Norway Savings announces first step toward CEO Weigel's retirement
Photos / Tim Greenway and Courtesy, Norway Savings Bank
Norway Savings Bank President and CEO Patricia Weigel was among the most recent top execs to retire in 2021. Dan Walsh took over her role as president and CEO.
Norway Savings Bank on Tuesday announced the promotion of Dan Walsh, executive vice president for commercial lending, to president, taking over some of the responsibilities of Patricia Weigel before she retires in December 2021.
Weigel, the current president and CEO who turned 60 last year, will remain as CEO until her retirement. She was also named chairwoman of the bank's board of directors.
"Our plan is for me to work closely with Dan over the next 15 months to ensure a smooth transition, and then the CEO announcement will be made next year as I move closer to retirement," she told Mainebiz.
Weigel joined Norway Savings in 2001 as its first female president and CEO, and is the only female leader of a top 10 Maine-based bank. Norway Savings was No. 8 in the latest Mainebiz list of the largest Maine-based bank based on assets as of Dec. 31, 2019.
As of June 30, 2020, the bank's total assets stood at $1.418 billion. The mutual banking and financial services company, founded in 1866, has 24 branches and operates divisions in asset management, personal banking and business banking.
'Advancing important work'
Weigel told Mainebiz on Wednesday that while she is concerned about the fact that there are still so few female bank CEOs, she is hopeful the landscape will look different in the next decade.
"Those decisions start in the board room," she said, "and I see more banks recognizing that better-performing boards and banks include a rich diversity of women and men, and are appointing more women to their boards than in the past. I’m pleased to be staying on our board in the chairwoman capacity, so I hope to continue advancing this important work."
She also addressed that theme in a 2018 interview for a Mainebiz cover story, in which she referred to a "sea of change" for women in banking.
“Maybe the change has been a little bit slower to come to the country's larger banks," she said at the time, "but in community banks such as Norway, we are seeing a lot of change.”
Walsh's background
Walsh, a native of Malden, Mass., who moved with his family Maine in 1992, was vice president and commercial lender at Coastal Bank when it was acquired by Norway Savings Bank in 2001. He remained in that position until 2007, when he was promoted to regional vice president overseeing Norway Savings Bank’s southern Maine markets.
In 2011 he was named senior vice president, assuming overall leadership of the commercial lending team, and in 2016 he was promoted to executive vice president.
“For Dan, opportunities to build and strengthen relationships with employees, customers, and members of the community are what motivate him each day," Weigel said in Tuesday's announcement. "No doubt, Dan will continue to build on the legacy that makes Norway Savings Bank one of the most successful community banks in Maine."
Norway Savings Bank said that under Walsh's direction this year, it made more than 1,400 federal Paycheck Protection Program loans to help small businesses weather the pandemic.
“As we continue to navigate through the pandemic-related challenges that have created hardships for so many, we remain firmly committed to our mission of delivering the best banking experience in Maine by creating opportunities and building relationships with our customers, our employees and our communities,” Walsh said in a statement. “It is my honor to serve as the 17th president in the 154-year history of Norway Savings Bank."
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