01
Learning how money works
I grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, as the kid who was always asking questions and never took no for an answer. Most of those questions were about how money and business actually work. I started working at 14 at Toys R Us, tried my hand at a few small businesses in high school, and went to college for finance because I wanted to understand how it all fit together. A job at a bank felt like the best classroom I could find.
In September 2004, while I was a full-time college student, I started as a part-time teller at Commerce Bank in Ewing, New Jersey. Over the next several years I was lucky enough to learn almost every seat in the branch. I trained in customer service and in residential lending and mortgage, went through the management training program, and grew from weekend supervisor to head teller, then assistant manager across three locations, and eventually branch manager. I finished college a semester early, in December 2007, just as the financial system was coming apart. Those years in retail banking taught me leadership, sales and service, and above all how to listen when the people across the desk were worried. I’m still grateful for them.
02
Learning to say yes the right way
In 2011, after Commerce had become TD Bank, I was fortunate to be selected for TD’s commercial lending credit training program in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. That’s where I learned the fundamentals: reading financial statements, understanding cash flow, underwriting risk and structuring credit. I worked my way from credit analyst to senior analyst to junior lender, and I owe a lot to the people who taught me along the way.
Honestly, I also learned what I wanted to do differently. At a large institution I said no to 99 out of 100 deals, often when I believed in the business owner and what they were building. Too often the money went to people and businesses who didn’t really need it. I wanted to help small businesses and the entrepreneur looking for someone to believe in them, and to be there as their vision came to life. I wanted to make an impact, move with urgency, put people first and keep looking ahead.
03
The big break
In the summer of 2013 I joined ConnectOne Bank, which had just gone public and rebranded. When I shared the news with friends from the big banks over drinks at a rooftop bar in New York, they had a good laugh about me leaving for a bank they’d never heard of. I understood why. It was a leap. I was the first commercial and industrial (C&I) lender the bank ever hired, and I had the privilege of helping build that business in northern New Jersey from the ground up.
At a smaller bank you wear a lot of hats and sit close to the decisions. I was one of eight people who sat around a table and wrote the bank’s core values, which is still one of the things I’m proudest to have been part of. Because we had direct access to decision makers, we could move quickly for business owners, and word spread fast. Before long I was working with companies across New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Long Island and the Hamptons, across C&I, investment real estate, construction, workouts and other specialty lending. I hired, trained and mentored people along the way, and I learned even more from the mentors who generously invested in me.
Years later, a number of those same friends from the rooftop called to ask about opportunities at ConnectOne. Everyone knows the name now. I don’t think of that as being proven right. It just reminds me how grateful I am that I took the chance, and how lucky I was to be surrounded by people who built something special.
04
From the bank’s side of the table to the company’s
Through my work I came to know Wonder, a family-founded New Jersey meat and food manufacturer, and its founder and President, Steve Realbuto. After seven years of working together, Steve asked me to join him as Chief Financial Officer in February 2020. He had a pipeline of real estate and business acquisitions and needed help bringing them to life. I’ll always be grateful for the trust he showed me.
Weeks later COVID hit. As an essential food manufacturer we kept running, and thanks to an incredible team we kept growing. Together we rebuilt the finance function from top to bottom, including accounting, internal controls, tax and corporate structure. We upgraded the company’s outside advisors and brought in talented people to run it all. Over five years I had the opportunity to lead more than 12 commercial real estate acquisitions and 8 business acquisitions, expand operations into six states, and help grow revenue more than fivefold. I was honored to be the family’s right hand on finance, accounting, legal, M&A, real estate and HR. What I’m proudest of is helping bring structure, culture and professionalism to a founder-led business without losing the heart that made it special.
05
Two lives, one month at a time
In 2021 we moved our family to West Palm Beach, Florida. Steve asked me to stay on at Wonder, first part time and then full time again from June 2022 as the company kept expanding. For the next few years I flew north one week a month. I’d leave Monday morning, visit every facility, work alongside the team in person and fly home Thursday or Friday, then work remotely the rest of the month. When my daughter started kindergarten I realized I didn’t want to miss a week of her life every month. I stayed on through the end of the first quarter of 2025, thankful for everything those years gave me.
06
Coming home
On April 1, 2025, I rejoined ConnectOne to help lead its growth across Florida, which was an exciting new chapter. I was thrilled to come back to an organization I’ve always loved and a vision I believe in. When I first joined in the summer of 2013, ConnectOne was a young bank with about $1 billion in assets that had gone public only that February. By the end of 2019, shortly before I left, it had grown to roughly $6 billion, and today it has more than $14 billion in assets serving clients in New Jersey, New York and Florida.1 I feel lucky to have played a small part in that story. I also came back with something I didn’t have the first time. I’d spent five years on the other side of the table as a CFO, making the same calls on acquisitions, financing and growth that business owners make every day. I don’t just try to think like the client. I’ve been the client, and I hope that makes me a better partner to the people I serve.
Looking back, I feel nothing but appreciation for the opportunities I’ve had, for the people who gave me a chance and believed in me, and for the ride itself. What an amazing ride it’s been so far.
Today I live in West Palm Beach with my family and our two dogs, and I count my blessings every day. When I’m not working, you’ll find me with music on, checking out cars, touring real estate or trying out the latest technology.