February 28, 2025 • 11 mins
We spoke with President and CEO Nick Caplanson about his upcoming retirement from Dime Bank. We also spoke with Nicholas Statoulas Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer about the future of Dime Bank.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening to iHeart Communities. My guests this
morning are Nick Kaplinson, President and CEO of Dime Bank,
and Nick to Tulis, Executive vice president and Chief Operating
Officer of Dime Bank. Welcome, thank thanks. I understand you
have some big news taking place at DIME that you'd
like to share with us.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes. First off, Allison, I just want to say thanks
for having us today. It's always great to see you,
and yeah, we did want to share some news. I
have informed our employees and we're starting to talk to
folks in the community that I've changed. I'm going to
be changing my role at Dime Bank and stepping away
(00:42):
from my day to day responsibilities as president and CEO
later this year, and I'm very pleased to announce that
this gentleman standing next to me, next to Tullis, is
going to be assuming the role of president and CEO
between October first, when he's going to be president, and
then he'll take on the CEO role at the end
(01:03):
of the year as well, and I'll be stepping away
and continuing to serve on our board of directors as chair.
So we're really excited about it. We wanted to share
the news with obviously our employees, customers, friends, and just
let everyone know that this is an incredibly well thought
(01:26):
out plan. We really believe it's going to be tremendously
successful and smooth, and that's important to everyone. So that's
the big news for today.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm so happy for you. I hope you really enjoy
this new chapter in your life.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Thank you. I really appreciate that. And it's been just
a great opportunity for me to reconnect with folks and
hear about experiences they've had and family members, friends that
have done something similar to what I'm about to do,
and it's it's very interesting to talk to people and
(02:06):
get their perspectives and new chapter in life.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Right, that's right, So congratulations to the both of you. Nick.
What made this the right time for you to take
this step?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, it's really a combination of things, Alison, and you know,
I've been at this job for fourteen years. It's it's
very demanding if you do it properly, and I take
it very seriously, and the bank's done very well. It's
time to get a little more balance in life. There
(02:40):
are other things that I want to do. Fortunately, I'm
still young enough and healthy enough to take advantage of
however long that is, and we none of us really know,
but we want to take advantage of that opportunity. And
that's a that's a part of it. But you know,
having set all all that, I feel very fortunate that
(03:03):
our board has asked me to stay involved at the
board level because I do absolutely love the institution, the industry.
I've been at it for forty years. It's something I
have to say I'm not ready to step away from completely,
and it's just not the right time to step away completely.
(03:25):
This affords me a real, really nice opportunity to stay involved.
But again, hand a batond over to Nickstitulis and he
can manage day to day. He's got tremendous energy and enthusiasm.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So it's the best of both worlds, it really is.
So you've been president and CEO at DIME for nearly
fourteen years, and looking back, what are some of the
things that have been accomplished at DIME that you are
the most proud of.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well, there's a lot of things I'm proud of. Clearly,
our involvement in the community and continuing to invest more
in our communities has been something I've been very, very
proud of. And the reason we can do that is
because we've continued to grow the bank. When I took
over fourteen years ago, we were a little under seven
(04:14):
hundred million dollars in assets. We're about one point two
billion now, so we've grown substantially. We've expanded our geographic
reach from our traditional footprint in southeastern Connecticut to you know,
moving up Route two here in Greater Hartford. It's been
a wonderful ride and I'm just tremendously proud of the
(04:38):
success we've been able to enjoy. I always say this,
it's this is a people business all the way around,
and it's not it's not one person. It's not the
CEO that does this. It's the it's the employees, it's
the bank, it's everyone who supports us. And we've been
(04:59):
able to kind of, you know, get our arms around
that and keep everybody motivated and really sharing in the success.
