Webster Bank creates community liaison positions to help minority and low/moderate-income borrowers

HBJ PHOTO | ANDREW LARSON Webster Bank's office at 145 Bank St., Waterbury.

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Webster Bank has hired several community liaison officers who will work with the bank’s new Office of Corporate Responsibility to provide support and financial education to low-to-moderate income and minority borrowers.

The newly-created positions are based in Bridgeport, Hartford and Waterbury; White Plains and Queens, New York and Boston.

They will report to Amy Jakobeit, senior vice president and director of mortgage and consumer lending, and Gary Moukhtarian, senior vice president and regional manager.

Marissa Weidner, chief corporate responsibility officer, said the $10.3 billion merger of Webster with New York’s Sterling Bancorp, which was completed Feb. 1, has not only increased its scale, but strengthened its commitment to support the communities it serves.

“The contributions of the CLO team will be an important part of our $6.5 billion community investment as we deepen and amplify our corporate responsibility efforts,” Weidner said.

The community liaison officers will work to enhance lending opportunities in their regions, build and maintain relationships with charitable organizations and nonprofits, and conduct workshops on financial literacy and first-time home buying.

Webster offers a program that helps first-time homebuyers in eligible states with down payment and closing costs.

The bank’s new community liaison officers include Kadie Ortiz in Bridgeport, Claudia Tejada Riley in Hartford and Robert Jaekle in Waterbury.

Riley previously worked as a senior financial coach with Compass Working Capital in Boston, where she taught financial literacy and homeownership preparation classes. She has a bachelor’s degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine and completed graduate course work at Johns Hopkins University.