For Patel, It's Bank to the Future With Rockville

Donna Patel has been named to the newly created position of senior vice president of virtual banking at Rockville Bank. 

In making the announcement on Tuesday, William H. W. Crawford IV, the bank's president and chief executive officer, called Patel, "a seasoned, respected and national banking business leader."

Crawford said he considers Patel to be "in a leading role." Patel will be responsible for managing Rockville’s non-branch delivery channels to provide, "an enhanced, integrative high-tech customer experience."

"This includes providing the direction, planning and execution of the virtual banking offerings Rockville Bank wants to deliver to its customers, ensuring anyone who banks with Rockville benefits from a seamless customer experience," Crawford said.

In addition, Patel will be in charge of Rockville Bank’s Contact Center - which is now open seven days a week, the Web site and ATMs with the goal of "effectively integrating them with bank’s virtual banking capabilities, Crawford said. 

Patel comes to Rockville Bank from Charlotte, NC, where she was senior vice president, online and mobile product executive, at Bank of America. In that role, she directed product strategy for, "a full suite of digital products for the Bank’s 30 million digital customers, including online banking, online bill pay, transfers, online wires, online document suppression and alerts. She also developed a digital customer service strategy to support Bank of America’s goal of becoming No. 1 in customer service by 2014," Crawford said. 

Patel also spent 10 years with Wells Fargo National Bank/Wachovia, holding the position of senior vice president, consumer online banking executive, where she managed the bank’s online banking products for the combined Company’s 17 million online customers. 

“At Rockville Bank, superior customer service is more than just words. It is what we offer our customers so they benefit from a first-class banking experience," Crawford said. "As customer visits to branches become less frequent and more of them rely on their mobile phone and tablet to complete a bank transaction, it was critical for us to conduct a thorough national search to find the right leader to make sure we stay ahead of the latest technology in banking.” 

Crawford added, "We already know we outperform our peers when it comes to the personal service and customer experience we provide in our branches. Now, we have Donna Patel who will help us earn the same reputation when it comes to providing a superior virtual banking experience for our online and mobile customers.”

What made coming to Connecticut and Rockville Bank appealing was "Rockville’s vision and commitment to growing its virtual banking capability," Patel said.  

She added, "Rockville Bank is known for providing superior customer service and that means as our customers’ banking habits change, we must continue to stay ahead of the curve in providing the most convenient, customer-focused options they require. I am confident we will create an online and mobile banking experience that will complement the great job we do in our branches,” Patel said.
Patel is based in Rockville Bank’s executive offices in Glastonbury and reports to Marino Santarelli, the Bank’s chief operating officer.