- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSE&G.

Powering progress.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

The North Ward Center.

Johnson & Johnson.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

NJM Insurance Group.

Serving New Jersey’s drivers, homeowners and business owners for more than 100 years.

And by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Moving the region through air, land, rail, and sea.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by ROI-NJ.

Informing and connecting businesses in New Jersey.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with a long time friend that's been wit of us many times, Keith banks former Vice Chair of a little bank called Bank of America, and also the chair of the board of the Hackensack Meridian Health Network Board.

Hey Keith, good to see you my friend.

- Always good to be here, Steve.

Thank you.

- Do you think I have to and should disclose that we are golf partners when we play?

Should I disclose that?

Or do you try to deny that?

- I think you just did, so I think we can move beyond that.

- Okay, hold on.

You ready?

This is about leadership, and you've had credible leadership roles, both in the bank, at Bank of America, and also the new bank, Liberty Bank of New Jersey, we'll talk about in a second.

But also at HMH, Hackensack Meridian Health.

You didn't expect this question.

The connection between leadership and golf?

- There is none.

Nah, look, I think the biggest difference is when you're on a golf course, you're depending on one person, and one person only.

That's you.

And which is good and bad.

One of the biggest transitions you have to make when you move into a leadership position.

And I went from being an individual contributor, I was a portfolio manager, I was an equity research analyst, so it was kind of like golf.

If I got it done, I got it done.

If I didn't, I didn't.

And it was on me.

The biggest transition when you go into leadership is you are now as good as the people around you, and you are now leading other leaders, and leading other teammates.

So it's a very different dynamic and it takes a while to get used to if, when you're in your first role in that regard.

- I like to ask that question of people who play golf a lot.

We don't, Keith, let's just say this.

Keith and I enjoy golf.

We don't have the level of confidence playing golf that we have in our business life.

Is that a fair assessment, Mr. Banks?

- I'd say a very fair assessment.

And actually a kind assessment.

- Yeah, okay.

So how about this?

More than a few years at Bank of America, also on a whole variety of boards, difference between being in an executive position at a corporation organization, or a nonprofit, and being in board leadership.

What's the biggest difference, Keith Banks?

- There is a big difference, Steve.

So when you're actually on the leadership team, you're on the field, you're playing the game, you're putting the points on the board, and you're accountable for the day in and day out operations of that business.

When you're on a board, you are on the sidelines, right?

You are there to help the coach, the coach being the CEO, help the coaches, assistant coaches, his or her leadership team.

And you gotta really look to bring your expertise to bear to help them in that regard in your experiences.

But you also have to be willing to challenge and push back when you think there are issues that need further drilling down on.

One of the biggest risks to a CEO, and I've talked to people about this, is people stop asking you the questions you should be asked and stop telling you the things you need to hear.

And one of the roles I think, that the chair of the board plays, is that person has to be willing and able to tell the CEO and other members of leadership those things, in their best interest, and in the best interest of the institution.

- Let me also share that at Hackensack Meridian Health, the CEO, Bob Garrett, been with us many times.

Check out our website.

You'll see past interviews with Bob.

And Bob and I talk leadership all the time as well, as he does with Keith, and Keith's role as chairman of the board.

Hey Keith, you told me, I don't know, a year ago or so, you were gonna slow down.

You used the word retirement.

You said, you did.

Yeah, you're laughing because beyond your golf game, you're not only chairman of the board at Hackensack Meridian Health, but Liberty Bank of New Jersey, you and a group of folks are engaged in a startup of a new bank.

That doesn't sound like retirement to me.

What the heck is Liberty Bank of New Jersey?

And how challenging to lead a startup?

- Yeah, talk about the antithesis of where I came from, right?

I came from working for, well, I worked, I actually worked for JP Morgan for 16 years as well.

- Oh, a little small company?

- Yeah, so I went from being the second largest bank in the country to a de novo or startup bank.

