Latest / The Wilmac Wire / Vince Lecce | Regional Market Leadership, Growth at KeyBank, & Community Impact
Transcript
- speaker-0: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome back to the Will MacWire. Thank you for tuning in. We have a great episode lined up for you today. So if you're a regular listener of the Will MacWire, first of all, thank you. We're glad to have you here. Welcome back. But you know that we love having guests on who are deeply embedded in their community, whether that's their industry community or the Rochester business community. Today's guest is exactly that. We're sitting down with Vince Leesey, Rochester Market President at KeyBank. Now we've crossed paths with Vince through the Rochester business community a number of times. I would say Vince is a close friend of the podcast and we're really glad to finally get him on the show. So here's what you can expect out of today's conversation. We started things off with Vince's career journey. He was a biology grad from Cornell. So we had to dig into how he ended up becoming Rochester Market President after being on a medical track for college. And at the same time, being the Rochester Market President for one of the largest banks in the country. So we dug into what that path looked like. We also discussed what it actually means to lead a market for a national institution from the relationship side to the community side and the philanthropy of it all. We also dug into what business leaders in Rochester and honestly across the globe are navigating right now. And Vince defined it well, uncertainty, especially with AI and planning for what's next. Things are changing really quickly. Last but certainly not least, we hit on the community piece. Vince is deeply involved here in the Rochester business community and the Rochester community in general, honestly. And we get into what keeps him engaged and what he thinks the future of this region looks like. Thank you to Vince for joining us in person in studio at Rockvox Studios for today's recording. And thank you to Mark on Vince's team for helping coordinate all of the logistics. Hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks for tuning in. Welcome to the Will MacWire. I'm Emily Miller, joined by my co-host, Steve McDonald. On this show, we talk the drivers, the leaders, innovators, and decision makers pushing customer interaction technology and AI forward. And because we're proud to call Western New York home, we also spotlight the drivers in our own community, the people and organizations shaping growth and innovation right here. Let's get into it. All right, originally from... Niskayuna, New York, now a proud Pittsburgh resident for nearly 20 years. He's a Cornell University graduate with a degree in biology. He spent 15 years at Putnam Investments working his way up to VP and Senior Regional Marketing Director. He joined KeyBank in 2020 and was named Rochester Market President in 2023, where he now leads over 200 employees and oversees KeyBank's full presence in Greater Rochester. He was a 2016 RBJ 40 under 40 honoree. and a part of the RBJ Power 100 list now. He's chair of the 2025 United Way of Greater Rochester campaign. Welcome to the Will MacWire Vince Lee. I guess I didn't read it through hard enough before when I said biology, it surprised me. speaker-1: Thanks for It surprises a lot of people. speaker-2: you speaker-0: love it, but thanks for joining us on Person Vents. It's great to have you in the studio. Yes. All right. speaker-1: Great to be here, thanks. speaker-2: Did get into that biology thing? speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: Go ahead, ask your question. speaker-2: I didn't know that. What were you planning on being? speaker-1: So, I was pre-med on a pre-med track. did pretty well in high school academically and for whatever reason when I was younger for my parents that meant that I was either going to be a doctor or a lawyer. I don't know why those were the two choices but that was it. So, did really well in math and science and went to school again on a pre-med track and when I got to Cornell I realized that medicine was just not my path. I also joke about the fact that they call organic chemistry a weed out class and I am living proof that organic chemistry is fact a weed out class. ⁓ So anyway, but it was a couple years in before I decided that medicine wasn't going to be for me. So basically with every available elective opportunity I had, I took courses in business and entrepreneurship and economics and. decided that this was going to be a better path for me. But I didn't want to change majors midway just from a time perspective, so I took my minimum credits to get my bio degree. Got it. Continued on. speaker-0: ⁓ that's awesome. All right, so we always start things off with an icebreaker section called This or That, just to basically let our listeners get to know you a little bit better. So I'll post three questions to you, give you two options, and then you can choose which you like better. So we're starting with Rochester in the fall or Rochester in the summer? speaker-1: That's really tough. They're both amazing. I've got to say the fall though. Yeah. I've always said the fall is my favorite season for every reason except for what comes immediately after. So I just, love the colors. I love the fall food. love everything about it. I love it. The weather is great. Yeah. speaker-0: Next one, Wegmans sub or garbage plate. speaker-1: Wegmans sub. Yeah. Danny's favorite. speaker-0: was just saying, you have a f***ing goat. speaker-2: to speaker-1: love a good garbage plate, don't get me wrong, but Danny's favorite is my go-to for sure. speaker-0: but I respect that too. ⁓ Okay, and last on a little bit more job related, but client meeting or community event. speaker-1: ⁓ Yeah, that's hard for me because there's so much overlap between both of you. I will say, I was hoping you were going to go client meeting or sitting behind your laptop doing email. That would be a slam dunk. I just, the part of my job I love most is just being out in front of the community and meeting new people and connecting and whether that's a client meeting ⁓ or a community event, I'll take either. know that's a tough out, but. speaker-2: They're kind of intertwined for a bit. speaker-0: No, I knew that one would be a tough one. Like you said, they're overlapped. all right, thanks, Vince. Easy enough. That was fun. Nice, quick little icebreaker. All right, so we're going to jump right into it. You already told us a little bit about your scientific background, but I want you to tell us a little bit more about your background and how you ended up at KeyBank specifically. speaker-1: Yeah. So I joined Key a little over five years ago. As you mentioned, started, I was 15 years in the mutual fund industry. And I joke that I'm, I work at a bank, but I'm an investments and wealth management guy, right? I'm not a career banker necessarily. 