WATERBURY, CT – Webster Bank is pleased to announce Kathy Luria, senior vice president, Community Affairs, director of philanthropy, has been named to the American Bankers Association Foundation Board of Directors.
The ABA Community Engagement Foundation, known as the ABA Foundation, is a 501(c)3 corporation. Through its leadership, partnerships and national programs, the foundation supports bankers as they provide financial education to individuals at every age, elevate issues around affordable housing and community development and achieve corporate social responsibility objectives to improve the well-being of their customers and their communities.
“Kathy is one of banking’s most dedicated and innovative philanthropic leaders,” said Corey Carlisle, ABA Foundation Executive Director. “We are grateful to have her advice and counsel as we provide our industry essential tools and resources to help consumers and communities navigate these unprecedented times.”
During her tenure as head of philanthropy and community affairs, Luria has redefined Webster’s corporate giving platform, advanced its groundbreaking work with Junior Achievement and United Way and fostered a vital, bankwide culture of employee volunteerism engagement.
In 2019, she was the recipient of the ABA Foundation’s George Bailey Distinguished Service Award for her efforts helping Webster bankers find ways to forge meaningful partnerships and make a real difference in the communities the bank serves.
Luria oversees Webster’s annual United Way campaign, which has raised nearly $20 million since she joined the bank in 2006, driving dollars to over 70 United Ways and thousands of agencies across the country. In addition, under her leadership nearly 1,000 bankers have taught more than 15,000 Junior Achievement students, and senior bank officers serve on all JA boards
throughout the bank’s market in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
In addition to the ABA Foundation, Luria is a member of the CT Working Cities Challenge advisory council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, director and assistant vice president of the Harold Webster Smith Foundation, and serves on the board of the Elisha Leavenworth Foundation, both based in Waterbury, Connecticut. She is the immediate past board chair of the Connecticut Council of Philanthropy and has been an adjunct professor in the School of Business at the University of Connecticut for 11 years.
