In this special guest episode of the Believe in Banking podcast, Gina and Juliet welcome Jeffrey Martinez, Executive Vice President and Head of Branch Banking at PNC. In their illuminating conversation, Jeffrey shares the story behind PNC’s $1.5 billion investment in their branch network and how the bank’s continuing commitment to the branch is fueling even more customer connection and institutional growth. From his early banking roots to overseeing 2,200 physical and 22 mobile branches, Jeffrey outlines both the bank’s and his personal principles behind creating consistent, high-performing, and meaningful branch experiences and the internal staffing strategies that power them. He describes how his passion for purpose-driven leadership – shaped by both his military service and his start as a teller – drives his approach to activating 15,000+ employees in service to customers and their life’s goals. Finally, Jeffrey offers inspiration for banks of all sizes, emphasizing the importance of operational excellence, strategic clarity, and a relentless focus on delivering human-centered experiences that move people forward financially.
Text Transcription
Intro: This is Believe in Banking, a podcast series for decision makers, influencers, and leaders, featuring experts taking on the financial industry’s most pressing issues with insight and empathy. The podcast features information and conversations designed to enlighten and empower.
Gina Bleedorn (00:17): Welcome our podcast for Believe in Banking podcast. I’m Gina Bleedorn, President and CEO of Adrenaline.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (00:23): And I’m Juliet D’Ambrosio, Chief Experience Officer at Adrenaline.
Joining us today, we have a very special guest that you know well, Gina, and have recently had a great experience with at BankSpaces. Joining us is Jeffrey Martinez. He is EVP and Head of Branch Banking at PNC. Jeff, say hello.
Jeffrey Martinez (00:49): Hello everyone. Proud to be here.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (00:51): We’re thrilled to have you here. We were just chatting before we got on, of course, that you are still recovering from a few very action-packed days in Clearwater, Florida where the industry came together to talk about the future of retail bank spaces. I am incredibly jealous. Lots of FOMO about what happened there. And I would love to start by just hearing a little bit of the rundown. We have two people that are fresh off the stage as well, so I’d like to get a little bit of an insight in what you talked about in some of the conversations that you were having.
Gina, what did you take away from the few days at BankSpaces?
Gina Bleedorn (01:37): Yeah, I took away mostly a sense of optimism. Jeff and I opened the event, and Jeff spoke about what PNC is doing now after they announced massive investments around $1.5 billion and every branch in the network being renovated. No big deal… And he talked a bit of inside baseball as to what that means, how we’re thinking about it, what we’re trying to win, etc. And then I went into a little bit of the what we are seeing with clients of all sizes [information], and really we’re seeing a lot of gaps that aren’t being filled today.
But what is most interesting, back to my comment about optimism [is that] in the past, even in conferences last year, there was a lot of feeling of, ‘Oh my gosh. We need to do something. We need to transform.’ But almost an, I don’t know, analysis paralysis and also of unsureness about how to go about it. Now, it seems that people are really ready to go, and I think a lot of the banks like PNC are leading the way and leading the charge. They made it safe to reinvest in the branch network that many others were trying to do and are now doing. And there’s just, I don’t know, this sense of momentum in moving forward and doing that now that we know that is the thing we want to do.
Jeffrey Martinez (03:07): Yeah, you said it really well. I know for me, I kind of kicked off, and I’d say we absolutely both kicked off, because I tried to harness your energy going into some of the opening comments and obviously the reference to Adrenaline as a strategic partner I know resonated throughout. But to your point around optimism, and this being my first time at BankSpaces connected through some of the videos from years past. There was this kind of theme of this search for clarity, but sometimes there being some of this confusion just on is it more, is it less, is it new geographies, is it the same geography? I know for sure I use that other C word, which is curiosity. That’s what I know our industry is seeking, who is doing it, who is doing it well, as we perceive using the right investments.
And as you know, my favorite phrase – an ROI, the need for a return on investment. I think where many are, everyone’s on different parts of their journey, but their journey or at least ambition to move forward to a better place. Whether it’s again, reinvesting into their existing franchise, growing their existing franchise, where does technology play within that narrative, where do people play within in there and the investments done on both? And then I think the connection between both the digital and the human to say, how do you humanize the digital approach, so it is more shoulder-to-shoulder vs. more of you take this and do this, it’s all kind of shared and collaborated. It was good to see that from an industry that I know thrives together, not just in segments.