15 years in the mutual fund industry, Putnam Investments, which actually is no longer around. They were purchased by Franklin Templeton a few years back. ⁓ Our favorite. ⁓ there you go. I love that. ⁓ So cut my teeth there and ended up with them for, again, 15 years, the majority of which was here in Rochester, ⁓ left Putnam to join a local registered investment advisory firm, which was a wonderful experience. Great people. Got me a lot closer to the actual end client, which was great. speaker-2: You left Potnum before the whole Franklin Templeton stuff. speaker-1: Oh yeah, long ago. but Franklin Templeton was a couple years ago and I left Putnam, I want to say in 2014 or so. That was in Rochester at the time. Yeah. speaker-2: Were you in Rochester? Out of college, where'd you guys, you speaker-1: Metta College was in Boston immediately after school with... right. So their home office was Boston. ⁓ I was actually in their Andover office, which is about an hour north of Boston, ⁓ living in Boston for much of that, so doing the reverse commute, which was actually really, really nice. But yeah, I was there in the home office for about three and a half years before getting promoted out to upstate New York. And that's what brought me here to Rochester. speaker-2: Okay. speaker-1: And then again, the Registered Investment Advisory Firm, which was a great experience, got me much closer to the client, which was great. Loved the work we did. I actually love the people I worked with, many of whom I'm still close with today. Ultimately, the move to Key was an opportunity to do something a little bit bigger and to challenge myself in a different way. And just as I was thinking about that, I saw this opportunity on LinkedIn. of all places, and it seemed very intriguing and an opportunity to join a larger organization that just offered me a little bit more opportunity for professional growth and development and advancement. ⁓ And it's been great. It's been absolutely fantastic. I've loved it here. speaker-0: I love it. when we say you're the Rochester Market president, like what does that mean in the greater scheme of a national institution? speaker-1: Yeah, well, so I've got two seemingly full-time jobs at Keen. So I've got my day job, I call it, which is managing our private bank team. again, that's the wealth and investments part of it. So managing our private bank team, we've got six ⁓ financial advisors effectively on the team, including a bunch of support folks. And that's the group that works and does comprehensive wealth management for our high net worth and ultra high net worth clients of the bank. So investment management, retirement planning. estate planning, philanthropic gifting, business succession, all that type of stuff. Roger. And I've been thrilled to really build an amazing team here. We started, we had one financial advisor on the team when I started five years ago and now we have six. So, really grateful to Key, candidly, for giving me the resources and the flexibility to aggressively grow this team because I believe we've just got so much opportunity here in Rochester. that's my day job, as I call it. But then in addition, as you mentioned, I I was named market president a couple years ago. in addition to managing my team, I manage all of KeyBank's local ⁓ philanthropy and sponsorships and marketing and media engagements and just effectively being the face of the bank for the Rochester community, which is an incredible responsibility, ⁓ but it's also super rewarding. Again, it gets me the chance to do, like I said, all the stuff that I enjoy doing so much and connecting with people in the community and ⁓ just getting to know ⁓ folks around here and how we can be of service both from a business perspective and from a community support perspective. speaker-2: So, yeah, we talked to our audience about taking risks and kind of jumping at opportunities. If you were in the job you came to Rochester for, this type of opportunity probably wouldn't be possible there to be a market president and be able to do those types of things. speaker-1: No, that was, I mean, what I came to Rochester for with Putnam at the time, it was a one man, my office was my driver's seat basically, right? So I was driving all around upstate New York. My clients at the time were other financial advisors, so connecting with them. And if I wanted to develop myself there at the time, I would have had to probably move back to Boston, which I love Boston, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't where I wanted to be. I wanted to be here in Rochester. speaker-2: To that point, I know a little bit about your backstory, but I think it's very interesting, especially as a Rochester podcast here. Could you talk a little bit about how you ended up in Rochester? know Putnam transferred you, but you could obviously went various different positions, and I'm sure you had choices. Can you talk to how that happened, and then some of the reasons why you decided to stay? speaker-1: Yeah, no, I appreciate it. So was that Putnam for three and a half years before I got the call that I earned a promotion to take over upstate New York as a region. And I could have lived anywhere in upstate New York. And being from Niskayuna, which you pronounced incredibly well earlier, so very well done. I just assumed that that would be the Albany area where I'm from. And I was actually looking for apartments in Saratoga, which is a great place, as I'm sure you know. It was my girlfriend at the time, who has now been my wife of over 20 years, who said, maybe we should look at Rochester. And reason being, and it was totally fair, was that my job was going to have me on the road quite a bit. her parents now live in Geneseo. She's