And that is very satisfying for me to see other
people succeed and share in the wonderful things that we
can do.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And I was gonna say that you're being humble. You've
had a tremendous impact on people's lives. The people you
work with, the people in the community. You've been a
great blessing even to my life. When I do these interviews,
I'm like, Wow, what a nice guy. He truly cares
about the community.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, thank you for saying that. I think it's I
think it's imperative that if you step into this job,
you have to be like that in order to be
successful and to do the right thing for an organization
that's been around for over one hundred and fifty five
years and has been committed. That's just been a big,
(05:56):
big part of what's driven me and and and again
handing the baton to Nix to Tullis, he's the same
kind of guy. And you will see that over the
course of future hopefully future interviews we have and and
things we can share with you. And and I am
(06:16):
very very confident that that Dime Bank is going to
be moving forward in a big way.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, you have one thing going for you. The name
is Nick. Yes, many years ago your mom's talked Ton,
So congratulations to you, Nix to Toulis, you have some
very big shoes to fill, and I know what that's
like taking over for Rene as well. Nick mentioned you
have been and will continue to be working closely together
(06:44):
on transition. What do you consider to be the key
to a smooth transition?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well, before I answer that, Alison, and first of all,
thank you for having us here today. But I wanted
to express today the that I represent for the bank,
the the opinion and and the obligation on the part
of our employees to thank Nick for his years of
service here at the bank. Under his leadership, under his stewardship,
we have done some amazing things and we are truly
(07:10):
happy for Nick as he takes us next step, and
just wanted to make sure that we had a chance
to express that. But we talked about this exchange and
this transfer as an exercise and continuity and collaboration. So
we have a very strong management team on the Dimebank team,
we have an exceptional group of employees. When we made
(07:33):
this decision and we communicated out to our employees, we
were very conscious in that we wanted to take the
steps necessary to have a conversation with all of our
team members. We brought together all of our corporate team members,
We went out to every one of our branch locations,
and we had an opportunity to speak to our individuals
and say how do you feel about this news? Is
this something that you have any questions or concerns about?
(07:55):
And we're happy to report that through those visits, our
folks felt very comfortable with the way that this has
been handled. They expressed to us that they know Nick,
and they've known Nick for a number of years. I've
been with the organization for coming on seven years now,
so people are familiar with my style and that's going
to lend itself to familiarity, and certainly we hope for
a successful transition.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And it must feel really good to get his blessing.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
It does. Nick has been a tremendous mentor for me
and and the fact that Nick is staying on IS
as chairman of the board is is a big advantage
for us. And and I can continue to rely on
him as a mentor somebody who's been down this path
before help me with the challenges that would come up,
for for for the UH, for the president's role. There
(08:42):
there's day to day things that will that will come
up that I can rely on him as a as
a sounding board.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Were you secretly at home like, oh my gosh, thank
you so much. I'm so excited.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I'm very excited. I think my wife may be a
little bit more excited than I am, but she's not
in there on the trenches on the day day basis.
But it is a very exciting opportunity and an exciting
time for us.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Absolutely, I'm so happy for you. Congratulations and for customers
of Dime old and new. Can they expect to see
any changes that will affect them as part of the
change this fall?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, well, you know the old saying, als and if
it ain't broke, don't fix it. We have one hundred
and fifty five plus years of success here at the bank,
and we've done a lot of really great things investing
in our communities. This is an opportunity for us to
look for ways to enhance products and services, potentially improve
access for our customers, to make it easier to do business.
(09:36):
But because of the success that we've had in this organization,
because of Knick's leadership, it's really an exercise in making
sure that we continue to provide a high level of
service for our customers. Looking for us to reiterate our
commitment to independence and controlling our own destiny. We have
a commitment to our communities through volunteerism and financially through
(09:58):
our foundation. One last thing I'll leave with your audience here, Allison,
is that for folks that are listening that are already
customers of Dimebank, we'd just like to say thank you.
And for those that are considering an opportunity to look
for a new financial services provider, we asked that you
give us an opportunity. This is an invitation to come in,
give us an opportunity to earn your business. We trust
(10:19):
that you won't be disappointed.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And what is your website again?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
It is www dot dime dashbank dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Are you going to Golfnick? What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You know, I'm not a big golfer, Allison. I have
a lot of other interests. But what I'm telling people
is I want to pursue a lot of them. The
biggest thing for me is letting life slow down a
little bit. Yes, you know, we all rush around. I'm
the type of guy who you know, I may be
(10:51):
at a dentist appointment, I'm looking at my watch and
oh my goodness, I got to go back to the
office for a meeting. It's rush, rush, rush. I'm looking
forward to just taking a step back and yeah, you know,
throttling back a little bit, and uh, I think it's
good mentally. I think it's good for your health. And
(11:15):
there's a lot of things I want to do, but golf. Uh,
you don't want to see me on the golf course.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I'm terrible.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I love the outdoors.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I do.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I do like to travel. There's a lot of things
on the agenda for me.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I'm so happy for you.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You can stay up late now and sleeping late now
and just do whatever you want. You've earned it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I'm speaking with Nick Kaplinson, president and CEO of Dime Bank,
and Nix Totulis, Executive vice president and chief operating officer
of Dime Bank. Thank you both for being here. I
wish you both the best.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for listening to iHeart Communities. My guests this
morning are Nick Kaplinson, President and CEO of Dime Bank,
and Nick to Tulis, Executive vice president and Chief Operating
Officer of Dime Bank. Welcome, thank thanks. I understand you
have some big news taking place at DIME that you'd
like to share with us.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes. First off, Allison, I just want to say thanks
for having us today. It's always great to see you,
and yeah, we did want to share some news. I
have informed our employees and we're starting to talk to
folks in the community that I've changed. I'm going to
be changing my role at Dime Bank and stepping away
(00:42):
from my day to day responsibilities as president and CEO
later this year, and I'm very pleased to announce that
this gentleman standing next to me, next to Tullis, is
going to be assuming the role of president and CEO
between October first, when he's going to be president, and
then he'll take on the CEO role at the end
(01:03):
of the year as well, and I'll be stepping away
and continuing to serve on our board of directors as chair.
