As an energetic force behind the revival of Waterbury’s Palace Theater, Sandra Senich considered it the perfect location for one of the most important occasions of her life: her wedding ceremony.
“It was really a special night in many different ways,” Senich said with a laugh.
Senich was a founding member of the board of directors that oversaw the $30-million restoration of the grand Renaissance Rival-style theater, which reopened in 2004 after languishing vacant since the late 1980s.
Theater CEO Frank Tavera said Senich brought instant clout to the project, given her long list of business and government contacts throughout Greater Waterbury.
“She is a great community leader, knew everybody and anybody in the community, and having been born and raised in the community, knows all the organizations that the Palace should be partnering with,” Tavera said. “She’s a solid brand herself, and if she can affiliate herself with the Palace, there’s a credibility that’s attached to that.”
Senich got involved with the project as an offshoot of her role as a board member of the Waterbury Development Corp., the city’s economic and community development agency.
Making connections and keeping them fresh is a constant theme in Senich’s career as a private client advisor for Bank of America’s U.S. Trust Private Wealth Management subsidiary.
Senich’s career in banking began in 1986 at a Bank of Boston training program, and she went on to work as a retirement analyst in the bank’s Hartford office. She worked in Waterbury for more than a decade and currently is based in U.S. Trust’s New Haven offices. Despite changes in corporate ownership, Senich said she enjoys the challenges of retaining client relationships.
“It’s a little anxious for clients when they’re going through changes like that, but we have always been given assurances that we will be there for clients. You maintain great client relationships and you end up with loyal clients,” she said.
Senich serves on the board of The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame and the UCONN Club, is a trustee and ambassador of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, and is the current board chair of the United Way of Greater Waterbury, where she is working on new collaborations with private foundations to generate new sources of funding.
“The need continues to grow, and our challenge is to grow our campaign,” she said.
