Retired Bank CEO Hal Wibling to Receive Jericho Partnership’s 2016 Good Samaritan Award

 

 Hal Wibling, the retired banking executive who has made serving the community part of both his banks’ and his life’s DNA, has been chosen to receive Jericho Partnership’s Good Samaritan Award for 2016. He will receive the honor at Jericho’s Annual Gala on December 1, 6:00 p.m. at The Amber Room Colonnade.

Wibling’s 40-year career in banking ended this past year when he retired as CEO of Savings Bank of Danbury. Under his leadership, SBD grew to become a full-service institution with more than $750 million in assets and 13 branches. During his career, which began in 1973, he also worked at Union Trust Company before serving as CEO of Candlewood Bank & Trust for four years, just prior to his arrival at Savings Bank of Danbury.

Wibling is well known in Danbury for his commitment to serving the community through non-profit organizations. In addition to currently serving as Chairman of Savings Bank of Danbury, he is a Past Board Chairman of the Western Connecticut State University Foundation, Past Chairman of the Connecticut Bankers Association, and has served on the boards of the Danbury Public Library, Danbury Chamber of Commerce, Regional YMCA, and the Danbury United Way. Wibling also served on Jericho Partnership’s Executive Board of Directors for many years, including several as Vice Chairman. He is an elder at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, having served on its Board of Elders for four years (including one as chairman and two as vice chairman). Since 2012, he’s served as Chairman of the church’s Sandy Hook Restoration Fund.

“Hal has a deep-rooted love for the people of the Danbury community, and that is evidenced by the way he chooses to live his life and the things in which he invests himself,” said Carrie L. Amos, Jericho’s president. “Through his servant leadership and his compassion for others, Hal has helped transform

countless lives, whether they were customers at his bank or the neediest people living on the streets of downtown Danbury.”

Wibling said he was “amazed and humbled” at his selection as the Good Samaritan Award recipient. “I was blown away, and so honored,” he said. “I love Jericho and all that it does for some of the neediest people in our city. But I was also so pleased because my wife Barbara and I have so much love for Bill and Kathie Beattie (Jericho’s Founders), and all that THEY do for the city through Jericho. They’ve been by our side for many years.”

Wibling says that Savings Bank of Danbury, which is a mutual savings banks, has an opportunity to reach more deeply into the community.

“We are able to focus on serving the community without being distracted by or beholden to shareholder interests,” he said. “So we can be a little more generous in our donation budget, and have a greater impact in our community.”

In February, Savings Bank of Danbury was awarded the prestigious Corporate Volunteer Award by United Way of Western Connecticut, and has for years earned an “outstanding” Community Reinvestment Act rating by federal banking regulators. In 2015, its employees clocked 9,000 hours of volunteer community service, supporting organizations such as The March of Dimes, the Women’s Center, and the United Way. The bank is currently coordinating a Hat, Mitten & Sock Drive, which will benefit the Jericho Partnership’s ministries.

Wibling, a Danbury native, served two years in the United States Army and was honorably discharged in 1970. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the College of Business Administration, University of Tennessee, and is a graduate of the New England School of Banking, Williams College. Wibling and his wife Barbara, whom he married in 1973, have two children and two grandchildren.

Seats for the event are still available here