Fidelity Bank builds on merger momentum

Christopher McCarthy, president and chief operating officer at Fidelity Bank, who was hired from TD Bank

Laurie Benson, the head of retail banking at Fidelity Bank, who was hired away from TD Bank

Brenda Woods, the Fidelity branch manager in Gardner, hired from TD Bank

Matthew Williams, branch manager in Paxton, hired from Citizens Bank

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By Sloane M. Perron

Thanks mostly to its merger with Barre Savings Bank in April, Fidelity Bank has grown to the second largest mutual bank in Worcester County.

As that merger was going through the approval process and eventually netting the Leominster-based bank 10 locations, 160 employees and $780 million in assets, Fidelity was stocking up on employees from other banks, filling up its leadership positions from the ranks of TD Bank, Leominster Credit Union and Citizens Bank.“First and foremost, the thing we look for first, is a person who has the right cultural fit in terms of the bank,” said Christopher McCarthy, president and chief operating officer at Fidelity.

Fidelity is riding a trend in the banking industry where big banks have started to close and smaller local banks have been able to diversify their branches, said Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“The trend that they are a part of is a positive thing,” Murray said.

McCarthy, who joined Fidelity in September 2015 shortly after the Barre merger was announced, is the head of the contingent of Fidelity executives who came from TD Bank, which is headquartered in Toronto but is the third largest bank in Central Massachusetts with 28 branches and $2.3 billion in local deposits.

Joining McCarthy from TD Bank are Laurie Benson, the new Fidelity head of retail banking who started in April; Barry Bliss, the senior vice president and chief commercial banking officer; and Brenda Woods, the Gardner branch manager and a vice president.

Benson worked at TD Bank for 19 years, where she met McCarthy. Her new responsibilities include hiring the right teams for Fidelity's various branches as well as creating new and innovative programs at the bank.

As a people person, Benson gravitated towards Fidelity's culture of being caring, collaborative and focusing on the clients' needs.

“It's being able to assist our clients at their speed, the clients' speed.” Benson said. “There are a lot of great banks out there, but a lot of great banks do not have that culture.”

The other recent hires from outside banks include the new Fidelity branch manager in Paxton, Matthew Williams – who joined in August and was Citizens Bank branch manager in Gardner and Littleton – and the new vice president and home loan specialist Pamela Tortora, who joined in July from Leominster Credit Union.

The merger with Barre also brought in a whole host of new Fidelity employees. That transaction led the to grow about 25 percent, McCarthy said, which would have taken about three years to obtain otherwise. The only Worcester County mutual bank larger than Fidelity is UniBank for Savings, headquartered in Worcester.

“We're a community bank and we want to be known as a caring, trusted and respected financial partner with our clients,” Benson said.