Q&A with President and CEO, Ledyard National Bank Josephine Moran

When I started my career, women really were just getting into the workforce. I don’t think I had a lack of opportunities, but I had to work really hard for them, and I had to prove myself because there was a lot of competition.

Josephine Moran’s journey to New Hampshire was to take on her first gig as a CEO after many years serving in executive level positions at banks in the Northeast.

Moran, president and CEO of Ledyard National Bank, arrived from New Jersey four years ago to serve as president and chief banking officer as part of a succession plan with the bank’s former chief. She became chief executive in May 2023.

Moran has more than 25 years of banking experience. Her most recent role was serving as executive vice president for Provident Bank in Iselin, New Jersey, where her roles included overseeing consumer lending, corporate services and retail banking.

Moran was among the panelists in 2024 for NH Business Review’s annual Powered by Women event. Last year, she was honored with the Social Equity Award in the NH Business Review’s Business Excellence Awards for her commitment to nonprofit and civic work.

Ledyard Financial Group, the Hanover-based holding company for Ledyard Bank, reported quarterly net income per diluted share of $0.59, for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, up 28% from $0.46 in the prior quarter, citing the expansion of core business activity. Net income was $2 million, up 47% over the comparable year-ago period.

“Strong loan growth continued to drive balance sheet expansion, and wealth management revenue increased with growth in AUM (assets under management),” the company said in a press release.

Moran recently appeared as a guest on the “Down to Business” podcast with NH Business Review editors Amanda Andrews and Mike Cote. This story was adapted from that interview.

Q. Banking has changed a lot and become very digital, with a different atmosphere. What technology is driving this innovation?

A. Digital banking has been around for a while, and it’s just gotten better and better and more personalized, more targeted. We’ve been able to offer great services to our clients but not lose that personal touch.

Last year, we refreshed our brand. We combined our digital platform, and we call it “Onward.” The Onward platform is an entire digital hub, and we are able to offer anything that a larger bank can offer. Within Onward you have online and mobile banking. We have a budgeting tool, which is fantastic for budgeting and forecasting. We have something called CardConnect, where you have control over your debit card for purchases and for alerts if you’re going away. We have CreditSense, which is much more than just looking at your score.

We have Zelle, which is instant payments, and a digital wallet, of course, like with Apple Pay and Google. It’s very simple, and people appreciate the fact that it’s omnichannel.

Q. You have specific targeted services like health care banking. Explain what that is and how it works.

A. All of the markets that we serve have hospitals, and there’s a lot of opportunity around health care banking. We created an entire program for health care professionals. It doesn’t matter what industry of health care; it doesn’t matter what your position is. You actually have a private banker that’s assigned to you so it’s concierge service. We do everything on the consumer side and the business side.

As a consumer, let’s just say you received a contract from Dartmouth and you’re going to be moving to the area. We will offer specialized lending to you, up to 100% loan to value. And then you have that one person that’s helping you through the move and everything that you need.

We have specialized deposit and lending services on the business side. We do business acquisition. If somebody wants to start a practice — dentists, veterinarians, med spa or equipment financing. All the different business lines are working together with you from Ledyard to make your experience great. We started the program a little over a year ago. It’s going really, really well. We’ve been able to support a lot of people.

Q. There are not a lot of women in C-level positions in the banking industry. What have you seen in your career?

A. There are about 4,500 banks, and there are less than 700 women CEOs. When I go to conferences, you see there are more women in the C-suite. We have definitely made some progress there, but we still have a lot of work to do.

When I started my career, women really were just getting into the workforce. I don’t think I had a lack of opportunities, but I had to work really hard for them, and I had to prove myself, because there was a lot of competition. You just had to go that extra step.