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From left: Sheree Nelson, Olga Nunez and Nikeeta Wilson of First NBC Bank/Dryades Savings Bank review plans for community projects.
Photo by Tracie Morris Schaefer
T W O - T I M E H O N O R E E
First NBC Bank/
Dryades Savings Bank
Vicki Chiasson has considered leaving New
Orleans, but that would mean leaving the
employer she loves.
A commercial banker, she worked in the
industry for 26 years before joining First NBC
Bank in January 2007 but said she has never
known another bank so concerned with
employees’ health and happiness.
“‘They have banks on every corner,’”
Chaisson said is her husband’s Rick’s response
when she tells him she can’t leave the city. “I’ve
said, ‘Rick, you don’t understand. They don’t
have banks like this.’”
Chiasson said she was impressed by the
compassion the bank showed when she had
to take 15 days off last year because of a back
injury.
“Not once was I harassed and asked when I
was coming back. I was getting phone calls
from other departments who expressed genuine
concern,” Chiasson said. “Never once did
I lay there thinking, ‘I’ve got to get back to
work, or I’m going to lose my job.’ They made
my recovery time a pleasure.”
As a manager, Director of Retail Karan
Accardo said she appreciates the bank’s
employee assistance program, which offers
off-site confidential counseling for workers
and their families.
“I personally haven’t used it myself, but I
have, as a manager, recommended some of my
associates,” Accardo said. “I know that if I have
any kind of issue, I’ve got someplace to go
immediately and feel comfortable.”
Accardo said she respects the executive
management team, particularly bank President
Ashton Ryan Jr., with whom she worked previously
in the banking industry before coming to
First NBC.
“He’s a genius,” Accardo said, describing
Ryan as an effective leader who stays abreast of
economic issues and trends and is very
involved in the community. “I chose to come
here because he was running the bank.”
Good leadership is an asset Executive
Assistant Kim Berry said she values. Berry was
Nature of business: banking
Where based: New Orleans
Employees: 176
Average starting salary: $41,000
Median salary: $48,000
Average employment time: four years
Benefits: health care plan with 80 percent coverage, dental,
vision and prescription plans, paid maternity leave, 401(k) with 4
percent match, continuing education, day care options, relocation
assistance, telecommuting, flexible hours, employee recognition
program
Wait time for benefits: one month
Paid days off: 32.5 days
Web sites: www.firstnbcbank.com, www.dryadesbank.com
a receptionist and administrative assistant to
the chairman of the board at Dryades Savings
Bank when First NBC Holding Co. acquired the
institution last year. She earned a master’s
degree in business administration in 2007 and
said bank leaders have made a point of using
her new skills and knowledge.
“The bank’s management has a remarkable
keenness for scouting talent that can be (developed),”
Berry said. “As a result, that keenness
led to my hiring.”
Berry was promoted to executive administrative
assistant to the legal regulatory division
and is poised for a position on the administrative
team.
“Plainly, every day the company is depositing
into my journey a voyage where reciprocity
is an excellent recipe for success,” she
said.•
— Diana Chandler
18 2009 Best Places to Work