And as I tried to convey, I believe there’s a narrative within PNC’s $1.5 billion investment, which again, a big pride point in being able to share that. But whether you’re a small bank from community to small and midsize or one of our larger kind of peer competitors or even larger than PNC, I think we’ve been able to capture that story, both of the ambition of broader expansion, but just winning in the spaces and geographies that we’re in today.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (05:05): It’s so interesting to hear you both talk about optimism as a connective thread across the industry. And it strikes me, Jeff, that PNC as an organization had to have a lot of optimism that would go behind that $1.5 billion, that’s a “B” billion dollar investment in the branches and optimism really around the idea of in-person experiences and about commitment in brick and mortar in communities. And just thinking about in 2024 how PNC deployed that optimism, announcing a $500 million additional investment on top of the $1 billion investment, opening more than a hundred new location and renovating its existing network over the next five years.
And I’m thinking also about your role, which is a linchpin. You oversee and are responsible for 2,200 physical branches, 22 mobile branches, and you oversee nearly 15,000 employees through your coast-to-coast footprint. That’s a lot, but also massive opportunity. And I’d love for you to tell us the story of how you got here, what’s your background, what’s your professional bio that led you to lead this kind of change for an organization like PNC?
Jeffrey Martinez (06:31): Yeah, I appreciate it, Juliet. And as a matter of fact, I’m coming off of a grand opening yesterday in my hometown where I was born and raised in Union City, New Jersey, which in and of itself is kind of unique in what today would be known as a more low to moderate income community, and knowing where financial institutions play a role broadly, but especially across the need for social and economic mobility, it’s one that’s been connected to my personal purpose and passion for years.
Now, I wouldn’t have known that as a younger kid at Rutgers University who decided to take a part-time teller job at Chase during the time –that it [would] ultimately turn into career. And I’m sure for both of you, Juliet and Gina, I’m sure as you ask bankers, ‘Hey, who thought you were going to be in retail banking X years later?’ Hands don’t go up. So, it’s the profession you fall in love with, because it’s embodied around again, back to what finances mean for people’s decisions, livelihoods, social mobility.
So yeah, the first 11 years of my career was spent at Chase and really having every role within the branch network as an individual contributor, as a branch manager, as a district manager, as a market director. And that which is always important to call out, I serve in the United States Army through the Army National Guard for nine years, deployed twice to Iraq. So this kind of leadership, motivation, inspiration, but also understanding change, and people and talent, and a mission ahead, I believe will resonate in most of my comments.
Really what to me always drew me to PNC was that they were ambitious from the start as they started bringing post National City, post RBC, growing out this franchise – it just reminded me of some of the earlier ambitions I’d seen at Chase and decided to go along for the ride. That wasn’t an easy decision. It was absolutely the right one. Probably outside of my family, it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life, and I’ve found just this acceleration as my own ambition was matched with an ambitious firm, and we’re able to again hit the role of regional market manager, territory executive. Then obviously for the last two and a half years here as head of the branch channel, our mobile banking unit, and as well as our strategy and sales enablement team.
And all of that has come at a perfect time that through our people and maturing out our BBVA acquired geography has really turned into phenomenal performance. So starting from a place of strength has allowed us to say, well, what happens if we double down? What will more get you? If you’re driving more, and you add an accelerant, do you get more of this ROI? What do continued exciting spaces to create the retail network as a destination do for clients and household growth and primacy?
What does growing a franchise now 200+ branches that will add over the course of now the 4+ years that remain within our strategic plan? Just yesterday we opened our 10th branch for this year for Q1. At the end of March, we had opened more new denovos than any other financial institution in this country. And I believe that’s still to remain true, as again, we just hit our tenth on May 1 of this year. So, I’m just excited to see all this planning come to fruition.
But again, a lot of it was seen in the momentum of ‘23, accelerating that in early ‘24, identifying gaps in our existing franchise because I’ll say this over and over again, we’re not looking to pick new fights. We’re doubling down on winning the fights that we’re currently in. Winning market share, being at number one in these geographies is what we’re after, and that’s what these investments are embodied in. And so as we saw that to center around Texas – between Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio – and in Denver, as the year progressed and performance accelerated and confidence accelerated, not only in our industry but especially at PNC, we knew that level of investment was a catalyst for acceleration.