But no, it's a lot of fun.

I had done this a number of years ago with a different group of friends, but a great group of people approached me, people I consider friends, people I like and trust.

And what they recognized is the number of true community banks in New Jersey has shrunk dramatically.

In fact, an interesting statistic over the last 20 years, the number of banks based in New Jersey has dropped by 60%.

And especially in that lower, what I call the community bank tier.

And so there's a real need at that level, and think, when I say that, think businesses with revenues below $100 million.

So they're kind of under the radar screen, typically of the bigger banks and even the larger regionals.

So we're gonna go in, we're gonna, we're working hard to get this bank open.

Our goal is to have it open by the fourth quarter of this year.

We're working with the FDIC now on the application process.

- The FDIC or the Fed, those are the Feds who regulate banks, right, Keith?

- That's correct.

And they've gotta ultimately approve, if they don't approve you, you do not become a bank.

So it's quite a, as it should be, quite a rigorous process.

And we're well in the midst of that as we speak.

- And one of Keith's colleagues in starting up this bank is Tom Scrivo, our good friend who leads a law firm with Kevin O'Toole, who's been on with us many times as well.

We'll be talking to Tom Scrivo as well.

Hey Keith, let me switch gears for a second.

I’m curious about this.

You've led again, in so many different positions.

But if you were to say, as a leader, could do it over again, one aspect of your leadership.

I'm doing this all the time.

I'm like, "Why did I do that 10 years ago?

Why did I have that approach?

I turned this person off, we lost this person, because I didn't handle it well.

I didn't manage this crisis with the level of even temper that I should have had."

What about you?

- Well, it's interesting Steve, and it's not, I'm not gonna say it in a way that I would do it again, but what I really appreciate, - Or differently.

- Yeah.

I mean, what I really came to appreciate when I was retiring, 'cause we announced it, and I had about two months, so I got a chance to really say goodbye to all the, a lot of the people I'd worked with and people who came to me.

And what was interesting is, I expected them to talk about things we had done, from a business results standpoint or whatever it was.

And these are the people at all different levels.

Almost everyone, what they talked about, was the impact that I had on their lives or they had on my life as people.

And I think when you get caught up, and especially if you're in a for-profit business, and you're running hard and you've got results, you can sometimes as a leader, forget you're working with people who have families who are, and I think my advice to leaders is never underestimate the impact you have on people.

And people would bring up stories, quite frankly, I even forgot 'cause it was many years ago, and you're managing thousands of people.

But it just reinforced to me, and I wish, I think I always try to conduct myself in an appropriate way and always recognize, be empathetic, and recognize on the other side, you had to push people, but they're people, and you gotta recognize, they got a whole thing going on too.

But that's something that I wish I'd had that even burned even better into my brain, you know?

So everything you do, you do through the lens of people first, results second.

And you can have both and not mutually exclusive, which is the good part.

- AI is never gonna, artificial intelligence, social media will never replace that, will it, Keith?

- Now that's one thing that you, only we can bring to that party.

And it's an important aspect.

And it's what keeps people, I mean it's, they always say, people leave because of their, not the company, their boss, the immediate person who has the impact on their lives.

And so, and I've seen it myself.

I've had a chance to work in some organizations with great cultures.

I share an organization that has a great culture, Hackensack Meridian Health.

- Hackensack has a great culture.

- And it makes a difference.

And you see it in retention, you see it, and then people are happy and they feel good, and they're energized.

You unleash them, Steve, they do, it's amazing what people will do for you at that point.

So it's incredibly important.

- Finally, to Keith's point, I read a, with all the leadership books I read, write, try to think about, there was a great leadership quote that sticks with me, that people don't leave organizations, they leave people.

And I was like, "Wait a minute.

So that means when so-and-so left, they left me?"

Meaning, again, it's more complex than that, I know.

- Right.

- But I won't get on my soapbox.

But to all those who left our organization because of something I did or didn't do, I acknowledge that.

