BNB Bank balances growth and a small-business corporate culture

Bridgehampton-based BNB Bank, a 108-year-old financial institution, seeks to strike a balance between growth and a small-business corporate culture.

BNB, which has nearly 500 full- and part-time employees and 38 branches, is embracing technological changes in the ways customers prefer to bank and managing increasing concerns over security all while holding onto a corporate culture that keeps talented employees in its ranks.

A survey of its employees, conducted for Newsday by Exton, Pennsylvania, research firm Energage, ranked BNB at the No. 3 spot among midsize employers in Long Island's Top Workplaces.

Kevin O’Connor, chief executive and president of parent company Bridge Bancorp, said when he joined the firm as president in 2007 at the start of the nation's economic crisis, the financial world was falling apart. Many employees of competitors were worried about their futures, he said.

“We had a lot of banks in trouble, and a lot of bankers were frustrated and scared about where their career was going to go,” said O’Connor, who previously worked at North Fork Bank before its sale to Capital One in 2006. “We were sort of the spot where they could join. So we took what was a dozen branches and $600 million to [nearly] 40 branches today and $4.5 billion in size by basically bringing in talented bankers.”

Many BNB employees responding to the workplace survey said there were growth opportunities within the company and BNB focuses on recognizing talent.

For Vaughn Henry, a recently promoted credit manager at the firm, BNB’s insistence on promoting from within was the selling point that brought him from his prior banking job.

“Where I was previously I guess the advancement came to a standstill,” said Henry, who’s worked in banking for 15 years. “I wanted to advance my career further, and I saw BNB as an opportunity . . . but I didn’t know that the company would align its corporate goals with my personal goals.”

The company has placed a focus on keeping employees at the firm by offering a job shadowing program, an internal job fair, and in-house training for those looking to beef up their skill set, company officials said. 

“The employees that we have — we’ve made a big effort to bring them in," O'Connor said. "Once they ’re here and they’ve done a nice job for you, you want to figure a way to keep them here.”

The company works to identify employees with aspirations for advancement starting at the branch level.

Joe Orlando, branch manager of BNB's Wading River location, started his banking career at age 17 as a teller for North Fork and subsequently Capital One. Orlando eventually became a customer service representative for a branch before his position was eliminated as the bank  cut staff. He applied — at the suggestion of former colleagues — to work at BNB.

"The culture here was very different," said Orlando, who started working for BNB in 2011 as a customer service representative. He said he quickly was given the "impression that this company actually cares about its employees." 

After a year on the job, Orlando was promoted to assistant branch manager, and two years later he was promoted to branch manager on Shelter Island.

While BNB’s growth has been mostly organic, the company has completed three acquisitions over the last decade. It was the company’s $140 million purchase of Community National Bank in 2015 that brought Eileen O'Brien into BNB’s ranks.

“Anytime you’re acquired you’re a little nervous,” said O'Brien, a senior-level banker with more than 30 years’ experience and who has been through four acquisitions in her career. "It’s the nature of banking.“

Immediately after starting at BNB, O'Brien said, she was struck by the firm's warm and welcoming atmosphere, and the "very hands-off management style."

"They’ve got confidence in their employees," she said. "When you give someone autonomy you make them feel valued."

- Victor Ocasio