People are inherently, at least I believe, positive around the way they want their finances to be viewed, the way they want this forward momentum. And people want to grow in a growing financial institution. It says a lot about our own financial picture to be able to make what again our households are doing today, tough decisions around budgeting, where you spend and what to spend it on. And that level of prudency over the years, we’re on the shoulders of big and tough decisions of years past to be on these decisions now to move our organization economically forward through growth and expansion. But that’s built off of years. And that is a catalyst for people come in and say, ‘I want my financial institution to be synonymous with my own ambition.’ And so we’re driving a lot of those clients in.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (11:11): Jeff, I think about something a lot when I hear just the pure passion and the ambition in your voice, and we’re always thinking about what separates PNC from the other national banks, especially because we see many of them like the Chases, the TDs the Bank of America, Fifth Third, etc. that are making these massive investment in branches. But PNC has a bit of a special sauce, and it sounds like there’s this sense of real ambition behind what you are offering and a passion for moving people ahead.
What you said just in a conversation we were having is the idea of never wanting to settle for good enough because good enough can be an improvement. You move something from just okay to good enough and how you never want the organization to settle for good enough. And I’m curious about how you take that ambition and just share it across with your people and what it has meant for you and for the organization to not settle for good enough.
Jeffrey Martinez (12:19): What a great question. And again, it sounds like you’ve gotten the manuscript to some of my recent visits out in the field. Yes, good enough can be somewhat of a killer of ambition. Where that started to resonate, Juliet, is as we started to make investments and in any large project, large organization, some things could be missed. Just some little touches here, and there that for most, especially if you’re leaning in on that local leadership that may be excited because of their branches being renovated, and so again, they’re already on the path of better. And as you go in, and the part that I’ve loved and another big investment that maybe isn’t talked enough about is the span of control within our regional managers and market managers, but especially our regional managers, we’ve invested in that job family to drive immense amounts of visibility out in the field.
So, that ensures you calibrate across a larger network on average 12 branches. So, talent isn’t seen in a silo, but seen across an entire body of talent and motivation and inspiration and performance. But that also allows us to look [at the] physical in that same notion where, ‘Hey, is that color palette what we’ve expected to be?’ And so maybe is it a tint or two off where someone in the branch will say that is ‘good enough’ – or a level of privacy, a door, a marketing campaign – that good enough is not good enough for me, nor for PNC, especially when we’re putting such significant dollars in investment. It’s just this mindset and mantra around am I delivering the absolute best? Better is good, but best is the outcome that we’re searching for regardless of the level of investment.
It may be a smaller level renovation to a multimillion dollar renovation. There is an end state that we believe is best for that geography, best for what that branch needs. And getting a team that isn’t afraid to raise their hand and say, ‘But what about this? Is this expected to be this way?’ That is probably one of my biggest pride points is activating our 15,000 employees to want to always be the best, question what the best is, [and] escalate things as needed because there’s an employee and a client at the center of that question. Was it hospitable enough? Did we feel client obsession come to life? They’ve started to be more critical and helped us learn around, ‘Hey, what would we want to do next?’ So, that activation also shows their buy-in, their responsibility. Again, that’s not through some consultant, that’s through activating our people and their ownership of all of this through their excitement differentiates us.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (14:50): I’m fired up, Jeff. I’m also thinking about this idea of your client obsession and with a network as broad as yours and with all the different types of customers and clients you have. We think a lot about who’s coming into the branch, and I’m thinking about younger people especially. How are you making sure that you are providing or the branch experience is ready to meet the needs, the expectations, what younger customers [want]? And even beyond that, the next generation, the rising generation, Gen Alpha, I think we’re on now, how we’re ready to accept those clients in?
Jeffrey Martinez (15:35): I think everyone, regardless of age or generation, when I am interacted early on in a meaningful way, simple things that I’m sure, Juliet, we’ve heard on this call for ages that in this industry, maybe because of this path towards digital has been so diluted that we forgot the basics. We forgot how to humanize in an assumption that Gen Alpha or Gen Z or even Millennials want to come in texting you. Yes, there’s parts of convenience that are needed, but you’ll find if someone is choosing to walk into your branch, they’re choosing people. And you have to define that and unpack that around this choice for humanity. What else comes after that? Because I’m now interested in your advice, you’re more willing to go down this financial journey with someone that can wow you on the small things because you can embed a level of trust, confidence, and comfort through hospitality.
And how does that then, through what we know is a choice for a humanized level of service or some more sophisticated advice that we lean in more on people by also then enabling some of the digital features that’ll make the use of those much more applicable and much more easy. But people are walking in for people under a brand that they’ve grown and trust, and I want to wow them in a way that instead of choosing to run through something fast – they have one more question, they have one more thought, or they want to schedule one more visit.
