Thomas MacMillan Photo
First Niagara Bank’s new chief for New England, David Ring, moved into an office off the New Haven Green Monday — and will be around for local leaders to meet with him about local concerns. There’ll be no “big brother back in corporate.”
That’s what Ring, and his boss, said during an interview on Monday, his first day of work for First Niagara.
Ring, who’s 47, has just joined the Buffalo-based lender, which plans to take over New Haven’s NewAlliance Bank.
The proposed merger has already been approved by the shareholders of the two banks and by the Federal Reserve. It still needs another federal approval and a green light from the state banking department.
Meanwhile, a coalition of opposition has coalesced. Local political and labor leaders have urged the state to reject the merger. They say they fear that the merger will be bad for community lending and local decision-making, because the bank’s decision-makers will be more concerned about its home base of Buffalo.
In a windowless, dark-paneled meeting room on the fourth floor of what is still known as the NewAlliance building, Ring shared a bit about his background. He was joined by First Niagara CEO John Koelmel and Vice President Frank Polino, along with Leslie Garrity, a spokesperson.
Ring said he grew up in Bethany. For a decade starting in 1982, he worked for People’s Bank. Most recently, he’s been working for Wells Fargo (nee Wachovia) as a regional director for an area from Virginia to Boston.
He said he now lives in Yorktown Heights, “just over the border” from Connecticut in Westchester County. He’ll shortly be moving to New Haven, where he’ll have an office at the building at 195 Chapel St.
“Right here, everyday,” he said, knocking on the table in front of him.
His new official title is regional president for New England and head of enterprise banking. He said he’ll oversee commercial lending in New England, where First Niagara will have 350 branches if the takeover of NewAlliance goes through.
Ring said he sympathizes with concerns that local decision-making will be lost after the merger. “I would have that fear too.”
First Niagara is set up to empower local markets to make their own decisions, he said.
It’s a “decentralized,” “locally empowered,” “decisioning process,” Koelmel said.
“There is no big brother back in corporate … pontificating from on high,” he said.
When a customer comes into a local branch of First Niagara for a loan, the bank will be able to make 95 percent of lending decisions right there, Koelmel said. Even for “more complex” deals that require a bigger discussion at the bank, the local markets will have a large say, he said.
Ring said he will be available for meetings with local elected officials and leaders in the non-profit community. “That’s my job as regional director,” he said. “My job is to be out with local leaders.”
“The Real Villain”
Henderson.
Later on Monday, not far from the NewAlliance building, protestors gathered outside another downtown bank. Dozens of people, representing several unions, chanted against corporate greed.
Bill Henderson, president of Communication Workers of America Local 1298, revved up the crowd with megaphone-amplified speech decrying $4‑a-gallon gas, calling health care a right for all workers, and invoking the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was followed by chants of “Don’t buy Bud!” led by workers from the Teamsters, who are locked in a heated battle with Dichello beer distributors in Orange.
Henderson summed up the reason behind the rally: “We’re pissed.” The government is giving tax breaks to the rich, but not extending unemployment benefits, he said. The price of oil has gone up because oil companies are exploiting the trouble in Libya, he said. Meanwhile, workers are facing persecution in the United States, he said.
He said the financial center was chosen as a rally venue because “the real villain is the banks. They’ve put the economy on the brink of collapse.”
