Business View Magazine | July 2022

118 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 7 “Current membership in IBANYS includes 62 banks of the 96 in the state that are considered to be true community banks. By definition, that is $12 billion in assets or under. We signed seven new banks this year and a lot of it had to do with our communication efforts to keep members updated. About 85 percent of our members are in upstate New York, with nine members in the metropolitan New York area that includes some of Westchester, five boroughs, and Long Island.” BVM: What are you most passionate about as President of IBANYS? Witkowski: “My philosophy is: we’re just focused on community banking and what we can do to support you. To make sure you continue to thrive and be an important industry in New York State. That’s really what it comes down to. We don’t have to look at what’s going on at the bigger banks to see if they’re willing to be part of IBANYS. All banks should be on the same page, there’s no doubt about that, but the larger banks have a different set of rules. I ran a bank for several years, I was part of a big bank for a number of years, so I came from the banking side. That’s my background, so I have an understanding of what community bank presidents and CEOs are going through. So for new banks coming into the association, I tell them we’re going to communicate with you, we’re going to talk to you and ask for your opinion. We’re going to make sure you know that you’re wanted and you’re supported by an organization that will do what we can to help you thrive.” BVM: What advantage do community banks in New York State have over the ‘big guys’? Witkowski: “During COVID, community banks were doing PPP loans and picking up a lot of new business that was unexpected – from people and businesses that had gone to the larger banks and were turned down. That is Witkowski: “On our IBANYS staff, along with me, is my full-time Director of Administration Linda Gregoire – who is a key person in this organization. I also have a part-time Communications Director, Steve Rice, who helps put together our Wednesday newsletter and creates our daily education resource emails that we send out to bank presidents with state and federal updates. We also pay a part-time lobbyist, who has been doing this work for over 35 years. He knows the representatives at the state level well and does a great job. We are a lean but mighty team that does as much as we can to be supportive of the industry.