Investors Bank’s Brian Gomez, a North Shore native, leads the charge to increase business and philanthropy on Staten Island

by JENNIFER VIKSE • Photos By Amessé Photography

Growing up on Staten Island’s North Shore, Brian Gomez had a lot of positive influences in his life.

The son of divorced parents, Gomez—who is proudly Puerto Rican and Dominican—spent time with both his mother and father in St. George and Port Richmond and attended St. Peter’s Boys High School where he played football and ran track & field.

Being proud of his heritage, Gomez remembered words of wisdom from his own father: not to let anyone judge him based on ethnicity, but based on his actions. “I don’t shy away from it [my heritage] whatsoever. Let people judge me on my actions and my work,” he said. “Don’t let anyone else write your story. Write your own.”

At St. Peter’s, he met a mentor, Coach Dennis Donovan, who would teach him one of the most valuable lessons he’d learn.

“He was an inspiration for me to do more than what I was thinking about at the time,” Gomez recalled from his office of the Tottenville branch of Investors Bank. “He wanted me to look beyond Staten Island and broaden horizons and goals. He instilled in me the motto of being a success, to give 110 percent in whatever you do. I attribute a lot of my mindset to him.”

Vice President and Market Manager for Investors, Gomez been in the banking industry for over ten years and is committed to the betterment of his hometown.

After playing football in high school and college and having more than his share of injuries, he took a hard look at the direction his life was heading. While he wanted to be a professional football player as a kid, he found that managing pre-med, then pre-law at school and practice was taking its toll.

“It was tough,” Gomez, now 37, said. He eventually made the decision to transfer to another college, Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, and major in political science, eventually graduating with a bachelor’s degree.

“When I graduated, I didn’t know where I was going to go,” he recalled, but had an opportunity to work for Commerce Bank in Manhattan, and took the job in 2001. “I just decided I was going to make something of myself,” he said. “In life, there are doubters…people who say that you can’t. I wanted to prove them wrong. Whatever career path I was going to take, I was going to give 200 percent.”

He dove head first into a management training program and completed the two year course in just six months. The program prepared him to be a management development associate, learning about every role in the bank, including the back end business. “I got a good look at how the retail model works. When everybody was at the Jersey Shore having a good time, I was putting my hours in, earning my stripes,” he offered with a smile.

And it paid off. Before long, Gomez was part of several grand openings for Commerce Bank on Staten Island. In 2002, he was promoted to assistant manager and assigned to a Commerce branch on Staten Island. (“It was great to come back home. To live and work here was a very unique experience,” Gomez said.) From there, he was promoted to branch manager and opened a new location on Huguenot Avenue, growing the business to $100 million.

In 2011, as Commerce Bank became TD Bank, Gomez was approached about taking on the role of vice president, managing 20 people and a $150 million portfolio. While at TD, he was approached by a senior executive of retail banking of Investors Bank and saw a unique opportunity to build a franchise of Investors Bank on Staten Island.

In reference again to the naysayers, the executive offered, “It’s like running track; you are challenged to run faster times. I was told, ‘You can’t move up the corporate ladder this fast,’ but I’m doing it. You have to be able to take a risk. Without risk, I don’t think you can be successful.”

So he took another risk; he joined Investors Bank. Founded in 1926 and headquartered in Short Hills, N.J., Investors is one of the largest regional financial institutions serving the metropolitan area. It has a network of over 130 retail branches, which includes three banking centers on Staten Island.

“It was so exciting to be a part of something like this,” Gomez beamed from the new branch on the Island’s South Shore. “It’s something I have always wanted to do, to build something from scratch. When you have the opportunity to be part of the ground level, you’re truly blessed…to do something you enjoy and see it come to fruition.”

Investors Bank has opened three new branches on Staten Island in the last year, with two more this year and another planned for 2016. “For every location we have built on Staten Island, I have hand selected the location,” he noted.

The bank coming to Staten Island makes perfect sense, Gomez explained. “Staten Island is an economy that continues to grow. There is over $8 billion on Staten Island and counting. It’s the borough that just keeps on giving, and it’s a tight-knit community, too. Everyone knows someone, so you develop good relationships with people. For us to come in makes perfect sense. We are a community-oriented bank.”

And that’s not lip service. Investors has already immersed itself in the community. Living to its mission of the 4 Cs (cooperation, community, character, and commitment), Gomez and the bank have partnered with several non-profits on fundraising and other initiatives, including the Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation, the March of Dimes, the Stephen Siller Foundation, and The Staten Island Children’s Museum.

“And that’s not just words,” Gomez explained, noting that his team manned a rest station along the March of Dimes’s March for Babies route, sponsored a trip for Teddy Atlas youth to a Rutgers basketball game, and when Hurricane Sandy hit—before Investors Bank even had a Staten Island component—they worked with the Siller Foundation to identify appropriate channels for donations.

In addition to those commitments, Gomez is active on the South Shore Rotary Club, the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation, the Richmond University Medical Center Foundation, the Giving Hope Network (NJ), and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

When he’s not at work, in a meeting or otherwise engaged, he’s spending time with his 7-year-old son, Brian. “My biggest accomplishment is being a father,” Gomez said, noting that he is currently instilling the same values his mentors instilled in him. “I teach him to work hard, strive for the best in school, put the time in. At that age, you have your friends and that’s great, but I want him to stay focused on school. We read every night.”

In the little free time available, Gomez, who now calls Bridgewater, NJ home, enjoys spending time with his son and fiancé, going to the gym, and golfing.

And while Gomez is busy mentoring his employees, he has not forgotten his own inspirations.

“My coach taught me to always strive to do more, to be better; never be satisfied with what you are doing,” he added. To that end, Gomez is striving to be a senior executive, or CEO.

Another role model is his aunt Sylvia Montero, who ran the Human Resources department at Pfizer. “She is an inspiration to me and someone I have always looked up to…a Latin woman in a corporate environment,” he said.

Gomez said he’s grateful for everything he has, the opportunities that have come his way, and for his family. His personal motto? “Set your mind to it. Focus on it, and you can achieve it.”

Investors Bank
1200 Forest Ave. / 718.727.5670 / myinvestorsbank.com