Bangor Savings Bank has been serving customers for 173 years, the past eight of them in NH. And the bank has certainly made its presence known in the Granite State, operating in six communities after acquiring Granite Bank in 2017. Bangor continued its expansion in NH by opening Bangor Wealth Management of NH in 2021 and its eighth NH branch in Manchester in January 2023. It is opening a new branch in Derry this spring and is seeking to expand next into Nashua. Bangor Savings Bank now has 69 branches in Maine and NH with more than 1,100 employees—more than 100 of whom work in NH.

The bank continues to invest in NH communities as it grows. In 2024, the bank’s total philanthropic giving was more than $3.6 million in Maine and NH and its NH employees contributed over 1,180 hours of service to 87 nonprofits.

“Our biggest differentiator is that commitment to community,” says Kimberly Pope, executive vice president and chief banking officer for Bangor Savings Bank. “Our first priority is our employees. If we take care of each other, everyone is going to feel well cared for and appreciated and will pay that forward to our customers. That spills forward into the communities. It’s a virtuous circle of doing the right thing and paying it forward and making a difference.”

The bank is investing in solutions to NH’s housing crisis. In 2024, the bank issued a $3.7 million loan to Upland Heights in Manchester, in partnership with the NH Housing Finance Authority, to support 48 affordable rental units managed by the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority. It also renewed and increased a $3 million line of credit for NeighborWorks Southern NH to provide working capital for an affordable housing development. Bangor also invested in Low Income Housing Tax Credit Funds that supported housing projects in NH and donated $23,000 over the past two years to organizations focused on affordable housing. Its NH employees contributed more than 370 hours of volunteer work to nonprofits supporting affordable housing.

“Our commitment to affordable housing hearkens back to our roots to provide housing and mortgages to the community of Bangor. Over time housing and lending affordability has been something near and dear to our hearts,” Pope says, adding it is essential to meet people’s basic needs for housing and food security so communities can thrive. 

To learn more about these winning companies and celebrate their success with them, join us at the Business of the Year Awards celebration to be held on June 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown Hotel. For more information or to purchase tickets or tables, visit BusinessNHmagazine.com.