So we're really excited about it. We wanted to share
the news with obviously our employees, customers, friends, and just
let everyone know that this is an incredibly well thought
(01:26):
out plan. We really believe it's going to be tremendously
successful and smooth, and that's important to everyone. So that's
the big news for today.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm so happy for you. I hope you really enjoy
this new chapter in your life.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Thank you. I really appreciate that. And it's been just
a great opportunity for me to reconnect with folks and
hear about experiences they've had and family members, friends that
have done something similar to what I'm about to do,
and it's it's very interesting to talk to people and
(02:06):
get their perspectives and new chapter in life.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Right, that's right, So congratulations to the both of you. Nick.
What made this the right time for you to take
this step?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, it's really a combination of things, Alison, and you know,
I've been at this job for fourteen years. It's it's
very demanding if you do it properly, and I take
it very seriously, and the bank's done very well. It's
time to get a little more balance in life. There
(02:40):
are other things that I want to do. Fortunately, I'm
still young enough and healthy enough to take advantage of
however long that is, and we none of us really know,
but we want to take advantage of that opportunity. And
that's a that's a part of it. But you know,
having set all all that, I feel very fortunate that
(03:03):
our board has asked me to stay involved at the
board level because I do absolutely love the institution, the industry.
I've been at it for forty years. It's something I
have to say I'm not ready to step away from completely,
and it's just not the right time to step away completely.
(03:25):
This affords me a real, really nice opportunity to stay involved.
But again, hand a batond over to Nickstitulis and he
can manage day to day. He's got tremendous energy and enthusiasm.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So it's the best of both worlds, it really is.
So you've been president and CEO at DIME for nearly
fourteen years, and looking back, what are some of the
things that have been accomplished at DIME that you are
the most proud of.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well, there's a lot of things I'm proud of. Clearly,
our involvement in the community and continuing to invest more
in our communities has been something I've been very, very
proud of. And the reason we can do that is
because we've continued to grow the bank. When I took
over fourteen years ago, we were a little under seven
(04:14):
hundred million dollars in assets. We're about one point two
billion now, so we've grown substantially. We've expanded our geographic
reach from our traditional footprint in southeastern Connecticut to you know,
moving up Route two here in Greater Hartford. It's been
a wonderful ride and I'm just tremendously proud of the
(04:38):
success we've been able to enjoy. I always say this,
it's this is a people business all the way around,
and it's not it's not one person. It's not the
CEO that does this. It's the it's the employees, it's
the bank, it's everyone who supports us. And we've been
(04:59):
able to kind of, you know, get our arms around
that and keep everybody motivated and really sharing in the success.
