having the right people at the table who have comfort to be candid and honest about what they know and their expertise, for the greater good of a particular project," Sabbia said."Teams work the best when we provide an environment that says: 'Listen, we want best ideas. This isn't about whether somebody's right or wrong.'"
Whenever Droesch is leading a team meeting, she tries to get everyone involved from the outset by kicking off the discussion with a silly question that everyone is required to answer, such as: What's your favorite condiment? Or what's on the home screen of your smartphone?
"By doing that, they're now all participating and I have found that it changes the dynamics of the meetings," Droesch said. "You're not just getting the extroverts jumping in; you're able to ensure that you get diversity of thought, which ultimately delivers a better product."
She also prompts the more introverted team members to speak, to make sure their opinions are heard. "A risk person who might have concerns, you want to get them out in the open so you can work through them," she says, which could mean asking: "Hey, we haven't heard from you; what's your point of view on this?"
For anyone interested in becoming a valued team member in the future, O'Neill—head of consumer, retail and preferred banking—recommends taking on "voluntold" opportunities, when an employee volunteers for what is actually a thinly disguised assignment.
"You're given an opportunity to do something that you may not have raised your hand for. And I typically think it's a good learning experience for people," O'Neill said. "It opens your aperture to things that you normally would not have been drawn to, and those oftentimes are important things to put on your experience list." A salesperson who works a stint in a risk group, or a risk person with a sales team, for example, will probably return to their original job with a more well-rounded perspective that will help them work across bank lines in the future, she said.
The Team
Holly O'Neill, President of Consumer, Retail and Preferred Banking
Dean Athanasia, President of Regional banking
Sheri Bronstein, Chief People Officer
Ankana Datta, Product Initiatives Executive
Matt Gellene, Head of Specialized Consumer Client Solutions
Nikki Katz, Head of Digital
Sharon Miller, President, Co-head of Business Banking
Mark Monaco, Head of Global Payments Solutions
Shikha Narula, Product Strategy, Transformation and Rewards Executive
Lorna Sabbia, Head of Workplace Benefits
Wendy Stewart, President of Global Commercial Banking
David Tyrie, President of Marketing, Digital and Specialized Consumer Client Solutions.
