Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, M&t Bank Corp
Get 2 Know M&T CEO Rene Jones
Get 2 Know M&T CEO Rene Jones #2 On Buffalo Business First Power 250 List!
About Rene Jones
René Jones, chairman and CEO of M&T Bank, said during the bank's 2024 annual shareholder meeting that the bank's strategy focuses on stability and low volatility, which he said produces growth. He noted that in the first quarter of 2024, loans grew year-over-year by 1%, with 8% growth in commercial and industrial loans to middle-market companies and a 7% decline in commercial real estate, which he described as part of a multi-year effort to reduce the bank's commercial real estate exposure. Jones stated that the bank's net interest margin began to stabilize, and that tangible book value per share grew 12% year-over-year, allowing the bank to cross an 11% capital threshold. He characterized the approach as "really boring" but necessary to prepare for unpredictable events. Jones also discussed the bank's community engagement, saying he had not needed to campaign internally about the importance of community work because it is "who we are." He described the bank's role as being about economic development, which he said requires multiple tools working together. In earlier appearances, Jones spoke about the bank's profitability during the pandemic, its acquisition strategy focused on local market density, and the importance of treating regulators as part of the bank's constituency. He also shared motivational stories on social media, using analogies about time and self-worth.
Transcript (47 segments)
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Scott Levin0:03
and welcome everyone to another edition of Get to Know. I'm Scott Levin in the Channel 2 studios. I am joined by a very special guest today, Rene Jones, Chairman and CEO of locally owned and corporate headquarters here, M&T Bank. My personal bank, I'm happy to say as well. Very happy with M&T as well. Now Rene, welcome to Get to Know, glad to have you here today.
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Rene Jones0:26
Thanks Scott, happy to be here. And first and foremost, I want to congratulate you on being named in the top 10, I believe number two of Business First Power 250. What an amazing recognition. What was your reaction when you heard that?
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Scott Levin0:42
I look, I think it's just great to be recognized for the work that my whole company does and to be part of the community. So it was great that people believe the work that we're doing is really relevant.
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Rene Jones0:54
You guys do a great job. All right, let's talk a little bit about you. The people who watch us, they want to get to know you a little bit and then we'll talk about M&T. Where were you born and raised, Rene?
Scott, I was born in a little town called Ayer, Massachusetts, which is about 36 miles outside of Boston, Massachusetts. And it's right next to a military base called Fort Devens, which is the last place that my dad, who was a Sergeant First Class in the Army, was stationed.
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Scott Levin1:23
Now I know that you were raised there and you went to school there. And then what happened? Tell me about the transition into college for you. Where did you go to school?
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Rene Jones1:34
Well, I went to Boston College. And I think maybe what's relevant about that is I hadn't intended to go to BC. I thought I might either go into the military or maybe go into some form of college. But my sister encouraged me that I should apply to Boston College. And for some reason I got in. And it's a good school. It was a great school, tremendous school. And one of the best things that happened for me is that I got put into a program that would help African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American students actually have a support system: how to study, how to interview. And then from there, I worked at the Gillette Company because someone picked me out. I went to graduate school because someone thought it was a good idea for me. I've sort of time and time again been lifted up to the point where someone from M&T Bank sent me a letter in my final year of grad school and said, 'Hey, you might want to come out to Western New York because we're looking for talent that has experience. We're not looking for a training center, and we thought that you would be a great person to interview.' So I came, and it's been a wonderful experience ever since.
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Scott Levin2:48
And correct me if I'm wrong, you went to graduate school in Rochester at the Simon Business School, correct?
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Rene Jones2:55
That's right, that's right.
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Scott Levin2:57
And what were you studying? Were you studying to become a CPA and eventually became a CPA?
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Rene Jones3:02
No, I was an accounting major at Boston College. And I worked out of college at Ernst & Young, so I obtained my CPA. Then I went back to graduate school, and I wanted to learn more about the economies. So I got degrees in Organizations and Markets and Finance.
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Scott Levin3:21
All right, so back then, did you ever think that it was possible that you might become a banker back then? Is that what you wanted to become?
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Rene Jones3:30
No, I never thought I would become a banker. In fact, I thought what I really wanted to do is to become an economist. And I didn't know how to become an economist, so I talked to one of my professors at the University of Rochester and I said, 'How do you do that?' And she said, 'Well, generally what happens is you study economics, and if you're lucky, you're left in the TA room when the Wall Street Journal calls over the weekend. You pick it up, you answer the question, and they print your name in the paper as economist.' It's so true. That is very funny too.
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Scott Levin4:01
Okay, all right. So you got the call to come to M&T in Buffalo. What were your thoughts when you arrived here in Buffalo? I believe it was 1992. And what did you start doing when you went to M&T? Because you have an incredible management training program for a lot of young men and women. Is that what you went through? Then what was your first job with M&T?
