“Everything has changed around me, but I’ve been sitting at this same desk, within these same four walls, for 30 years,” says Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Drew Wallach.
Not that he’s complaining. North Shore Bank is thriving, and he has played a key role in its success.
Hired in 1984, Drew came on board to manage North Shore Bank’s investment portfolio. He had managed investment sales for a prominent area bank, but even that experience could not have fully prepared him for what was ahead.
Since then, the markets have whipsawed investors. The U.S. economy took a nosedive in 2008. The global economy foundered as well, taking down some of the world’s largest financial firms, along with dozens of banks. Interest rates have plummeted: Mortgages were 11.5 percent in 1984 when Drew was hired, down from a high of 20 percent just four years earlier. Now they’re a fraction of that.
Through it all, North Shore Bank has stayed the course. Its reputation for stability and profitability is intact. Drew has had a hand in the vision and many of the practices that have maintained our steady path.
Goal: Do the most for the most
Drew holds a BBA and an MBA, and he is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He describes his responsibilities in terms of an overall corporate goal: “I want us to do the most we can for the most people.”
That means operating at a profit, which brings job security for bank staff and financial security for customers. His analytical skills and financial experience have contributed significantly to ensuring sustained profitability.
“Banking is an unusual business model,” Drew says. “Our customers are also our suppliers. They provide funds in the form of deposits, and we lend and invest those funds to generate profit, rewarding them with earned interest.”
Determining what will generate the best return is a complex process that involves poring over spread sheets, keeping an eye on investment trends, having a comfortable familiarity with global economies and world events, analyzing cash flow, and exercising a keen, well-developed sense of sound judgment.
Technology helps Drew make sense of the “complex jumble” — his description for the many elements that make his job an interesting challenge. “I love the analytical process,” he says, “and technology makes it easier to stay abreast of trends and opportunities.”
But technology does not operate in a vacuum. A practice called “risk modeling” has emerged from the financial crisis. Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company notes: “Managers relied too heavily on short-sighted models and too lightly on their own expertise and insight. Nothing substitutes for human judgment in evaluating business risks and setting the right course of action, in good times as well as bad.”
Drew considers North Shore Bank’s leader, Chairman and CEO Jim McKenna, a master of risk management. “If I had to use one word to describe him, it would be ‘insightful.’ He can discern facts and truths; he can reduce things to their essence in the swirl of everything going on around him. His insight and ability to judge complex things seems intuitive.”
New responsibilities added in 2010
Promoted to chief financial officer in 2010, which brought new responsibilities for financial oversight beyond investments, Drew is quick to credit his predecessor, President and COO Jay McKenna. “Jay laid the groundwork that made it easy for me to step into the additional role.”
Drew also is quick to laud Controller Nancy Lepic and Assistant Controller Heather Stevlingson, CPAs who “are so darned good at what they do” in monitoring and reporting the bank’s overall performance.
Drew now also coordinates rate setting for fixed-rate mortgages with Loan Processing & Closing VP Nicole Daniels and the Mortgage Secondary Market team. This has opened a view on a whole new complex world. “They do such a great job in keeping us ahead of frequent changes in regulations and making it all work for our customers.”
Although staff members’ skills and work ethic are important to how smoothly the bank operates, he doesn’t forget the role technology plays here as well. “Technology enhances and expands not only our effectiveness with customers, but the impact we can have within. We are able to do more with existing staff members than we would have been able to do in the past.”
“Skills need to be deep and wide if you want to be successful and to advance,” he says. “As North Shore continues to grow, opportunities will expand for ambitious people who add to their competencies. We can’t always hand things off to others. Those who step up, go beyond their job description and fill the gaps will be rewarded.”
Drew speaks from 30 years of experience when he says, “I’m fortunate to love what I do and to feel valued for the role I play at North Shore Bank.”
In addition to occupying the same office for 30 years, Drew adds this bit of trivia from his time here: All five of his daughters were born under the bank’s health plan.