Yates recognized for his service to community


Dan Yates, left, was named Vermont’s Outstanding Community Banker. He is seen here with Tom Wallin, center, and Fred Moriarty at the awards presentation.

BRATTLEBORO – Dan Yates, president of Brattleboro Savings & Loan, has received the prestigious 2022 Vermont Outstanding Community Banker of the Year award by the Vermont Bankers Association. The award was created to recognize leaders who exemplify the best of community banking and an exceptional commitment to the communities that their bank serves.
Nominees are put forth for the award by colleagues from bank leadership throughout Vermont, from which a winner is chosen by a panel of peers and community leaders. The award is presented each year at the Vermont & New Hampshire Annual Banker Conference, which is held September 12 to 14. The award was presented to Yates in the lobby of BS&L’s main branch on Thursday, September 8, due to his inability to be present at the conference this year. Chris D’Elia, the president of the Vermont Bankers Association, drove down from Montpelier to present the award to Yates in the presence of colleagues from around the state, staff, community leaders, friends, and family.
Yates has indeed exemplified the best of community banking during his nearly 40 year career. Starting as a teller, Yates has worked at almost every level of banking but he has gravitated to local banks that are deeply connected to the communities they serve. With much of his work over the years focusing on commercial lending, Yates has helped countless businesses achieve success. Since he became the president of BS&L in 2007, the bank’s financial health has never been better; this past March he was accepted as a state member bank of the Federal Reserve.
Yates has served in many leadership positions outside BS&L. He’s a former president of the Vermont Bankers Association, a former board member of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, and in 2018 was elected as a board member of the American Bankers Association. At every turn and in every position, he has been an advocate for the benefits and responsibilities of community banks and the impact they have on millions of Americans.
In addition to banking organizations, Yates has been on the boards of many local nonprofit organizations including Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, the Latchis Corporation, Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center, and many others.
Beyond his work and many achievements within organizations, it’s Yates’ humble and human approach to customers and community that best tells the story of his success. It’s no accident that Yates’ office has been right next to the front door of BS&L’s main office. He greets everyone, most by name, and takes time to listen with genuine curiosity and compassion to customers who stop by. Yates has always been present to the day-to-day work of community building, whether it’s manning the grill at Community Appreciation Day, helping a disabled customer get their scooter out of the back of their car, volunteering shoulder to shoulder with employees or any number of other ways to connect and help. Yates is there, always with a broad smile and his signature dapper bowtie.
With all that he has accomplished and built in his four decades of serving communities through banking, Yates will be starting a well-deserved retirement at the beginning of 2023. His commitment to others and his work for, in, and with the bank have provided a model of what community banking can and should look like.

The Deerfield Valley News

797 VT Route 100 North
Wilmington, VT 05363

Phone: 802-464-3388
Fax: 802-464-7255

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