Ask Lisa Griffin about her career and she’ll tell you she has been in banking forever. In reality, 30 years of on-the-job training, perseverance and organized thinking has helped her survive – and thrive – in the banking industry.

Griffin, senior vice president, chief retail banking officer and director of marketing at Eastern Federal Bank, launched her career in 1979 in Florida. By the time she moved to Connecticut in 1996, she had already served as senior teller, assistant head teller, branch sales representative, assistant branch manager and branch manager.

Climbing The Ladder

Once she settled in the Constitution State, Griffin became regional manager/vice president at American Savings Bank until BankNorth acquired the institution in 2003. After one year at BankNorth as regional manager, she joined Eastern Federal Bank as vice president/branch administrator. In the last eight years, her role has continued to expand.

“When you work in a small organization, you wear a lot of hats, but I thoroughly enjoy it,” she said.

In what little spare time she has, Griffin generously gives time to a number of professional organizations. She is vice president of the New England Financial Marketing Association, trustee for the Chamber of Commerce in Eastern Connecticut, member of the scholarship committee of the American Savings Foundation and sits on the forum council for the Center for Financial Training.

Banking can pose gender-based challenges, but the “boys club” has never fazed Griffin.

“As a young branch manager, I was the only female,” she recalled, emphasizing that women who aspire to advance their careers should not allow others to impose limits on their potential.

Although her professional achievements are significant, Griffin contends that she is “a work in progress.”

She said: “I do not have ‘laser focus,’ and have never aspired to one position, title or role. I’m driven to be the best I can be and continue to remain open to changes and growth.”

That philosophy also applies to her personal life. Maintaining a work/life balance and finding time and energy for everything without shortchanging her husband, Charlie, and son, Ryan, 16, has been “challenging,” Griffin remarked.