Connecticut roots run deep for new Webster CEO

John Ciulla knows a thing or two about handling pressure and coming through in the clutch.

Ciulla’s prowess as a high school basketball player during the late 1970s and early 1980s earned him a spot in the North Haven High School Hall of Fame in 2013. Now a 52-year old executive with Waterbury-based Webster Bank, Ciulla is about to take on a far bigger challenge than sinking a last-second basket or stealing the ball from the other team’s top scorer.

Ciulla will be replacing current Webster Financial Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Smith on Jan. 1,Smith is regarded by some in the Connecticut banking community as an industry legend, having led the bank his father started in the 1930s for 37 years.

Smith said he is confident Webster Bank is being left in good hands.

“He has all the critical qualities needed to do the job,” Smith said of Ciulla. “And quite frankly, his interpersonal skills, his ability to relate to others, was a big part of our decision.”

Ciulla came to Webster in 2004, after a sevenyear stint with Bank of New York during which he rose to become managing director. Some people work all their lives in an effort to rise to an executive level with a New York City-based financial institution, but Ciulla was looking for another type of challenge.

The son of a lawyer, Ciulla graduated from Williams College and got his start in the banking industry in 1987 as a loan officer for the former Connecticut National Bank. After two years, he left to get his law degree from Fordham University.

After graduating from Fordham, Ciulla spent time working at a pair of New York City law firms, McDermott Will & Emery and Hughes Hubbard & Reed. While working at those firms, he advised clients on financial matters and other issues.

Ciulla returned to banking when he joined Bank of New York.

His path of career changes mirrors Smith’s background in some ways. Smith worked four years as a Wall Street broker before returning to Waterbury to run the mutual savings bank his father started.

Having witness decades of economic ebbs and flows in Connecticut, Smith remains bullish on the state’s future.

“We’re starting to see some of the problems the state has being solved,” he said.

Ciulla is doing his part toward helping improve Connecticut’s business environment. He is currently serving as chairman of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.

Ciulla said the bank will continue to review how it delivers banking services to customers and likely will continue to reduce the number and size of its branches. Webster announced in January that is was closing eight branches across four states, including Connecticut locations in Wethersfield, Manchester and Danbury.