By KATELYN DOHERTY
Contributing Writer
Making every dollar count in addition to overseeing tellers and keeping in constant contact with customers requires a certain personality. Working a job with these obligations is simply a calling.
The branch manager at the neighborhood Trustco Bank, John Mariani, 22, has always known he was the man for the job. In February he will reach his two-year mark working at the bank. Averaging a
40-hour work week, Mariani not only supervises the branch, but also works alongside his tellers and helps customers on a daily basis. Even with his long list of daily tasks as branch manager, there is
nothing more rewarding for him than this job.
His regular duties keep the bank running smoothly. He supervises and trains tellers, provides customers with information to take out loans and mortgages and he also promotes the bank at certain events throughout the community.
“This is a great company to work for and I love my job,” he said. Although at times some stressful situations arise, he would not want to be doing anything else. He hopes to become a regional manager and eventually assistant vice president of the company.
Mariani grew up in Colonie, still living there today, with traditional Italian family values, which strongly influenced the person he has become. The elder of two children, he attended Saddlewood Elementary, Lisha Kill Middle School and Colonie Central High School. He later graduated from Hudson Valley Community College with a degree in business administration. In addition to working as a full-time branch manager, he is taking online classes through Empire State College.
While still in high school, at age 16, Mariani started working for the Wolf Road Dunkin Donuts in Colonie as a crew member. He quickly became a shift leader and eventually a manager. Once he was promoted to the manager position he traveled to various Dunkin Donuts locations as far away as Great Barrington, Mass. Mariani enjoyed the work he did there and loved the customers but for a 20-year-old full-time college student the workload became too much.
Ever since Mariani was a young boy he “always loved money and how to get money” and planned that his second job would be as a bank teller. When his parents went to parent-teacher conference night in second grade, even his teacher told them he could “count money way too well.” Working at a bank was in Mariani’s future ever since elementary school. His family has had an immense impact on his life and influenced his work ethic skills.
Today Mariani’s family still plays an important role in his life. Coming from a “big Italian family, we still have our family dinners every Thursday night,” he said, dinners his grandfather started in 2005 after his grandmother passed away. His grandfather, head chef in charge, holds the dinners at his house and invites everyone in the family weekly.
At first his tellers and customers were surprised by his age. As a result, he worked harder to prove himself.
“I expected the manager to be older,” said Hennessy Golcochea, one of Mariani’s tellers. When she heard the bank was getting a new branch manager, she did not expect him to be so young. After working with Mariani for a while now she said he works hard and that it “pays off.”
Mariani constantly informs his tellers about his decisions as a manager and how the bank is performing. He takes pride not only working with his staff, but also in motivating them to meet monthly goals. In August he and his staff won branch of the month award for great customer service and doubling the monthly goals.
Mariani “always comes on time and always respects the customer,” said Stephen Bashir, another one of Mariani’s tellers.
He knows what the important aspects of his job are and wants to provide a good example. Mariani keeps in contact with his regular customers and offers them personal service. “It just shows I do care about what is going on in their lives than just being a worker,” he said.
With the help of this job he said he was able to come out of his shell and be more outspoken. Even friends from high school he met up with over the summer said he is completely different.
Outside of work, Mariani enjoys being with his family and traveling. He loves spending summer days at his parents’ house on Lake Sacandaga in the Adirondacks. He likes kayaking, boating and jet skiing in the summer and snowboarding in the winter. When he does have the time off, his outside interests are “nice, peaceful and relaxing,” Mariani said.
Although he likes to take “each day at a time” he one day hopes to settle down with a wife and possibly five children. Now, though, Mariani is solely determined to work his way up in the banking system and achieve his future goals as assistant vice president and eventually even vice president.
“I do want to keep working hard and showing them what I have to offer,” said Mariani. “I love what I do, I love doing man