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Rene Jones4:22
My first job, I came in through what was known, still known as the Executive Associate Program. So they would bring in, at the time I think we brought in 17 that year, MBAs. I have to say, Scott, the first impression I got of Buffalo was I could not believe how friendly the people were. I came my first day, I had got an apartment, I walked down Main Street, and the outreach from people just was the first thing that was amazing. Early on in my first three days, a gentleman sat down to have lunch with me and asked if the seat was taken, and it turned out it was Mr. Wilmers. So the friendly, open nature of the place was the first thing I noted. Then we had tremendous opportunity to engage in the business of banking and to solve problems. Bob Wilmers had this huge belief in talent. And it wasn't just attracting strong talent, but it was giving them opportunities to solve problems. So one way or another, over 28 years, my job every year has been solving some sort of problem. Because it really is, when you think about it, the definition of business is solving problems and helping your own customers succeed.
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Scott Levin5:37
Exactly, exactly. So you get here in 1992, you're a single man. When did you meet your wife and how did that all happen?
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Rene Jones5:48
Oh yeah, I was single when I came. I met my wife, Bridget Dougherty. She did a short stint, a couple of weeks of internship when she was home from college. We met, and we dated for four years, and we got married. We covered a lot of distance. She was in Boston and then she was in New York City, so we did distance for seven of the eight years of our first eight years. What ended that was, of course, the birth of our daughter Haley. And we were lucky enough to have Sophie come along two years later. And that's the Jones family.
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Scott Levin6:23
There you go. And all right, just so that people know, are you a North Towns, South Towns guy? Where are you living?
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Rene Jones6:29
I live in Eggertsville. As I like to say, one foot out of the city proper. And it's great because you're connected to everything. You can get to everywhere. It's a great neighborhood, but you're also right there and have all the advantages of the city, which is phenomenal.
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Scott Levin6:46
Now you have said, I've done some research obviously, and Rene, you say we think of ourselves at M&T not as a community bank but as a bank for communities. What do you mean by that?
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Rene Jones6:58
Yeah, you know, in a traditional sense, in the way we all grew up, there were community banks. And that has become very common in large institutions to talk about the fact that they're community banks. But as we've gotten larger and we've gone into more communities, we had to really think about what do we stand for, why do we exist as an institution. And so we came up with this idea that we're an institution that exists for communities. That's our purpose. And embedded in that is our job is to improve the quality of the lives of those individuals that we touch in those communities. So 'bank for community' is sort of our purpose, where we're headed. And we think it evokes that understanding for people what they should expect of us.
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Scott Levin7:45
Now you also had a message to some shareholders that it has never been more evident that our role to bring all communities and constituents together must be bigger, deeper, and more purposeful, especially during this pandemic, right, Rene?
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Rene Jones8:00
Yeah, yeah. You know, a bank, a particular bank, but I'd probably say any corporation is only as healthy as its constituents. And when you think about where we are in Buffalo, there's a long way to go, whether it be education or if we're talking about inclusivity and getting more individuals who are out of jobs into opportunities. Buffalo has a really bright future. That future is really centered around attracting, retaining, developing, and engaging the collective talent. And if we're more inclusive, it's going to actually increase the health of our community, which in turn helps any corporation that's within it.
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Scott Levin8:45
And you guys have done such amazing community work here in Western New York, and you have thousands of employees. What advice would you give to someone who's watching this and says, 'You know, I really love what M&T stands for. I'd like to work for them one day.' What do you recommend if they're young and they're coming up through education? A lot of people say you don't necessarily need proper college schooling these days because of the debt it's going to give you. What's the best recommendation for some young people that may be moving up in their career if they do want to work for M&T?
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Rene Jones9:15
I think if I could take myself back several decades, what I would say is to give towns like Buffalo that are really re-emerging as places for modern creative talent a chance. It used to be, I think for a number of decades, you sort of had to leave Buffalo, go to the coastal cities, and try to develop your skill sets and your talents. But we're creating a place here in Buffalo, and particularly as we begin to launch the Tech Hub, where you don't necessarily need to leave to get those modern talents and those modern skill sets. There's huge opportunity, large demand for skilled workers, and what we're trying to do is embrace that. And I think those individuals who realize that are going to have a huge advantage. Cost of living is awesome here, and we're increasingly growing our creative class talent. So I'd say lean in, talk to folks in the community. As my wife often says, go on the coffee route, introduce yourselves to folks, and don't be bashful, because I think there's a lot of opportunity. We're looking for a lot of young talent.
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Scott Levin10:32
And I do have some questions I want to ask you about that Tech Hub, but first, one last question about yourself. I know you don't like talking about yourself that much, and I understand that. But you did mention your African American heritage. You are the son of an African American soldier and the Belgian wife that he met, an incredible story during World War II. One of now only three CEOs on the Fortune 500, which is incredible. How important is corporate diversity to you and to M&T now?
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Rene Jones11:03
Corporate diversity is one of the pillars of our success. I mean, to the extent that we can be more inclusive and we can attract world-class talent, that's going to be a huge advantage for us. If you think about what we're going to talk about with the Tech Hub, but if you think about in the tech space today, the technology ecosystem, there's six, seven percent of technologists are African American, only eight percent are Latinx, and I think about 26% are women. So when you think of the opportunity to find more talent that can actually give us an advantage in this race for relevance that's happening across America, to the extent that we can find ways to unlock that talent that has not been given the opportunity before, it's going to give Buffalo a huge advantage. So that's one of our principal places to focus. We think inclusion is a key to our long-term success.