originally from outside of Toronto, but parents live in Geneseo now and thought, well, if I'm going to be traveling that much, it would be nice if she were a little closer to her family, which is totally fair. effectively, I moved here sight unseen, not knowing anything about this community. ⁓ And if I'm being honest, you might catch me sometimes saying that I thought I would come to regret it potentially at some point down the road. it was purely out of ignorance, right? I just didn't know anything about what it was like here. we have, number one, that's been the best decision we could have ever possibly made. And as you know, Steve, we've talked, like I've just become such a tremendous advocate for this entire community, everything we have going for it. We love it here. We've chosen raise our kids here. In fact, when I joined Key five years ago, Two of my kind of non-negotiables were, number one, I needed to make sure it was a place where I could develop and challenge myself and advance my career, which has proven true. And number two, I wasn't interested in leaving Rochester to do that. So ⁓ we've known that this has been the place where we wanted to raise our family. And ⁓ it's great. Yeah, we love it. speaker-0: Okay. ⁓ I want to ask you a little bit more about leadership too, because obviously we talked about in your intro, like you have your private bank team, but then also like all the other stuff that you're balancing. Like as your scope and the responsibility has grown, like have you felt like your leadership style has changed? speaker-1: ⁓ I don't know. I don't think it's changed too much. I feel like I'm a pretty principled individual. So it's funny, before I joined Key, I had never managed, I had never had a direct report before coming to Key before. I had always been in production myself, right? Managing a territory, managing clients, like yes, but never actually managing people, right? So that was a new thing for me. you know, having been in business for as long as I have and having served under some remarkable leaders over the course of that time, I felt like, okay, I've got enough background here and I feel like I've got a lot to give folks. So, I felt pretty confident about that. ⁓ I always try to lead with humility and empathy first and foremost, right, and just really getting to know the people that I work with and trying to lean on that quite a bit. ⁓ And ⁓ the way I describe myself as well is as both a player coach and players coach. So player coach in that like I like to be in the weeds, I like to get into it, right? And lead by example, and I love going out on business development calls and connecting with people as I talked about. But players coach in that I feel like I've got a pretty easy going demeanor, like right, I'm not a hard driver, which I know works for some people and that's okay. Like I obviously have. expectations of my team and their performance and they know that, but we're all kind of rolling in the same direction and it's a very collaborative kind of atmosphere and team-based approach. And I know, I mean, the culture that you guys have built as well at WillMAC, I know is very similar, speaker-2: So is it different from when your direct reports and your day job comes to you for advice than say someone else that is just looking at you as reports to someone else but looks at you as the market president and how you treat them and how you give advice? speaker-1: That's a great question. ⁓ I'd say yeah, only because I feel like I've spent over 25 years in the wealth management industry. So I can talk that business. I know the talk. I know it inside out. I can have great conversations. can talk to folks about how to, like the real tactics of engaging and having conversations and things like that I feel like I'm pretty well experienced in. ⁓ speaker-2: I didn't say that. speaker-1: The other conversations are more about kind of mentorship and community engagement and how you build relationships and those types of things. Not to say I actually have those conversations with my directs as well, of course, but I can't tell a teller or a branch manager in the branch how to do their job or tell them specifically how to get things done in their role. They've got other folks that can help them with that. But when I'm engaging with them, it's more, I don't want to say philosophical, but it feels like more mentorship type of stuff. speaker-0: Yeah. Let me ask, did you play sports growing up? I know you play golf now. speaker-1: Yeah. Well, poorly, but yes. Far better than I ever was or ever will be at golf. But I did. I was a wrestler and a cross-country runner, which I actually only did cross-country to get in shape for wrestling season and I ended up being an okay cross-country runner too. speaker-0: My son is... speaker-2: If you, and sorry if I'm stuffing on your toes, if you're gonna ask. go for it. Every time we have an athlete on here, we kind of ask, are there lessons that you kind of took from growing up and wrestling and the coaches and kind of the discipline in that, that you bring to your everyday life? speaker-1: First of all, thank you for calling me an athlete. I haven't been called that in a while. That's kind. But yeah, the one thing I loved about wrestling was that it was a team sport because you had the team. But at the same time, it was you out there. Your success was based on the work that you had put in in advance, the commitment, the workouts, the weight loss, fortunately. But it was once the whistle blew, it was speaker-2: intense weight loss. speaker-1: It was you. That was it, right? So the need to prepare and to be ready and to know that, you know, at the end of the day, you either won or lost on your own was pretty powerful. I think from a preparation perspective, I think that helps a lot. And then also I would just say competitive spirit. And it doesn't mean you need to be cutthroat or, you know, ⁓ aggressive about it. Having a universal desire to win and succeed and to continually improve, right? I mean, that is something I feel like we all should be striving for. yeah, ⁓ I took a lot out of that experience. speaker-0: Yeah, just the way you were talking about kind of like your leadership style. Like I was, played college basketball, Steve played college basketball. So whenever we have like an athlete in here, we always like to dig