As part of Finovate’s Women in Fintech series, we spoke with Anita Drentlaw, President of New Market Bank.

Drentlaw is a fourth generational banker, who is committed to serving her community and keeping the bank within the family. She is passionate about the uniqueness of community banks and their importance in the financial industry – especially given the role of community banks in the recent disbursement of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Drentlaw continues to build on and add to the bank’s family-like culture, developing leaders, and helping her team achieve strategic plans. She’s also involved in her local chamber of commerce, mentorship organizations, and non-profits.

What got you interested in finance and banking, and what do you enjoy most in your role?

Anita Drentlaw: Banking has been a family business for five generations, and I’m proud to carry on our family traditions and legacies. I’ve found community banking to be a perfect fit with my personality, lifestyle, and values.

What I like most about the role is the variety; it all starts with how we’re able to help and give back to the community. Community banking is about finding ways to work together to make something great. On any given day, I’m working with four generations of my family, including my daughter who worked with us over the summer.

I’ve also enjoyed being able to create a culture that makes everyone feel like they’re part of this family; they want to be here and are as proud of the New Market Bank as we are.

Are there family legacies you hope to pass onto future generations as it relates to the bank and its culture?

Drentlaw: Each generation builds upon our family’s culture to create something stronger. We have a great leadership development program focused on developing our team as well as the next generation of bankers. Our family is committed to staying a family-owned bank; our community has an appreciation for our commitment to staying a family-owned institution and giving back. That is a big part of our legacy.

I want to pass on the idea that not everything is black and white. I came from an accounting background where I believed everything always had to be perfect. But my dad changed this for me. He told me to accept that 80% is sometimes good enough and sometimes there’s gray in the world. This challenged me to think beyond my idea of perfection and do the same for others at our bank.

What is the difference between managing and leading? And how does it impact the bank’s culture?

Drentlaw: In the leadership development program that we have attended, our instructor, Erik Therwanger of ThinkGREAT, always says, “manage the work, but lead the people.” I think that statement is so true. We’re a bank that likes to lead; we empower our team to be leaders and provide them with the tools necessary to be successful. Being a leader requires having a stake in the game. We want our team to feel like they’re part of a larger vision and mission – one that they’ve helped create, have ownership in, and feel strongly about accomplishing. We’re not in the business of managing our employees, but want them to feel like the bank is just as much a part of their family as it ours.

Why is it important to strike a balance between in-person and digital interactions these days?

Drentlaw: There’s a place for both in-person banking and digital interactions, and the pandemic has certainly proved this concept. The need to move to a largely digital environment, for our team as well as customers, was possible thanks to the modern technologies we’ve added from partners like Jack Henry.

Moving forward, we must be available to customers whenever, wherever, and however we can be. While digital has expanded our customer touchpoints, it’s not – and shouldn’t be – the only way we communicate and build relationships. People bank at community banks like ours for the relationship; we’re the people who care – the ones at the football games, church events, restaurants. People might not think brick and mortar is important, yet branches aren’t completely obsolete, and customers still visit them. We want to be there for our customers for things they’d prefer to do in-person, as well as those that they choose to do online. For us, it’s about offering choices to our customers to meet their lifestyles and banking needs.

Why is advocating for women – and yourself – important in the industry?

Drentlaw: As women in the fintech industry, we have a duty to inspire and show other women what success can be. Advocating for yourself means standing up for what you believe in and never settling for anything less than you deserve. It’s about being brave enough to have the tough conversations and challenging the status quo. For younger women, it’s about finding their voice and tapping into the wisdom needed to reach the next level. We’re building the next generation of leaders in the industry, and that must include strong female leadership and influence.

Where do you think the future of fintech is heading over the next 12 months?

Drentlaw: This past year has shown the importance of community. We were able to help 360 small businesses in the South Metro tap into the Paycheck Protection Program – many of which were not existing customers. These loans infused more than $25 million into small businesses and our communities.