Gina Bleedorn (17:00): Jeff, I love so much everything you have to say. You are both informational and inspirational at the same time. And I know that’s going to be for anyone listening, so incredibly valuable. I want to know what is keeping you up at night? I mean, no biggie, you’ve got 15,000 employees and 2,200 branches. I can’t imagine what that would be, but where do the biggest challenges lie ahead?
Jeffrey Martinez (17:26): Maybe I think about a dance, and we’re not trying to just dance tango, we’re trying to do tango, step line, and dance salsa. It’s this coordination that we know we’ve made a mindful choice that we’re going to invest in such an accelerated fashion that it is going to cause some tension in the system. It is going to cause some tension within talent, but in a way that is all built around moving people forward financially, both our employees and our clients, and creating this catalyst for differentiation. And so making sure, vetting that out, piloting, getting feedback on the new physical layout along with continued developed talent with new products and services. Let me see that. And let’s continue to coach, develop, tweak, and pivot until we know it’s best in class delivery.
The other part that keeps me up at night across 2,200+ locations is that one thing doesn’t look like the other. So, I can walk into one branch on 123 Main Street and get an experience that has wowed me with a story worth talking about to everyone I know. And then I go walk down the block to 321 Main Street, and it’s lackluster. Everything that I’ve just mentioned doesn’t exude as we walk in the door –that door isn’t being open, we’re not leading with hospitality, and we’re not centered around advice that brings in the entire picture holistic view within PNC.
Making sure as always execution risk is top of mind and being in front of that so you don’t make assumptions, but you really inspect, talk it through, continue to lean in for feedback and improvements and ensuring that this experience is only acceptable if it’s across every branch, every employee, every client, every time. That is what winning looks like. It’s not getting it right in 70% of the network. It’s not getting it right in 90% of the network. And look, that may show that revenue’s up. I may get data that says, ‘Hey, it’s perfect in 90%. Jeff, you’ve doubled revenue, client engagement.’ All that stuff is not enough because we have to get it right for every employee, every client, every time. If not, that’s not just an opportunity lost. That’s not just reputational risk. That is someone who needed help whether they knew it or not that we failed on that delivery.
So again, back to leaning into the investment in our talent in our regional manager job family that is able to on a weekly, daily, monthly basis, be part of the story, not just dictate it to see it, not just hear it like a lot of that are these enablers, but I want to have them top of mind. So, constantly with partners building out SWOT analysis, making sure that we’re focused on any potential weaknesses or opportunities. I want to call those out earlier on, so then we can, again, prior to rolling it out broadly, we know what pitfalls we may have [and can] adjust accordingly and provide the experience that we wrote on paper that we can envision in our minds, but we need to see it and execute it on it in a meaningful way.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (20:18): That idea, I think it’s a million dollar question among our clients in the conversations we have – even if their branch network is 20 versus 2,200 – is the idea of consistency, but not redundancy. Consistency, but with the individual locality and the people brought forward. And I am thinking about many of our clients who are in that 20, 40, 60 to 100 branch footprint. They’re growing too. The entire industry has, and Gina mentioned it before, everyone got the memo that growth is a mandate. What advice do you have for those community institutions that are seeking to grow? What can they learn from a PNC?
Jeffrey Martinez (21:09): Yeah, there’s always this assumption like, ‘Hey, we got this new plan, so we will apply something new to it, and the outcome will be different.’ The theme around talk to me about the last thing you deployed and how that landed is a big measurement on the things going forward. And so today, whether you’re investing heavily on one piece, execute on the things you have going on today flawlessly as the only precursor to being able to execute flawlessly going forward. And so yes, maybe it’s still somewhat of an outdated product technology that yes, will get better as you add more rewards or faster technology that things do get better. But I have seen new things fall flat because again, the way they’re executed on hasn’t been truly thought out.
I always say new does not fix broken, and I think on many is this idea that new will fix things, new will drive that added revenue, new will drive more engagement. [People think] a new branch will drive better revenue than our existing network. Question is why if there’s already a bedrock or understanding of momentum, acceleration, and engagement where the team deploys today’s resources, and I use that as a better understanding of how is my next thing going to launch? And so that’s a good kind of strategic view to do it.
The one thing that I said and I thought hopefully really resonated across the gamut of financial institutions both, again large [and] small, is winning in your geography. So, as people chase potentially a different MSA, I’ve kind of tried to message around like, ‘Are you winning in your zip code?’ If you’re not winning in that zip code, how does another zip code change that? What tweaks, pivots talent decisions do you have to make that then something becomes scalable and replicable. New isn’t the catalyst for change, but it’s more of an acceleration of your existing model. You can go faster as you continue to deploy more resources and new locations, but it isn’t a dynamic change.