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Scott Levin12:04
Absolutely, great answer there. All right, let's talk about the Tech Hub that everyone is talking about now. You've renovated that great building downtown, $37 million. How's it coming along, Rene?
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Rene Jones12:16
It's great. We're just about ready to launch. You know, we were delayed a little bit because of COVID, but I think that gave us a chance to sort of think about how we're going to continue to work, how we're going to work in the future. And when you come into the Tech Center, which I hope all of you will do, you really get the sense that you're probably not going to be working from home 100% of your time, because the space is tremendous. The ability for collaboration, to have resources to help you do your job, and to work on innovative things is going to be tremendous. So we're really excited about it.
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Scott Levin12:52
This can really transform the community, you say, right?
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Rene Jones12:56
I believe so. I mean, I think if you think of the way things used to work in the past, regions manufactured their prosperity by trying to get a few large companies to move into your area, maybe by giving tax incentives. And the other thing that would happen is that there would be a small number of individuals who were marshaling that effort. What's happening today in really prosperous regions, and what we believe to be prosperous regions in the future, is those ecosystems are going to be built that attract, retain, develop, and engage talent, and allow those individuals to start up companies. So when you look at the Tech Hub today, I think we're up to seven, eight, nine tenants. All of those companies are, in some way, shape, or form, tech oriented, but most importantly, they're all run by entrepreneurs who are growing, trying to create opportunity for new jobs and prosperity. So we're really excited about the ecosystem that's being created. It's not a Tech Hub, it's not an M&T Tech Hub, it's really a community Tech Hub.
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Scott Levin14:04
And this will definitely help you in your efforts to recruit top talent from not just Western New York but from all around the country, correct?
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Rene Jones14:11
Exactly. I think it's a big effort. It started with us and the fact that we realized that we were going to need more modern skill sets in order to be able to compete in banking. But then what we realized was that for the bank to do it on its own, it wouldn't really work. Creative class talent really likes to solve problems. They do not care whether they're solving problems for a bank or in healthcare or in a consumer goods company. They just want to solve problems. They want to come to places that engage them, where they can engage with like-minded people who are also trying to solve problems. So what we realized is we really had to help the whole ecosystem, not just M&T. But that's the idea, Scott. The idea is how do we bring more people and retain more people in Buffalo?
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Scott Levin14:57
All right, I got one more business question for you. With all the flood of money that is going out and our debt increasing, do you think that we're going to see a huge increase in prices? There'll be inflation? Or what do you think about the future of the economy? What do you think is going to happen?
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Rene Jones15:16
It's a great question that everybody's sort of talking about. I think you have to start off with the fact that almost my entire 28-year career at M&T, there has been this worry about inflation. And we've gone through this period which I believe the reason that we haven't seen inflation is because there's been so much productivity gains. People are able to do so much more. If you think of just COVID and the fact that we were able to serve all of our customers from home, our level of productivity has gone through the roof. I am concerned about the level of cash in the economy. It's unprecedented. And I think that we're going to have to watch it very closely. But to the extent that we can continue to increase productivity and get productivity gains, that'll be a force that sort of works against that. So we're watching it. We'll all see what happens, but these are really interesting times.
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Scott Levin16:05
You know, it's incredible that we have a company like M&T headquartered here. You're a very busy CEO, I get that, and I appreciate your time today. A couple more questions. What do you like to do on the weekends when you're not working?
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Rene Jones16:21
Well, I like to go for walks. I like to do random lunches at the last minute to get together with folks. Most my primary job is to sit around the house and wait for one of my daughters, 18 and 16, to ask me to take them somewhere. Most of the time I'm left sitting on the couch, but on occasion I get to actually escort them somewhere.
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Scott Levin16:42
It's called being an Uber driver for our kids, is what it is.
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Rene Jones16:45
Exactly. I know the feeling quite well.
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Scott Levin16:48
All right, are you a big sports fan? Are you Bills, Sabres, Bisons? What do you like to do?
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Rene Jones16:54
I mean, I'm a big sports fan. I love watching the Bills. I don't watch a lot of hockey. Basketball's probably more my speed.
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Scott Levin17:05
Right, gotcha. Last question. What is it that you love most about Buffalo?
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Rene Jones17:13
There is not a friendlier, more respectful place in the country. We're kind. We often say when we go to different places in different states where we do business, we often say to people, 'Remember, we're from Buffalo.' And it speaks volumes for the ethics and how the community treats people. So that's our favorite thing.
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Scott Levin17:44
Well, as a community, we are lucky to have you, Rene, in town here. And as a person who has been with M&T since 1998, I am grateful also. You guys have a great bank, great service, great people in your branches. And I'm thankful for your time today and coming on our show, Rene.
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Rene Jones18:01
Thanks, Scott. I appreciate it.
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Scott Levin18:04
Rene Jones, the Chairman and CEO of M&T Bank in Buffalo. Rene, thanks.
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Rene Jones18:10
Thank you.