When Priscilla Sims Brown took over as head of Amalgamated Bank in June 2021, she made her goals clear. The New York-based company would increase profits and market share. Accomplishing those aims would, in turn, expand the union-owned bank's voice on social issues.
So far, so good.
Amalgamated posted almost $34 million in net income for the first six months of 2022, a 49% increase compared with the same period a year earlier. And as of June 30, the bank's assets grew by 12%, to $7.9 billion, year-over-year.
To achieve this, Brown, who came to Amalgamated after serving as group executive at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has relied upon a diverse, low-risk portfolio that includes a number of commercial real estate loans. The bank's portfolio also includes $367 million in residential solar loans.
Still, Amalgamated is unique in the financial services industry. Garment workers formed the bank 98 years ago, and it is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an affiliate of SEIU. Because of this, it has focused on a variety of social issues over the years, and Sims Brown is no different in her leadership.
Advocating to curb global warming is a top priority for "America's socially responsible bank," as the company likes to call itself. In October 2021, Sims Brown announced that the bank plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and will work to cut emissions by 49% this decade.
The bank has also been active on reproductive health care issues. After the Supreme Court's June decision eliminating the Constitutional right to abortion, Brown went on CNBC to say that Amalgamated would pay employee's travel and medical costs to obtain an abortion.
On a call with investors in July, Brown said that the company's decision is based on advancing women's careers
"We want to hire and retain qualified women," she said. "We want to give them opportunities to advance in their careers, and we want to deliver on our [diversity, equity and inclusion] commitment."
Brown's passion for social justice runs in her family. Her mother is Marta Gabre-Tsadick, Ethiopia's first-ever female senator. Gabre-Tsadick fled the country in 1974 prior to the Ethiopian Civil War. But she returned a few years later to start Project Mercy, a nonprofit whose mission is to improve Ethiopia's education, agriculture and health care.
Today, Brown is on the board of directors of that organization and has helped to build schools and hospitals as well as a water system in the Ethiopian communities of Yetebon and ChaCha.