into that and see kind of what, what translates over. Cause I do feel like it translates over to business very well. ⁓ yeah, all right. That's wonderful. Okay. We're going to move a little bit more now into KeyBank and what you're doing as a, as a business leader. So. speaker-1: totally. speaker-0: In your role at KeyBank, what does supporting businesses in the region actually look like day to day? speaker-1: Yeah, so, mean, Key, we're a ⁓ full-service financial services firm, right? So, we engage with businesses in so many different ways, obviously. We've got ⁓ commercial lenders, we've got business bankers, we've got wealth management folks, right? So, we really are just out in the community engaging and ultimately solving problems, right? I we really are ⁓ out there trying to build relationships with our clients, and we try to have relationships that are more consultative than transactional, right? If a business comes to us and they want us to give them a price on a loan, but we don't know anything else about them, yeah, we could put in a bid, but it's not going to be as effective as if we know that customer and what they're really trying to accomplish and getting a sense of who they are, what their goals are, and the like. ⁓ we're the, depending on the day, 13th or so largest bank in the country. So I'd like to think that we've ⁓ got all of the size and scale and resources to serve clients of any size or complexity or sophistication. But at the same time, we want to deliver that in a way that feels like we're a much smaller community bank, right? And that's where those relationships come in. speaker-0: Mm-hmm. And you talked about this a little bit, but like, where do you and your team feel like the best use of your time is day to day? speaker-1: in front of a client. actually the head of our wealth, our private bank across the country, she's got a great quote that she's used that I've kind of, I put it on the top of every single one of my team meetings now. It's the next best activity you can do is be in front of a client, period, end of story, right? So I feel like for us, the more we can be out connecting with people and listening to our clients and learning what their challenges and struggles are and how we can help, the better we're going to be. speaker-0: I just say the real estate building aspect. speaker-1: for them. speaker-2: How do you intersect with the commercial side, the retail side from your day-to-day private sectors? speaker-1: Yeah, we're ⁓ very collaborative at Key. So I've got standing meetings with the leaders of all those other lines of businesses through my day job. I also have standing meetings as the market president with them, ⁓ as part of my day job, it's important that we're all on the same page, right? Because the value from a wealth perspective in working at a place like Key is that we've got a tremendous amount of existing relationships within the four walls of Key. ⁓ to have the trust of our commercial lenders who are working with businesses that have 20, 30, $100 million in annual revenues and know the C-suite and can make an introduction or to the extent that my team is working with the CEO of a business that may not be working with our business banking team just yet. We have conversations all the time. Collaboration is not just like a buzzword at Key. It is something that we do actively. And we measure it, we track it. ⁓ we're held accountable to it. speaker-2: How do you guys work with, I guess not specifically your team, but KeyBank in general? You're one of the bigger retail banks in Rochester, people are using credit card and debit card checkings with you guys. Do you not oversee, but are you involved in that at all? Do you see it happening in the office? Because that's got to be pretty big part of KeyBank as well. speaker-1: Yeah, it's We have 22 local branches in Greater Rochester. spanning from Brockport to SOTUS and down to like Canada, when you see, and that's a huge part of our business. Obviously, it's almost like as as our retail business goes, so goes the rest of the bank. Right. So if we're continuing to grow our retail deposit base, obviously that gives the other lines of business the fuel to be successful in the work that they're doing. So In my day job, I'm not getting too deep into the weeds on, you know, the management of that group. We've got a phenomenal leader here locally, Sonia Navoglio, who runs all of our retail branches across Rochester. And that's her day job and making sure that they're successful, which they have been, which is great. ⁓ But for me as the market president, it's really important that the success of retail then translates to all of the other lines of businesses. So kind of coordinating all the... coordinating all of the line of business leaders and ensuring that we're all on the same page and we're leveraging that rising tide that's lifting all boats, so to speak, is a big part of it all. speaker-2: Is that pure consumer marketing and do you have to be involved with that because you're the market president? How did the word get out on that? speaker-1: That is so far beyond my area of expertise. It's everything, I was just curious, sorry. No, it's promotions, it's marketing, it's interest rates, it's all of the little things that go into trying to attract new organizations. We've actually got a program called Key at Work. So Key at Work is a program that we have that is free to businesses, and it is basically a financial literacy, financial wellness module. that employees can walk through, right? So very basic stuff around credit and banking and investment 101. basically, if an employee walks through that, they get directed to specific modules that are based on their own personal needs. And again, it's completely free. And if they choose to... engage with us more deeply by opening an account. Obviously, for us, it's exposure. And if they're interested doing that, then that's great. But there's never any obligation to do that. And the content continues to be completely free for them and for their employers. So leveraging tools and ideas like that to kind of get people engaged and put the KeyBank logo in front of a few more eyes, those are the types of things that we're trying to do. speaker-0: Very cool. I want to go back to a little bit about you talking and getting in front of customers, getting in front of clients. You obviously work with, in the private side, people with I'm sure at many stages of growth within their investing, but also on the commercial side too with businesses. Are there any like consistent themes across those conversations that people like tend to be challenged with right now or dealing with? Like are there any consistent themes in there? