Vince Siciliano has an impressive bankers resume, and New Resource Bank has given his white collar career a tinge of green. Even as a student at Stanford, Siciliano was interested in the natural world around him. With an undergrad degree in environmental engineering and a masters in environmental planning from UC Berkeley this banker has had a close relationship with Mother Earth. But how can a money man actually be doing good in this world you ask? Siciliano successfully married his passions and has become a banker who is guided by principals of sustainability.
Unlike most financial institutions whose loyalty is only to shareholders and turning a profit, New Resource Bank is dedicated to achieving environmental and social, as well as financial returns. Based in Northern California, New Resource supports businesses, nonprofits and people that are pursuing innovative solutions to our environmental, economic and social challenges. Their client list includes pioneers in the clean energy, green building and organic food sectors, and New Resource’s unique solar and green lending programs have been emulated by other banks.
Not only does New Resource help people and businesses be agents of positive change but the company itself practices what they preach. The company headquarters is LEED Gold-rated, they partner with iReuse to track and reduce waste and consumption and the company offsets 100 percent of the electricity usage and company travel through the purchase of Green-e renewable energy certificates. In 2010 New Resource bank solidified their dedication to keep the triple bottom line in crisp focus by becoming a B Corp, joining an elite group of like-minded companies and individuals.
Vince Siciliano, CEO of New Resource Bank, took a few minutes out of his busy day to answer five questions for Tonic:
When did you first start thinking that businesses could be agents for change?
I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I read a book by Ken Blanchard called Managing by Values probably about 15 years ago, and that helped crystallize for me that businesses can be value-oriented organizations and have a positive impact on the community at large.
Businesses have a unique opportunity to be agents of change. They knit a full range of resources-people, energy, materials-into the fabric of our economy. That puts them in real position of power.
As we go forward in the 21st century, I believe social change will be led by businesses. And a lot them will be smaller businesses that lead by the values they put out into in the marketplace.
What is the most common financial stumbling block for sustainable businesses and what advice would you offer to social entrepreneurs?
Probably the most common financial stumbling block is startup capital — and unfortunately, there is no magic advice. Most startups get capital from friends, family, angel investors and credit cards, and social entrepreneurs have to seek out those sources as well.
What can get blurred for mission-oriented businesses is the difference between values and value. A social entrepreneur may feel that a values orientation will attract customers, but in the end I think the buying decision is still going to be heavily driven by the value of the product.
When the customer is looking at your products they’re seeing both values and value. The mistake is to think that the values orientation will win out. Perhaps it should, but many people don’t have the extra resources to pay more than a small premium for a values-oriented product. You have to add your values to a product that itself has value.
Tell me about a moment of clarity in your company — recount a story about a project you have worked on that has made you proud to be the CEO of New Resource Bank.
For me a moment of clarity was realizing that our socially oriented mission is our primary passion and reason for existence as a ban — and that makes the bank an agent of change. Not only do we want to change the way people think about banking, we also want to change the way people think about and use their money.
One aspect is how they invest it. Do they invest it with an institution that will in turn invest it in ways that support their values? Or do they invest it in an institution that uses it for projects around the world that the depositor would be ashamed to be associated with?
It really is possible that we are on the brink of some fundamental changes in the way our economy works in terms of future growth rates, unemployment rates, savings and beginning to rethink what capitalism stands for and how it deals with societal and environmental externalities.
People have been talking about these things for several decades, but I think most people have believed that a little regulation on the margins was sufficient and the markets would be self-correcting. We certainly can see from the explosion of the financial markets that a little bit of regulation was far from sufficient to save the finance system and that left unfettered, the risk built up. The real solution is not excessive government regulation-though there is a significant role for the government to play-but a rethinking of values and purpose.
Moment of most doubt in your company?
I think a crossroads for us was whether we were going to be a general community bank with expertise in green and sustainable living, or whether we were going to be a mission-oriented bank that focuses all of its efforts on sustainable living. We have chosen the latter path and that has energized our employees, the board and all of our stakeholders.
What’s coming down the pipeline in your company for the next 5 years?
We want to be the best in the world at providing sustainable business expertise to the people we work with. Our immediate focus is on helping companies and organizations in Northern California manage from the perspective of a triple bottom line. As we get better and better at developing those kinds of trusted advisor relationships, we see ourselves expanding beyond Northern California to other parts of the country that have favorable demographics and business bases for our mission.
A bank is uniquely positioned to be an agent of change, and in our case we have values of sustainability, transparency and community that drive the direction of the change we want to see in the communities we live and work in. Ultimately, the solution to the problems we face is for people to get focused not only on people, planet and profit, but on their underlying purpose: What do you want to accomplish? What’s your legacy? What do you want to get out of life?
To the extent that we can help that happen, we’ll be successful.
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Images provided by New Resource Bank.