OWIB Alumnae Updates: King-Goodwin leads the charge on change
Photo | Matthew Wright
Alumnae updates: Sheila King-Goodwin, Class of 2020
With a new title and strategic realignment of services in the rear-view mirror, Sheila King-Goodwin is ready for leadership beyond her role as senior vice president and chief community banking officer at Leominster-based Fidelity Bank.
Shortly after King-Goodwin joined Fidelity in 2019, it was her job to reimagine branding of retail services in the community, bringing what Fidelity calls Life Design to Central Massachusetts customers. It was an intentional process, King-Goodwin said, of understanding what customers needed – whether a mortgage or a business loan – and making sure they knew where to find it.
“There are so many different banks and credit unions in our community. We really wanted to say ‘What do we stand for, who are we, and how are we different?’” said King-Goodwin, who oversees all of Fidelity’s retail locations as well as a call center and insurance and investment division.
Becoming more dialed-in to community lending needs prompted King-Goodwin’s title change. In 2020, she was chief retail banking officer. Now, her position matches Fidelity’s community banking centers, rather than the former generic bank branches.
King-Goodwin is spreading her wings beyond the bank. In October 2022, she became a trustee on the board for Fitchburg State University. There, she helps oversee university operations for the student life department, guiding decisions about student housing, programs and activities, and dining.
“All the things that make a student’s life at college,” King-Goodwin said. “Many times, these are what draw them to a school.”
Relishing the opportunity to boost Fitchburg State, the only four-year college in North Central Massachusetts, King-Goodwin has led the charge on diversity, equity, and inclusion, both at Fidelity and for the banking industry in Massachusetts. She helped form the Massachusetts Bankers Association Diversity Committee, which is tasked with bringing inclusive hiring tools to banks of all sizes across the state.
King-Goodwin said the appetite to embrace diversity is there, but smaller banks may not have the staff to dedicate to the process. By providing training and assistance in forming DEI policies, the industry group hopes to make banks more inclusive places of business.
“Everybody has the curiosity and desire. They might not always have the resources,” King-Goodwin said.
At Fidelity, about 70% of employees are women, and 68% of senior management roles are held by women, making the bank an outlier when it comes to women in executive leadership.
Fidelity is meeting its goal for ethnic diversity: 18% of employees are considered ethnically diverse, which King-Goodwin said mirrors the local population. “I know I’ve seen a shift, especially at the senior management level.”
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