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, in a word, uncertainty, I think right now, right? Which is unfortunate, I guess, but it's also reality. And we've been through plenty of periods of uncertainty before. COVID, which was six years ago now, which is crazy to think about how quickly it seems, although it also seems like ages ago in other ways. ⁓ speaker-2: That's crazy. speaker-1: Just uncertainty in general, right? So whether it was coming out of COVID and what things were going to look like through that and inflation that came as a result of that. Tariff uncertainty has been a big one, obviously. Now we've got conflict in the Middle East and oil prices and interest rates and all of that. So I feel like it's hard because you're working with clients, businesses, and or individuals with respect to their personal finances who are out there trying to plan. for the long term, and it feels like the game is changing in the very short term, every day, right? So how do you do that? And ⁓ so I think it's hard, but I think that uncertainty is really challenging. I think that's why being prudent in the way we think about business and growth and all of that is really important. ⁓ And thinking strategically about our own respective businesses and what we want to achieve, but ⁓ understanding that. It's important to have a plan, but it's also important to be flexible when you need to be as well. speaker-2: So that goes back to what your ⁓ national leader was saying, get in front of the customer all the time. I think in moments of uncertainty, they just want to hear that you're there supporting, know, that they're trying to figure it out and whatever you can do to help is great. speaker-1: I agree. And that's advice I share with my private bank team specifically all the time. So when there's volatility in markets, like we've had a little bit recently, is where advisors really earn their keep. I mean, we need to be almost overly communicative when there's things going on like that. And just letting our clients know that, listen, we're on top of it. We're here to answer any questions. Here's our outlook. Here are our thoughts. Here's how it impacts you personally in the situation that you're in. If you ever need anything, reach out, but we're going to stay as vocal and as present as we possibly can to let you know that this is important to us, that we're on top of it. Typically, I would say, again, in the wealth business, you're not losing clients typically because your portfolio underperformed the S &P 500 by 50 basis points in a year. You're losing clients because they're like, oh, geez, I haven't heard a year and a half. What's up? So critically important. speaker-2: from communication. Bye. speaker-0: Yeah, so you talked about uncertainty, which great word to describe it. Obviously, Will Mac comes from the AI technology standpoint. ⁓ AI, very uncertain, but progressing very quickly, like we've talked about. How are you seeing clients think about AI when it comes to part of their growth or planning efforts? Great question. speaker-1: What's AI? ⁓ my gosh. Yeah, mean, it's, up until recently, I was saying that AI is coming. And then I recently was at, ⁓ fortunate enough to be in an all-day training session on AI, and I realized, ⁓ no, AI is here. I mean, without a doubt, it is here. And there's going to be the haves and the have-nots from ⁓ individuals and businesses who learn it and understand how to use it to become more effective. and either you're one of those haves or you're going to be left in the dust. And I think the business community is starting to recognize that. There was a great quote that I got out of that training session where ⁓ one of the head guys said, a lot of people are using AI as a glorified dictionary. And if I'm being honest, up until then, I kind of was. But now I see the tremendous value that it brings from a strategy perspective, from an efficiency perspective. And I'm just such a firm believer. My team is actually starting to get sick of me sharing this, that they need to be using it more aggressively. So I'm not of the opinion, you know, I know some people are like, ⁓ AI is going to steal everybody's jobs, and there's going to be this rampant unemployment. Listen, this country has been through so many different employment revolutions over the course of our 250-year history. ⁓ We'll repurpose those people. We'll repurpose those jobs. And I also don't believe, I'd be curious to hear your folks' thoughts, but. I don't believe that it's going to replace human interaction, right? to me, it's been that success is going to be where the ability to leverage the great efficiency and tools that our AI combined with the ability to connect with people and solve problems and engage are going to be the people that truly come out on top with us. speaker-2: Yeah, I think you make a good point at the beginning of that. People who are going to take advantage, that are curious, that want to learn it, they're going to be the ones that succeed with it. And I don't think it's going to take away mundane tasks of people's jobs, not necessarily the people themselves. They'll get to do stuff that they should be doing, creating, thinking of new ideas, being more strategic in their job than having to type stuff into an Excel sheet, so to speak. I think that's what it will take. ⁓ But I do think it's coming quick. think it's here, but it's coming even faster. ⁓ One of the things that I find interesting is a company like us, 40 people, 45 people, and how quick we can move with this stuff. And then when we talk to some of our enterprise customers, and it's like you guys are starting to put a lot of money to it, but it's like a glacier speed. And that's in general, I think, in... the United States when you think about the Fortune 1000, there's a reason why they're moving like that, the checks and balances. But it'll be interesting to see over the next three to 18 months if that changes and they're like, okay, we need to start