Meet the bank CEO who’s still embracing social impact

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week, this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. In recent years, under pressure from the Trump administration, activist shareholders such as Robby Starbuck, and the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action in college admission policies, many corporations have rolled back their environmental, sustainability, and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. While others appear to retreat, Priscilla Sims Brown, president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, remains committed not only to social impact—Amalgamated is a certified B Corp and says its mission is to be “America’s socially responsible bank”—but to building a big part of the financial institution’s business around it as well. Some 40% of the bank’s lending is climate-related, and one signature program helps low- and moderate-income homeowners finance heat pumps, better roofing, and energy-efficient appliances through their property taxes, often without upfront costs. “Our leadership has a shared conviction that you can do well by doing good,” she says. Progressive bank, progressive customers Under Brown, Amalgamated’s balance sheet has climbed to $9.2 billion from about $6.6 billion when she joined the bank in 2021. The stock price of Amalgamated Financial, the bank’s parent company, has more than doubled, and it’s up 25% this year, outperforming the financial services sector and the S&P 500. “Under her leadership, the bank [has] achieved remarkable growth while remaining steadfastly committed to its mission,” says Janice Ellig, CEO of Ellig Group, the executive search firm that helped recruit Brown, adding that Brown has