Joanne Pearce

I am nominating Joanne Pearce, New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp (NHMB) Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer. During her nearly 20 years with NHMB, Joanne has been a constant champion for ensuring all of our organizations are prepared for any major issue that could negatively affect our local communities, our employees and our customers. Her extensive knowledge in business continuity and planning coupled with her natural influence as a leader helped her make planning for disaster situations, including the possibility of a worldwide pandemic, a top priority for the company.

For years, Joanne has guided company leadership and employees through important exercises to look at the way we do business from every angle – thinking of all the “what ifs,” analyzing systems and processes, and identifying creative solutions to keep business up and running during any number of possible disasters. Joanne considered every detail that might happen in a disaster, including planning and discussion about pandemic response. Thanks to Joanne, every employee knew what they would need to do in an emergency and everything was documented in easily accessed and followed procedures. As a result, our sister organizations – Meredith Village Savings Bank, Merrimack County Savings Bank, and Savings Bank of Walpole and NHTrust – were prepared. Cleaning and communication supplies were appropriately ordered, stored and disseminated to all of the appropriate staff and buildings.

In addition, Joanne led daily meetings with the executive team every morning at 7:30am to ensure that all of the needs of all of our organizations were being met.    Thanks to Joanne’s leadership:

• When we wanted to send 1/3 of our workforce home to work so that those who had to work in the offices were exposed to less germs, we were prepared to do that immediately.
• We were able to meet safety requirements so our staff and customers could work together without a hitch – in branch, through the drive-up and with many different technology tools.
• A plan that enabled significant flexibility for staff was implemented to assist parents with unexpected schooling and childcare needs; to aid anyone who needed to support a family member; to allow time for staff to sign up for and get vaccines.
• Another plan providing support for mental health needs, financial support and even an extra holiday for all employees was implemented.
• Communication of verifiable, reliable medical information was regularly supplied to our staff.

Joanne’s foresight and leadership played an integral role in the company’s ability to adapt quickly to changing needs brought on by the pandemic and we would be thrilled to see her efforts acknowledged.   In addition, Joanne worked with two artificial intelligence companies to assist in making major changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) application and forgiveness application.  Prior to this, our lenders had been working every night and weekend in a rush to ensure that our local businesses applied for funding on time.  To date, our three banks have helped generate $180 million in PPP stimulus payments directly benefiting the businesses and employees of NH.   This was made much quicker and easier for local business due to Joanne’s stewardship.

About Joanne Pearce: Joanne joined Meredith Village Savings Bank in 2002 as a Data Security Specialist. She was promoted in 2006 to Vice President of Risk. In 2009, she was promoted again to Senior Vice President, Risk Management Officer. Upon NHMB’s formation in 2013, Joanne was named SVP, Risk Management Officer for the full organization. In 2020 she was promoted to her current role as Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer.  Joanne received graduate level certifications in Digital Transformation from MIT, in Banking from the American Bankers’ Association Stonier Graduate School of Banking and in Leadership from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Master of Business Administration degree from the Kogod School of Business at American University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Trinity College. Joanne is the current Chair for the Risk Committee at the NH Bankers’ Association. Active in her local community, she is a member of the School Board in Holderness. She is a member of the advisory board for the Salvation Army and has regularly volunteered at the Salvation Army’s Turkey Plunge. Joanne resides in Holderness with her family.