And that is very satisfying for me to see other
people succeed and share in the wonderful things that we
can do.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And I was gonna say that you're being humble. You've
had a tremendous impact on people's lives. The people you
work with, the people in the community. You've been a
great blessing even to my life. When I do these interviews,
I'm like, Wow, what a nice guy. He truly cares
about the community.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, thank you for saying that. I think it's I
think it's imperative that if you step into this job,
you have to be like that in order to be
successful and to do the right thing for an organization
that's been around for over one hundred and fifty five
years and has been committed. That's just been a big,
(05:56):
big part of what's driven me and and and again
handing the baton to Nix to Tullis, he's the same
kind of guy. And you will see that over the
course of future hopefully future interviews we have and and
things we can share with you. And and I am
(06:16):
very very confident that that Dime Bank is going to
be moving forward in a big way.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, you have one thing going for you. The name
is Nick. Yes, many years ago your mom's talked Ton,
So congratulations to you, Nix to Toulis, you have some
very big shoes to fill, and I know what that's
like taking over for Rene as well. Nick mentioned you
have been and will continue to be working closely together
(06:44):
on transition. What do you consider to be the key
to a smooth transition?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well, before I answer that, Alison, and first of all,
thank you for having us here today. But I wanted
to express today the that I represent for the bank,
the the opinion and and the obligation on the part
of our employees to thank Nick for his years of
service here at the bank. Under his leadership, under his stewardship,
we have done some amazing things and we are truly
(07:10):
happy for Nick as he takes us next step, and
just wanted to make sure that we had a chance
to express that. But we talked about this exchange and
this transfer as an exercise and continuity and collaboration. So
we have a very strong management team on the Dimebank team,
we have an exceptional group of employees. When we made
(07:33):
this decision and we communicated out to our employees, we
were very conscious in that we wanted to take the
steps necessary to have a conversation with all of our
team members. We brought together all of our corporate team members,
We went out to every one of our branch locations,
and we had an opportunity to speak to our individuals
and say how do you feel about this news? Is
this something that you have any questions or concerns about?
(07:55):
And we're happy to report that through those visits, our
folks felt very comfortable with the way that this has
been handled. They expressed to us that they know Nick,
and they've known Nick for a number of years. I've
been with the organization for coming on seven years now,
so people are familiar with my style and that's going
to lend itself to familiarity, and certainly we hope for
a successful transition.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And it must feel really good to get his blessing.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
It does. Nick has been a tremendous mentor for me
and and the fact that Nick is staying on IS
as chairman of the board is is a big advantage
for us. And and I can continue to rely on
him as a mentor somebody who's been down this path
before help me with the challenges that would come up,
for for for the UH, for the president's role. There
(08:42):
there's day to day things that will that will come
up that I can rely on him as a as
a sounding board.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Were you secretly at home like, oh my gosh, thank
you so much. I'm so excited.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I'm very excited. I think my wife may be a
little bit more excited than I am, but she's not
in there on the trenches on the day day basis.
But it is a very exciting opportunity and an exciting
time for us.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Absolutely, I'm so happy for you. Congratulations and for customers
of Dime old and new. Can they expect to see
any changes that will affect them as part of the
change this fall?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, well, you know the old saying, als and if
it ain't broke, don't fix it. We have one hundred
and fifty five plus years of success here at the bank,
and we've done a lot of really great things investing
in our communities. This is an opportunity for us to
look for ways to enhance products and services, potentially improve
access for our customers, to make it easier to do business.
(09:36):
But because of the success that we've had in this organization,
because of Knick's leadership, it's really an exercise in making
sure that we continue to provide a high level of
service for our customers. Looking for us to reiterate our
commitment to independence and controlling our own destiny. We have
a commitment to our communities through volunteerism and financially through
(09:58):
our foundation. One last thing I'll leave with your audience here, Allison,
is that for folks that are listening that are already
customers of Dimebank, we'd just like to say thank you.
And for those that are considering an opportunity to look
for a new financial services provider, we asked that you
give us an opportunity. This is an invitation to come in,
give us an opportunity to earn your business. We trust
(10:19):
that you won't be disappointed.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And what is your website again?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
It is www dot dime dashbank dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Are you going to Golfnick? What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You know, I'm not a big golfer, Allison. I have
a lot of other interests. But what I'm telling people
is I want to pursue a lot of them. The
biggest thing for me is letting life slow down a
little bit. Yes, you know, we all rush around. I'm
the type of guy who you know, I may be
(10:51):
at a dentist appointment, I'm looking at my watch and
oh my goodness, I got to go back to the
office for a meeting. It's rush, rush, rush. I'm looking
forward to just taking a step back and yeah, you know,
throttling back a little bit, and uh, I think it's
good mentally. I think it's good for your health. And
(11:15):
there's a lot of things I want to do, but golf. Uh,
you don't want to see me on the golf course.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I'm terrible.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I love the outdoors.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I do.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I do like to travel. There's a lot of things
on the agenda for me.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I'm so happy for you.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You can stay up late now and sleeping late now
and just do whatever you want. You've earned it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I'm speaking with Nick Kaplinson, president and CEO of Dime Bank,
and Nix Totulis, Executive vice president and chief operating officer
of Dime Bank. Thank you both for being here. I
wish you both the best.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Thank you, thank you.
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