I think there’s a lot in what I would say the recent past that tells us a lot of our ability to execute going forward and that just new and this kind of understanding what will new do again – new product, new branch, new talent, new resources – that isn’t necessarily pointing to a differentiating outcome going forward, then that’s where leadership steps in and figures out the communication, the strategy, the deployment, and the execution. So, whatever is new truly is then that is a catalyst for accelerated performance.
Gina Bleedorn (23:35): I literally wrote down that new does not fix broken. That’s a great line as a good reminder to myself and just counsel for so many things across an organization of really any size. And that’s what I appreciate the most about everything you said here and also how you structured your BankSpaces presentation, and I think is probably evident in everything you do, that it can be relatable by so many. And so you take down the idea of what PNC is trying to do market by market into a microcosm of just one market or just one zip code – it’s applicable for everyone.
So it has been absolutely amazing to have you on this podcast, and I know that so many will get so much benefit from it. Your generosity and thoughtfulness in your time and every word you’ve said, we have a special question we ask all of our guests on the Believe in Banking podcast. And in many ways you have answered this question multidimensionally, particularly around what you said about your career and about retail banking and why people stick with it. But that question is at the Believe in Banking podcast, we want to know why do you believe in banking?
Jeffrey Martinez (24:55): Yeah, a great question. Outside of, again, falling in love with an industry that’s centered around helping clients achieve something that either they know want to achieve or don’t know it yet have been some of the most rewarding conversations I’ve ever been down to the client level as a teller trying to figure out how can I help and refer to a banker, as a banker learning, being curious, being empathetic, and to a manager at any scale, looking to scale that broadly because I know help and passion can extend beyond one physical site, beyond one city, beyond one state, and really, again, sitting today driving that in the coast to coast franchise. But I’d probably say the one example, and it has happened often, but there’s one in particular and probably my first role as a branch manager hiring a banker, and as we’re all about financial wellness, but a lot of that is even shared with our own team.
I not only educate clients, I educate our people all the time as there’s nothing better than seeing an employee contribute to their 401(k) for the first time, know that PNC has a pension, buy their first car, save their first thousand dollars, get into their home. And I remember this one banker who for years always you knew was going to be a tremendous success and had found themselves becoming a branch manager in their own career and they continue to be a tremendous success here at PNC. And I remember she stopped me and said, “Jeff, you don’t understand the impact you’ve had in my life.” And I said, “Well, thank you.” And again, I’m probably more centered around career and advice. And I’m like, “Yeah, no, hey, thank you again. I’m just a fly on the wall watching greatness happen.” And she’s like, “No, because of you and your guidance, I bought my first as a single mother for my two kids.”
And [it’s] those conversations, if they don’t give you goosebumps or tingle, some heartstrings and you say, how do I do this more faster, broader? That’s the story of retail banking because we are a catalyst to change lives. My kids now my daughter, who will be 21 in two weeks, and my son as early on, I’d say, “What is daddy going to go do?” And she’d say, “Changing lives.” And I said, you’re absolutely right. And so it sounds cliche-ish, but it’s true. And we do it at multiple levels. But that always resounds in me, and I take that to heart, and it’s why I wake up every day. I may lose a little bit of sleep, but I wake up every morning more pumped because there’s stories like that out there waiting to be created – all in the backs of a great manager, a great banker, curious about helping somebody.
Juliet D’Ambrosio (27:33): Gina took away something that she wrote down that ‘new doesn’t fix broken.’ I wrote down something also, Jeff, that you said that I am going to live by in terms of a mantra that when people choose branch, they choose people. That’s what they’re ultimately choosing. So thank you so much for spending time and for the conversation and for the humanity, really, that underlined all parts of your conversation, especially the answer to that question about changing people’s lives. It’s added passion even for Gina and I as we partner with organizations just like yours. So thank you so much.
Jeffrey Martinez (28:19): Appreciate it. Thank you. Very, very humbled for this opportunity. So thank you.
Gina Bleedorn (28:23): Jeff, I think the fact that even you’re going to spend all your week next week going around to your branches, all around your different markets, your commitment and passion, the life and humanity you bring to what you do at that bank is changing people’s lives. So, just thank you.
Outro: You’ve been listening to Believe in Banking, a podcast series created to empower decision makers, influencers, and industry leaders in financial services. Be sure to also join us on our flagship site, believeinbanking.com.