moving fast. speaker-1: Yeah, there's culture shifts that have to go in. There's a lot of legalities that go and compliance and all those different things. There was some interesting thoughts around education, right? How do we use education? I know, you with my kids in school, it was if you get caught using AI to write a paper, that's a bad thing, as it should be, right? You shouldn't be using it to write a paper. But if you can use it in a way to help enhance your learning, that is something we should be leveraging all day long to help those students, right? But I feel like even the schools are struggling with what where that line is, right? And how to navigate that and how to use it. It feels like they're coming on board, but I still feel like there's a long way to go there. speaker-2: seen it interesting talking to some universities. Certain ones are still like, yeah, no, it's cheating, it's a slap on the wrist. And certain ones are like, oh no, we're going to New York State and getting majors approved to make sure our kids know how to use this. I mean, I've read some article recently that they were saying it was like the calculator how back then the math teachers were like, you can't use a calculator, what do you do now? So times have changed. Definitely some of the stuff that's more that I would say is, whoa, in the next 10, 15 years, just the physical AI stuff that Elon Musk's doing. That's when there's gonna be some serious changes, I would say. But we're still a ways away from that. speaker-0: For sure. speaker-1: This guy we were hearing from, he was incredibly optimistic about curing cancer. Then the conversation about environmental issues came up, which is very real also. I don't want to say he made this conclusion, but his thought was, well, potentially, AI could solve the problem that it created from an environmental perspective because it will become smarter and I don't know this stuff is so far beyond my realm of expertise and knowledge it blows my mind. speaker-2: Elon's announcement on Saturday night, think it was his, he foresees it all, all these data centers and stuff going up in space. Don't have to worry about any of the environmental issues. speaker-0: Yeah. Now I think the message we tried to get across on this podcast though is that there's there's opportunity with AI. shouldn't have a negative connotation. We should look at it from an opportunity perspective. ⁓ So yeah, we had to ask the I agree. speaker-2: Yeah, I mean, would assume KeyBank has, you guys, maybe it's not rolled out to everyone yet, but there's some serious initiatives going on. Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: And it's like we said across every industry, everyone's thinking about it. So, all right, we'll move now more into the local conversation. ⁓ So, you talked already about kind of what brought you to the area ⁓ and a little bit of what's kept you here, but can you dig into Morris, like what's kept you motivated to stay close by? speaker-1: man, that could be whole different podcast. We love this community so much for so many different reasons. I just think the people number one, first and foremost. mean, it's New York, feels Midwest. It's great people, engaging, ⁓ involved in the community, taking care of one another. It's just the people are great. ⁓ You've got so much going for you. Cost of living, although real estate prices have gone up a bit over the last several years, but generally speaking, overall cost of living is manageable. You've got so much natural beauty between the Finger Lakes and the Great Lakes. You're an hour flight from, I mean, a dozen amazing cities ⁓ or a short drive. We've got incredible minor league sports here. We've got professional sports an hour up the road. ⁓ I used to say that Rochester for a city our size had an incredible food scene. Now I just say Rochester has an incredible food scene. It doesn't matter our size. My wife and I are kind of self-proclaimed amateur foodies and we love food. ⁓ I joke we're going to be empty nesters in about two and a half years, which is crazy in and of itself. But I say the biggest beneficiary of that is going to be the Rochester restaurant scene because we've got so many pent-up date nights. speaker-2: There's so many steak houses. It's very city-arset. Everything. speaker-1: Steak houses, dive bars, you know, wings places, you know, all sorts of ethnic food. there's just like, there's everything here. It's great. And a great art scene. mean, the cultural scene here is fantastic. Festivals. just had an event last week where one of the lead sponsors for the Lilac Festival again this year. Like, what an incredible kickoff to spring here in Rochester that kicks off so many other wonderful festivals. Like, if you're bored in Rochester, that's a you problem, right? Seriously. yeah. You know, I get on a soapbox about this stuff. I feel like we get a little bit of a bad rap. You know, the weather, ⁓ yeah, OK, there's snow and there's winter. But like, find something to do and enjoy all the four seasons that we have. speaker-2: three or four great ski mountains within an hour drive. speaker-1: So yeah, we love it here. It's easy living. think if somebody wants to describe it to me, I don't think that could be any ⁓ more accurate. speaker-2: agree with that. Coming from a big city, coming back here, it's very easy living, which is nice. This, I think, the month, like this late March, April is the most difficult weather period, because you're like, let's get to spring. Let's get to spring. But besides that, I love the seasons. I was just in Florida and it was great, but I was talking to the Uber driver and they're talking about summer, how awful it is. I'm like, I can't even imagine. And she's like, yeah, we don't have seasons. It's basically just. 60 and above all the time. speaker-1: Yeah. That's tough. I agree. I had a buddy who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is a right? It's great. And I remember one year he was taunting us and he sent a picture of him of a, it was on Christmas and he had a golf ball and he said, well, we're having a white Christmas here if chasing a white golf ball around golf course is a white Christmas. And I'm like, buddy, call me in July and August when you literally can't go outside because it's 120 degrees. Listen, every place has got its pluses and minuses for sure. But like, just, ⁓ the Four Seasons we love, ⁓ the community we love, the food we love. It's just, it's, it sounds cliche, but it's a great place to raise a family. speaker-2: You're have your kids enjoyed growing up here. Yeah. speaker-1: Oh yeah. Like our son is a senior in high school now, so he'll be off to college for four years, but he's looking at places in the Northeast, like the weather he's not afraid of, I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up back close to home at some point. And I love getting younger people back, right? I feel like that's what we need to do a better job of, and how we do that, I don't know. know we're working together on a lot of those things, but it would be great to sell that. speaker-2: I mean speaker-1: idea to younger folks. