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After working with three different large public banks for over 30 years, Lisa Oliver joined The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod as its president and CEO in 2017.
She was the bank's first female president in its 104-year history.
The move was counter to how some people's career trajectories go, with many starting at smaller banks and moving to larger banks as their careers progress.
But for Oliver, the transition was intentional.
"I wanted to work for an organization not beholden to Wall Street and shareholders who expected quarterly returns," she recalled. "I wanted to be part of an organization that allowed us to make longer-term, visionary decisions around supporting the symbiotic relationship between what a community needs and what it means to provide that. I didn't want the backlash of stock prices."
Over the past year, Oliver — who added the new title of chair of the board to her list of responsibilities in 2020 – helped spearhead what she describes as "a reinvestment" in The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod.
The institution took the subordinated debt that it had taken during the Covid pandemic in 2021 and launched a new online banking system in partnership with a fintech company called Alkami. The initiative launched in August.
The bank is also rebranding its image and its name. The rebrand will include a new website and redesign, along with a new client relationship management system, that will be unveiled in September. "It's really hard for people to understand what the word 'cooperative' means in the name of the bank, even though it's been here for over 100 years," Oliver explains. "For younger people, especially Gen Z, we asked 'what does cooperative mean when you think about banking?' "
For Oliver, it's a bittersweet way to end her banking career as she's set to retire this year.
"It comes with mixed feelings, now that we've gotten to this point and we're ready to go with all this great stuff," she said. "I think that's what I'm most proud of – seeing this team really get to that point and be ready to go with it."
Meanwhile, it's clear that Oliver has taken her commitment to the community of Cape Cod seriously over the years.
She is a member of the hand-picked Canal Bridges Task Force, a group of community leaders lobbying Congress and advocating for federal funds to replace Cape Cod's critical, but aging bridges.
Oliver is also proud of the efforts of The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod Foundation Trust, which was created under her leadership in 2018 and has served as president. To date, the foundation has distributed more than $1 million in funding to local and regional nonprofits.
She's also the founding member of the Fund for Women and Girls of The Cape Cod Foundation, which provides support to the underserved and underrepresented female BIPOC community on the Cape.
The goal there, Oliver said, is "to help girls so maybe they don't get to the point where they are women still needing help and guidance."
Editor's Note: After we went to press, The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod changed its name to Cape & Coast Bank.