And the bottom line is this.

You gotta keep working at it.

And you don't always get it right.

And there is no perfect leadership.

It's just constant improvement.

In that spirit, Keith Banks in retirement is doing more things than most people do in a lifetime.

And he's also a great friend and a partner.

Keith, I wish you and your team all the best, not just at HMH, but also with the new bank.

All the best.

- I appreciate it, Steve.

Thank you.

- Thanks my friend.

That's Keith Banks.

We'll be right back after this.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

Recently, I had a conversation at the Veterans Health Fair that took place in Newark, New Jersey at Branch Book Park.

I was talking to all kinds of people who are engaged in advocacy for our veterans, and one of 'em is Michael Giunta, who is the founder of Feeding Our Heroes.

Feeding Our Heroes is one of the sponsors of this terrific event in Newark, New Jersey.

Feeding our Heroes has worked in food insecurity issues for our New Jersey veterans.

It's just, food insecurity is one of the many health related issues our veterans face.

So Michael Giunta, one-on-one, on location at the Veterans Health Fair.

- Michael, great to have you with us.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Tell us what Feeding Our Heroes is, and why today?

- Okay.

Today's a big event for us.

This is the kickoff of 10 events from Bergen County all the way down to Burlington County.

So we did this last year and it just grew to this.

We had 12 tables set up last year, now we have over 50 tables.

People just wanted to join in with us.

I go back four years ago, I was "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives", I was the pilot show.

So Guy Fieri is a good friend of mine, right?

- So it starts small.

- Oh yeah.

- And then this?

- This is it, man.

I mean, look at this.

I mean, in one year, okay?

So we started back in 2021, Guy Fieri flew in, we did this big event, and then people started hearing about us.

I funded this myself for two years until my partner, the biggest partner we have, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Braven Health.

I mean an absolute great sponsor.

They joined in with me.

They believed in what I believed in.

- But tell folks with Feeding Our Heroes is.

(Michael laughs) - So we go around and we feed the veterans, veterans and first responders, okay?

So we don't want anyone to go hungry.

And there's a lot of veterans out there that served for our freedom, and they're going hungry on a daily basis.

So Guy again called me up, he's doing it on the West Coast.

He says, "Mike, you gotta be the ambassador on the East Coast, and I need you to do this in a big way."

And when I do things, I do it really big.

- [Steve] Clearly.

- Yeah, I do, you know?

- Mike, help us understand this.

- Yeah.

How would a veteran communicate with Feeding our Heroes?

Tell them, or put the website up right now and what specific service could they get, even if they weren't, or they're watching right now, but they're not here at Branch Brook Park.

So yeah, it's feedingourheroes.org - [Steve] Right.

- You can go on there.

We have a volunteer list up there.

You can sign up.

And how they get ahold of us is just go on the website.

Now, the services?

- Mortgages for veterans, mental health awareness.

Big thing in the veteran community, right?

So we bring in all kind of tables, all right?

Now we've added another health piece.

You can come here, get your blood pressure, pulmonology tests, anything you want.

We're doing a mammography test for women.

- [Steve] I know.

- 'Cause in the veterans' community, they don't offer mammographies, right?

But as you could look around here, we got employment for the veterans.

We have all kind of service, the Veterans Chamber of Commerce, you know?

Latino veterans.

We bring everybody in here, in one room.

So all you gotta do is come here, see all this, sign up, and you get a great meal from Feeding Our Heroes.

'Cause that's what we do.

We start early in the morning.

- [Steve] Right.

- We bring the fresh food out here and we feed everybody.

- So like a, based on what you're saying, based on this today, this terrific event, this health fair, Veterans Health Fair in Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey, there's no reason for a veteran to go hungry.

- No, not at all.

I'm telling you like, we're just privileged to do this.

You know, I'm a first responder.

I'm also a a Newark firefighter for 26 years, right?