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah, and we talk about that often too in terms of the job market, like creating enticing jobs, having companies that have great cultures and bringing them back that way. speaker-2: There's, we've talked about it on the podcast. Obviously, you and I have talked about it, but there's, and I'm one of them. I grew up in Rochester, loved Rochester, left for most of my adult life and came back, but I think there's a lot of stories like that. It'd be even better to get people back earlier, but we need to entice them with more career opportunities. speaker-1: I think you're right. think the jobs ultimately is probably the biggest part of that. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Well, come work at KeyBank and Walmart. All right. Vince, you and Steve, you both serve on the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce Board and within that a couple subcommittees. What has that experience been like and what does it expose you to that you might not see otherwise? speaker-1: Yeah, wow. mean, first of all, so rewarding and not going to lie, a little bit of imposter syndrome sometimes sitting in that room. Oh, my God. Well, Bob Duffy is such an incredible leader and an incredible asset for this community. It's just the work that he's done, starting as chief of police all the way up through mayor and now being back in Rochester. I mean, he's been back for a while, but has the president and CEO of the chamber. It's just been amazing. So to get asked by him to join that board was really humbling. And to be in that room with so many incredible community leaders who care so deeply about Rochester and our future and our business community is really amazing. For me, it's been eye-opening. I guess I never really knew exactly what the chamber did and how it impacted and helped businesses. I'm blown away by the services and the work that they do, in many cases behind the scenes for our business community. The advocacy work that they do in Albany on behalf of businesses is fantastic, right? So I guess for whatever business owners or businesses are listening to this, mean, to the extent that you've got regulatory issues or you need some advocacy help or staffing help, I mean, the services that they offer are fantastic. It's been great to be on the board and be a part of that, but then really just more broadly to see the services that they offer. speaker-2: Yeah, we had Bob on one of our... Yeah. he was, he's great obviously. He's amazing. I mean, I think he might be the best advocate for Rochester that we have. he is, I don't think he says no to anyone. He knows everybody by name. The chamber in itself, every time we've came to them with a question or could you help us with this? They deliver. speaker-0: friend of the pod. speaker-2: And they're doing that with everyone. for the people, I think you make a good point. I think there's a lot of companies out there not taking advantage of it, which should probably take advantage of it. ⁓ But yeah, the board's been great. I think there's a lot of ⁓ individuals in there, and getting this group together should hopefully push some of the ideas that we've been talking about to the forefront and get people coming back here or staying here. speaker-1: I totally agree. And I'll never forget Bob. This is a testament to who he is. So this is probably going back 10, 11 years ago, maybe even longer, when I was just starting as an advisor at the Registered Investment Advisory Firm. I had met Bob in passing. He would not have remembered me. It was literally the quickest little thing. And I thought, how cool would it be to have Bob Duffy speak to a bunch of our clients, right? And I'm just getting started in this role, trying to kind of think of creative ways to connect with folks. Like, he won't reply to my email, but I'll just shoot him a note and say, hey, would you be willing to speak to a bunch of clients? Like, instantaneously, he replies, absolutely happy to. Like, I was a nobody. I'm just kind of reaching out some random off the street. And he was so incredibly gracious and so willing to do that. And that's what started him and I getting to know one another a little bit better. And yeah, you're right. He doesn't say no to anybody. If it can help our business community here in Rochester, he will be there. Period. End of story. speaker-2: One of the cool things I've noticed about being part of the board that I think Bob embodies is, know, politics are at play in a lot of this stuff. Bob, I wouldn't know what side of the aisle he's on. And he is just talking, I mean, about reaching out to each side. Like he is, he's phenomenal that way you can tell. He wants the best of Rochester, not necessarily. speaker-1: Bob. speaker-2: the votes that a politician would want. He actually wants what's best for Rochester, which has been great. speaker-1: Totally agree. So diplomatic, pragmatic, practical. He's all of that. That's your point. He's so moderate in everything. He's just practical. speaker-0: Yeah. All right. So beyond the chamber, you're involved in other areas of the community like ⁓ organizations like Greater Rochester Enterprise, Rochester Rotary Club, and the School of the Holy Childhood. So can you talk a little bit about those other engaging opportunities and what you're doing with them? speaker-1: They're all great. mean, I'm a member of Rochester Rotary, have been for years a wonderful organization. So for anybody who's looking to get involved there as well and connect and network and do some great work in our