As 2024 came to a close, I reflected upon Sawyer Savings Bank’s achievements throughout the year. An accomplishment that stood out was a series of adjustments that were made that strengthened our financial position while always being mindful of meeting the needs of our customers. We repositioned our portfolio of financial products, expanded our customer service experience, tailored our Senior Management team to meet the needs of the bank and its customers, and reaffirmed our commitment to the surrounding community.
Sawyer Savings Bank has been part of our community for over 153 years. During that time, we have been with you as you celebrated “your firsts”: when you deposited your first paycheck, bought your first home, or opened your first business. We have made ourselves available to you to help make your financial goals a reality. But it takes more to be a successful bank than simply being open to our customers. We also have done a lot of work behind-the-scenes. Through the years, we have remained cognizant of the changes within American and global economies and anticipated how those changes were mirrored in our local financial landscape. We have consistently taken decisive action to ensure that we, as a financial institution, and our customers thrive through the changing, sometimes ambiguous economic cycles. Last year, like most years, we were prepared for the challenges that were presented such as when the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates or Wall Street experienced fluctuations in the Stock Market. We proactively adjusted our portfolio of products to safeguard the bank and its customers as we continued to meet customers’ financial needs and expectations.
In addition to our robust offerings of financial products, we also have focused on our customer service operations and digital user experience through:
- Online Banking Upgrades and new features
- Anticipated addition of Apple Pay and Google pay for your digital wallet
- Upcoming introduction of Positive Pay, a service to assist business customers detect and prevent check fraud
Fraud prevention has, unfortunately, become a necessity for us to focus on. However, we have and will adapt our operations to maintain secure banking operations for our customers. The use of Positive Pay is a great example of how we can reduce unauthorized transactions, limit the risk of duplicate checks, receive alerts about suspicious activity, decline questionable payments, and reconcile customer business accounts more easily.
We also focused on the composition of our Senior Management team:
- Jenn Gutheil-Denier was promoted Senior Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer where she will continue to oversee Customer Experience, Deposits, Marketing, and Loan Servicing, while also leading the Commercial and Residential Lending departments. I am confident Jenn will continue to elevate our operational systems to a level of excellence that reflects Sawyer Savings Bank’s vision of success.
- We recently welcomed Ronald K. Myers to our team as Senior Vice- President and Chief Financial Officer. Ronald’s expansive banking and financial management background will provide stability to the position while also generating opportunities for Sawyer Savings Bank to flourish.
To close, I would like to reiterate our dedicated position within our community by showcasing some of the local nonprofits that we have supported through donations and/or donating our time to. Below are only a few organizations that mirror our goal of making the Hudson Valley a better place to live:
- Boys and Girls Club of Ulster County – Their mission is to inspire and enable all youth to lead better lives by providing positive opportunities to develop the qualities needed to become responsible citizens and adults.
- Peoples Place – A not-for-profit organization feeding, clothing and responding to the needs of the people in Ulster County with kindness, compassion and the preservation of human dignity since 1972.
- Highland Rotary Foundation – The primary focus of the Foundation is to support children’s services but also funds high school scholarships, community food and clothing pantries, literacy programs amongst other community recipients.
Best regards,
James Whitaker
President & CEO