- Thank you for your service on both ends, go ahead.

- Appreciate that.

Thank you.

But it's just what we do.

I mean, we love doing it, you know?

The Guy Fieri Foundation, you know, he's involved with me.

We're also, we're involved with Tunnel to Towers now for the veterans, right?

- We just did a feature with their CEO there.

- [Michael] Oh.

- Frank's the best.

- He is.

Great guy, right?

So we're bringing up a rescue trailer in Florida that Guy built.

$300,000 trailer.

And we're gonna feed all the veterans and the first responders that run in the Tunnel to Towers, come September.

- One to ten.

I know you're a guy that is very passionate.

You told me you were born, by the way, this is a, he's laughing 'cause he knows.

Right around the corner, there's a little place called Stephen Crane Village.

Stephen Crane was a writer in Newark.

They named it Stephen Crane Village.

It's where a lot of folks grew up, including my parents were married and lived there.

It's a tough neighborhood, it's a passionate neighborhood.

- Yeah.

- And the fact that it's right around the corner and you're right here doing this, one to ten, level of passion for what you do.

- 15.

- Way past 10.

- Way past 10.

I'm telling you, listen, we get up and do this.

We love doing it and we're gonna keep doing it as long as I can.

What we need now is we gotta have some more outreach, right?

We need some strategic partners to help us out.

Like I said, self-funded for two years.

- [Steve] Sure.

- Braven stepped in.

But now we need, we need collectively, we need more people involved.

- Big reason why we're here trying to get the word out.

Public awareness, public education about veterans, their needs, nutritional needs, healthcare needs.

- All their needs.

That is why this health fair is so important.

- Absolutely.

- Michael, thank you for everything.

- Thank you, appreciate it.

- Appreciate it.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- From beautiful Montclair State University, we have a scholar in the field of business and leadership and management.

Dr. Nicole Koppel.

She's MBA Director and professor at the Feliciano School of Business at the Montclair State University, my alma mater.

Good to see you, doctor.

- Nice to see you too.

Thank you for having me.

- Hey, Nicole.

We are up at campus with your president, and some other terrific leaders up at Montclair State recently for an in-depth interview that we did with Bob Garrett, the CEO of HMH, Hackensack Meridian Health.

And I was curious about this, which is why I wanna, one of the reasons I wanted to have you come on.

How did you get into academia, A?

And B, why this field of business in academia?

- So, I mean, again, my father was a professor, so I sort of had it in the, runs in the family business.

But I like teaching.

I think it's a great way to really get involved and it's a fun industry.

I think academia is a great field to be in.

It's a great profession.

It's a great balance for, as a mom, as a profession, I like teaching.

And I've been at Montclair, this is actually, I'm just finishing up my 25th year.

- Wow.

- However, I've been the MBA Director for about 16 years now.

And so I never really got into it to be in administration side of things, but I feel like the way things worked out for me, it's a great balance, being able to teach, which is what I love to do, but also kind of running a business, running a program, and really having an opportunity to be creative, but most importantly, making a difference in students' lives.

And we did start an online MBA back in 2016, and so we're almost going on 10 years of our online MBA, which has been really our largest program.

And that's been continually growing and has a mass appeal.

We're really able to deliver an advanced degree, a graduate degree to students to be successful in a fully asynchronous online capacity, and really teaching students what they need to be successful in life, and eventually, a great leader.

- Nicole, stay on that.

As someone who's taught, on your end, on both sides, it's, I'm not gonna say it's easier to teach, to facilitate remotely.

Do you think there's a significant difference between the impact of teaching in person versus remote?

And I know it depends upon the class, the professor, the students, the all of it.

Go ahead.

- Yes.

Yes to everything you just said.

I would say maybe today, less so than I would've said eight or nine years ago.

I recently was having a conversation about textbooks, and they're almost a passe thing, the way students learn now.

Whether they're using eBooks and readers and I guess, yes, of course, AI.