community also. speaker-2: Could you tell everybody, including myself, because I had friends dads growing up who were proud of this, I still don't really understand or have a good education on what the Rotary Club does. speaker-1: Rotary is just a collection of local community leaders ⁓ that enjoy giving back to the community. And ⁓ there are weekly luncheons where they get phenomenal speakers from all across the community. ⁓ They're great. They're a great way to create fellowship and connect with fellow Rotarians and meet with folks. They have tremendous amount of service opportunities, volunteer opportunities throughout the community. ⁓ They run Sunshine Camp. which is a camp for kids with disabilities, which is really cool. So we do a lot of fundraising and things for that as well. And it's just, like I said, bunch of successful local business folks who are interested in volunteering and engaging more in the community. that's been great. Greater Rochester Enterprise with Matt Hurlbut, another one of those. That's just, again, that's my passion for the Rochester business community and wanting to ⁓ advocate for that and create more visibility there. Holy Childhood, I've been on the board for many years. Donna Deedee is a tremendous leader of that organization, again, for children and adults for that matter with disabilities. They also run Special Touch Bakery, which is bureau. speaker-0: So my fiancee, you saw her gets, and we got pies there for Thanksgiving. It changed my life. speaker-1: ⁓ really? ⁓ my gosh. Those are my client and team gifts around Thanksgiving time. They go in place in a big order of pies and not only do they go to a great cause, but they are damn good at pies. Very good. Really good at pies. echo that. So yeah, listen, mean, this community has been so wonderful to me professionally and also to my wife and my family and I personally. So we just, we love being a part of it and giving back. Whether that's through these organizations, you mentioned I was honored to chair the the United Way campaign last year, which was wonderful. So to be on the list with George Eastman is pretty darn cool. Yeah. Yeah. can't take that away. My wife and I chaired McQuade's bash this weekend, was exciting. it's a fun way to engage in the community without the day-to-day work stuff, which we do enough of and we do a lot of. But it's the right thing to do, and it's fun, candidly. speaker-2: How was the United Way? It was great. it lot of work, a lot of coordinating, logistics? speaker-1: ⁓ Well, lot of work, yes. A lot of coordinating and logistics, not as much. So ⁓ the team there is amazing. Again, Jamie Saunders, another incredible, we've got so many amazing leaders in this community. It's just wonderful. But Jamie's fantastic. And her entire team, they make it easy. It's a lot of work in that it's a lot of events. It's a lot of showing up. It's a lot of speaking. But they make it so turnkey. And it's just OK. this date, this time you've got this particular event, this date, that time, that particular event. ⁓ So they really do do an incredible job of making it easy, but ultimately it's time and you need to be there and you need to show up. But beyond that, it's just, it's this stuff. It's telling your story, talking about why you're so passionate about this community and the incredible work that the United Way does and where your donations go and how it helps people in our community. That's the easy part, right? Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, I love it. love it. I have to say Vince, like when it comes to community, putting yourself out there, like you are a very true representation of that and how that like leads to success and being curious, asking questions, but also putting yourself in uncomfortable positions to like grow. that. So I've appreciated hearing you tell your story today. Okay, before we wrap up Vince, are there any initiatives or programs that you'd like to share about with the boards that you're on or at KeyBank? speaker-2: I love that. speaker-1: ⁓ Nothing specific. guess, again, for me here at Key, when I came specifically to take on the private bank team, we never really had a presence here in Rochester. I shouldn't say, we had a presence, but it's a very small market in the grand scheme of things for Key. And ⁓ my whole objective was to just elevate our brand and the awareness. I mean, again, I mentioned 22 branches in Rochester. Sounds like a lot. Buffalo's got 55. Right? when you think about it in the grand scheme of things, we're a bit smaller in that regard. But for me, it's really been about, like I said, just elevating that awareness of the work that we're doing. And I'm proud. It's a small but mighty team. It really is. And we were the Rochester Market. was the finalist for Market of the Year last year at Keen, which is our size. that means that. We had success across the board in every line of business, which is wonderful. And that's a testament to all of our employees here locally ⁓ at every single level. ⁓ So we're hopeful that people are noticing. we want to do great business, obviously, but we want to do it in the right way. That reflects our commitment to this community, which every single employee at Key is certainly in that regard. So yeah, we're excited for the future. speaker-0: Very cool. Steve, got any last questions for me? speaker-2: Thanks, Vance. Appreciate it. This is great. speaker-0: Yeah. All right. So for our listeners, if you'd like to connect with Vince, you can find him on LinkedIn, Vince, Vence, Lisey. I just combined your two names, Vince, Lisey, L-E-C-C-E. And to learn more about KeyBank, you can head to their website, www.key.com. Vince, thanks for joining us on the Will MacLaren. speaker-1: You have me so much fun. Love what you guys are doing with this. So thank you for bringing awareness to the community here in Rochester. Thanks. Thank you. speaker-0: Yeah, of course. speaker-2: Thanks. speaker-0: Thank you for listening to the WillMac Wire. If you liked today's conversation, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel. You can also learn more about WillMac technologies and our work in customer interaction technology at WillMacTech.com. We'll be back soon with more conversations with the drivers, those shaping our industry and those building right here in Western New York. See you next time.