Next, fintech can help community bankers continue to revive our economies with greater customer insights that allow us to be more consultative and develop even deeper relationships. I have a feeling we’re going to see strong use cases launched to strengthen the relationships that consumers and businesses have with their bankers.

As part of our #WomeninFintech series, Finovate speaks to inspiring women about their career in financial services and technology, their unique insights into the challenges and solutions for the industry today, and their advice for the next generation of women leaders just starting out. Today, we join Lena McDearmid, COO at Artis Technologies, a provider of embedded financial services platforms for digital, point-of-need lending and payments. Lena helped launch the startup earlier this year with a mission to refine the consumer lending experience by merging the art of technology with the science of finance to create the best consumer experience possible.

What led you to fintech and specifically down a path toward acquiring the expertise you have now?

Lena McDearmid: It started with my mother responding to an ad in the paper looking for someone to manage short-term loans from retail locations. Here I, unfortunately, learned about the negative side of lending, but also how to build programs to help get people out of destructive cycles. This inspired me to move to Atlanta where I joined an online mortgage startup company.

However, in 2008, I could see a coming shift away from the trending jumbo hybrid real-estate loans into more stable and traditional loan types. With that foresight, I moved into conventional lending where I would diversify my underwriting experience with mortgage refinances, auto loans, personal credit cards as well as debt consolidation. I learned the importance of empathizing with customers’ needs and offering more customized products based on their unique loan usage.

From there, I went to a company that focused exclusively on underwriting auto loans, where I had my first realization of a “culture-first” experience proving that employees who are happy and positively impacted by their work culture are better able to focus on the customer’s experience. I believe completely that a customer’s experience is the most important part of business.

After my time there, I was then recruited to build out the credit department at GreenSky where, for the first time, I had direct contact with technology and could see what tech could do for my operations. I spent eight years going from credit operations, to project management, and finally to technical product ownership, before leaving to start Artis.

The journey of my career is one of constant learning and growth. I am a builder of companies, products, teams, and experience. Had I not had the good fortune to walk down so many different paths, there is no way that I would be here today having the confidence knowing that at Artis, we are building a company and products that are ultimately helping the consumer with more accessible financing, the most important part of business.

Where do you see the future of the fintech heading in the next 12 months?

McDearmid: Continually increasing reliance on big data and the ability to incorporate alternative data for better decision making, especially when it comes to credit. Stronger reliance on user experience and customizations per user. 

How can the financial services industry humanize AI and gain the trust of its customers? How is Artis Technologies helping?

McDearmid: It starts with the data scientists and the data. We have to know, throughout the design process, that there are humans analyzing this data. We also have to know what data elements are sensitive and understand how biases can get into the models so that we can design bias-free models and analytics. Finally, we must study the outputs and analyze their impacts on humans to ensure there are no adverse effects.

What does being one of the company’s women co-founders mean to you? And how does this set the example for other women looking to break into the field?

McDearmid: It means a great deal; most of the women in my family were entrepreneurs and as a co-founder, I now feel as if I am in their company. I imagine that the more women see other women as co-founders and leaders, this will encourage them to strive for these roles, as the women in my family inspired me. Each light on a path makes the path a little brighter and easier to follow.

How are you tackling the challenges and redefining the role of women at Artis?

McDearmid: One of the reasons I co-founded Artis was because I saw an opportunity to overcome the typical challenges women face in being heard and seen as leaders. Because Artis is a startup, it’s given me the opportunity to help define, not redefine, the importance of women and diversity at our company from the beginning. All of which are supported by my other like-minded male co-founders.

Why is it important to have multiple voices in the room, and hold each other accountable throughout the journey?

McDearmid: Diversity leads to quality. The ability to draw on multiple perspectives and experiences enriches discussions and solutions. And, without accountability, there can be no real growth, honesty, or radical transparency. Through accountability, we hold ourselves to our standards and continue our growth — regardless of gender.

What advice would you give to women starting out in fintech now?

McDearmid: Find a mentor and advocate. Believe in yourself and be assertive while learning as much as you can about all aspects of the business and industry.