With a proud tradition of helping professional women connect with each other and their community, the Women’s Financial Group at NB|AZ^® has evolved to enhance opportunities for women who work at all levels within the bank.

“The vision for the future is to include any and all NB|AZ women who want to participate in growing professionally,” explains Mary Holman, executive vice president and director of private banking for NB|AZ, and the president of the Women’s Financial Group.

“We want to ensure that women are represented at all employment levels—entry, middle management and senior management—throughout the entire footprint of our organization,” she adds. “And we’re looking forward to our senior leaders helping women grow and become engaged in the community.”

According to Holman, the refreshed Women’s Financial Group takes a grassroots and hands-on approach to fostering women’s interest in furthering their professional and personal goals and helping the community. She hopes the new group will attract members from Tucson and rural markets, as well as those who live in the greater Phoenix area.

The Women’s Financial Group was originally formed about nine years ago and Holman says it was intended for any woman in business—including employees or customers of NB|AZ or professional women with no ties to the bank. But the time commitments became too burdensome and the goal of promoting collaboration between the bank and the community is now gradually shifting to assist women within the bank with their career goals who also have a desire to learn more about the community and volunteer opportunities.

“We don’t want to take up too much of people’s time with this group,” Holman says. “We have to be sensitive to time commitments. I’m envisioning perhaps quarterly meetings for any woman who works at NB|AZ and wants to participate.”

An initial meeting was held in late July by senior leaders to brainstorm ideas for engaging women employees, Holman says. Ideas for future meeting topics include volunteering in the community, professional education, and visits to a variety of organizations within the community.

While it’s modeled loosely after local leadership groups whose members learn about community infrastructure and the needs of the local population, the Women’s Financial Group is open to every woman who works at NB|AZ. It also will be an ongoing opportunity whose members don’t “graduate” after a set period of time.

“We want to have senior women within the organization be accessible and help other women in the bank grow and achieve their goals,” Holman says. “We will be engaging in community activities to promote relationship-building while helping those in need.”

Debra Gelbart; ElevateAZ, Fall 2018