By Michael Blanding
Dorothy Savarese, MBA ’04, HDCS ’21, witnessed the power of banks early on in her career. After graduating from a small college in Kentucky, she worked as a community organizer in the then-struggling city of Covington, just across the river from Cincinnati. She helped start a department of economic development, working closely with local banks to form public-private partnerships to jump-start the economy.
“I saw the tremendous impact that happens when there is revitalization and people have jobs,” she says.
Now, more than 40 years later, she is still evangelizing for the power of community banking, as the recently retired CEO and now executive chair of Cape Cod 5. “The nation needs an ecosystem of banks of all sizes,” she says. “Community banks serve an incredibly important purpose as the largest lender to small businesses. They have an understanding of the needs of local communities, and can be a trusted advisor of individuals, businesses, and families.”
American Banker magazine perennially ranked Savarese as one of the nation’s 25 most powerful women in banking, crediting her with building Cape Cod 5 into “one of New England’s most influential banks” while remaining “mindful of its responsibility as a corporate citizen.” Last November, the magazine named her its Community Banker of the Year.
Under her leadership, Cape Cod 5 championed economic and environmental resiliency on the Cape, financing affordable housing and initiatives combating climate change. Savarese has also served on advisory councils for the Federal Reserve and FDIC, and served as a member of former Governor Charlie Baker’s economic development task force and most recently on the Healey-Driscoll Climate Policy Transition Committee. In 2021, Suffolk awarded her an honorary degree, and she now serves on the University’s Board of Trustees. And recently she established the Dorothy A. Savarese Scholarship Fund to support Cape Cod students who demonstrate financial need.
Cape Cod is a unique location, Savarese says, with seasonal employment and sometimes wide disparities in wealth between vacationers, second homeowners, and locals. As a community bank, Cape Cod 5 has to use its local knowledge to toe the line between supporting neighbors and making realistic decisions about credit-worthiness. “You are doing someone a disservice if you make a loan they can’t repay,” she says.
Savarese started her career at Cape Cod 5 as a commercial lender, and then became a developer of new financial products. When her boss was approaching retirement, she went to Suffolk for her MBA, taking classes online and during nights and weekends to gain experience in case a potential new chief executive cleaned house and she found herself out of a job. Instead, the bank offered the job to her. In the decades since, she has not only spearheaded local development and philanthropic efforts but also transformed the culture of the bank, diversifying its staff and being more proactive in serving customers.
Stepping down as CEO last year, Savarese can look with satisfaction on the legacy she has left behind. “I’m proud to see just how many people for whom we’ve made home ownership possible,” she says. “A lot of the businesses I helped customers start when I first got here 30 years ago are now being run by their children. It’s overwhelming to see the impact we’ve had on families in the community.”
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Photograph by Faith Ninivaggi
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Discovering common ground