But in everything we're learning, students need to learn technology and learn how to be good, informed, ethical users of technology to be successful in industry.

We've gotten smarter in the way we're able to use the technology in our teaching.

I think our students are becoming more savvy in using the technology and are much more comfortable in this environment.

And I think we've had a lot, there's a lot of tools and products out there that help create and simulate what the real world is.

The truth is, we're training them to work in business.

And years ago we were training them to work in business, so we were training them online, and then they were doing their work fully in person.

It was a mismatch.

But today they are working in remote teams, they're working in global teams, and that's part of the way they're learning and they're able to learn how to work remotely.

So yes, there's definitely a difference.

I mean, again, in that sense, I'm a little bit old school, face-to-face, in person, really does make a difference.

But I think we do a pretty good job of coming close to delivering the same level of success in an online environment.

- Nicole, to your point, I'm not about the business of plugging my last book, but there's a chapter in "Lessons in Leadership 2.0: The Tough Stuff," in which we tell people, I'd rather be in person.

Yeah, I know you'd rather be in person, but this is the hand you've been dealt.

You have to be able to engage and communicate and connect with others remotely.

Even five plus years after COVID, a significant percentage of the people we work with and coach and teach, they're not connecting.

They're looking in the wrong place.

They don't, I don't wanna put my camera on today.

What?

- Really the difference of not in person and the benefits and growth of the benefits and in some cases decline, or negative aspects of teaching remotely.

Students are often distracted, they're multitasking.

Some of them, they could go to class while they're driving in their car and doing other things.

And again, whether they wanna put on their cameras or not.

However, the bright side of it, I think there's a lot of benefits to it as well.

And I think most important is you still need to stay engaged.

You need to concentrate.

- That's right.

- You cannot be multitasking.

You gotta be present.

And I think one of the things that we really pride ourselves on, our work on, is really giving students student engagement, experiential opportunities to really practice doing what they do best.

And in many cases, it is over technology.

And yes, we do have to remind students to put on their camera.

Yes, get themselves centered in their camera, show that they're present, sit up straight, don't be lying in their bed, whatever those kind of things are, absolutely.

But I do think we show them why it's important.

- That's right.

- And bring in role for them to see that.

So I think they're gonna have to learn that this is the way that the world is turning, and they're gonna have to be able to work in all these different environments.

- I think you know, as I talked about this with Bob Garrett on campus, and I talked with you about, I'm obsessed with, as a student of leadership, the connection between being a solid, effective, impactful communicator and being a great leader.

It is impossible to be a great leader if you're not an effective communicator.

Is that a fair assessment?

- 100%.

We see it time and again.

Again, we can have great academics, but unless you really are able to communicate, and a bigger part of the soft skills.

But really, and we, Bob Garrett was here, part of actually our executive speaker series.

And so we've had a number of different high level executives coming in and one after the next, and again, doing this for a number of years.

It is their communication, it's their demeanor, their personality.

Really a people person makes such a difference in being a successful leader, and having people listen to you, wanna follow you, or inspired by you are great mentors for our students, and really an inspiration.

So, 100%, I agree with you.

You gotta be a great communicator to be a great leader.

- You got it right.

That is, Dr. Nicole Koppel, MBA Director and professor at the Feliciano School of Business at Montclair State University.

Nicole, great having you with us, an important conversation.

We look forward to talking in the future.

- Thank you so much.

Really enjoyed it.

- It was a pleasure.

Well said.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSE&G.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

The North Ward Center.

Johnson & Johnson.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

NJM Insurance Group.

And by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by ROI-NJ.

- How long you been waiting?

- About a half hour.

- Brutal.

This keeps up, I'm gonna miss my pickleball game.

- I've been waiting eight years for a kidney.

What can you do?

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Over 100,000 people in the US are waiting for a life-saving transplant.

But you can do your part in an instant.

Register as an organ donor today at NJSN.org.