Marketing & finance: will this marriage work? We offer some tales of marketer/chief financial officer teams that have learned to function in harmony.

Here's the outdated stereotypes: Marketers see financial people as "penny-pinchers," and financial people see marketers as "spendthrifts." Not so anymore, say bankers. As banking competition increases, the lines between marketing and finance are beginning to blur and the two are meeting on that common ground called the bottom line. When these two departments work together in a symbiotic relationship, the bank is more likely to thrive.

We've profiled three pairs of marketers/chief financial officers to show how they have created winning teams despite their differences in outlook, job function and approach.

Learning to Speak Each Other's Language

Corner Bank, N.A.

Winfield, Kan.

Assets: $210 million

Employees: 111 in seven locations

Jana Dobbs

Senior Vice President,

Relationship Management

Steven Hill

Executive Vice President and

Chief Financial Officer

For Jana Dobbs, it was unusual to have to ask someone for money to start a project. In her previous job as marketing director for a nonprofit, she actually had to raise any money she needed. Having a ready supply of it was pretty nice. That doesn't mean the transition to finance and banking was an easy one. First, there was the rather discouraging history of her predecessors.

"We'd hire marketing directors for awhile, and if income wasn't what it needed to be, they'd get fired," states Steve Hill, chief financial officer (CFO).

Hill explained that shortly after he started at the bank over 18 years ago, the board decided to drastically cut overhead. The marketing department was the first to go, and stayed empty for almost two years. The next marketing director lasted only 18 months, following the sacked president out the door.

Why would someone dare take a job with that history? Both Hill and Dobbs say the culture of the bank has changed.

"Our current president and CEO, Bruce Schwyhart, arrived in 1997 and installed a much better system," says Hill. "There's a lot of structure now."

But there was another hurdle for Dobbs, namely that particular lexicon familiar to finance, but not to her.

"For the first six months, every time I went to an ALCO meeting, I took notes of all the acronyms," claims Dobbs. I came back and asked Steve to explain what they were talking about."

Being part of the ALCO committee is one of the pillars of that structure Hill mentioned. When Dobbs was hired in 2000 as the director of marketing, she was also made part of the executive committee. Despite the learning curve, she found that these roles eventually worked in her favor.

"I think it made a huge difference in the way that marketing was viewed throughout the organization," says Dobbs, "Even though I'm not on the same level as say, the executive vice president, we at least have a peer relationship."

In fact, everyone on the executive committee sits on all bank committees. That's been a key factor in they way department relationships have grown over the years, claims Hill.

"We have developed a trust on an executive level, and it takes time to build that," he claims. "There are still disagreements, but I think we've matured enough to be able to work through them."

Marketing and finance specifically have found a balance between what Hill calls "the ideological and the actual substantial."

"Jana comes up with a lot of these terrific marketing ideas and I write out the numbers and make sure everything works," he says.

They've even started to go out on some joint calls together. One example is the local community college. Both have prior contacts there, Dobbs through her previous nonprofit position and Hill through his work with municipal funds.

"I know some of the things they're trying to accomplish from past experience and so does Steve," she explains. "We talk about what we can help them do with our cash management program and merchant cards. I talk and he fills in the numbers."

They both credit their success to the ability to speak each other's language. Not having a banking background, Dobbs was fully aware that she needed to learn the ropes. Part of that meant attending the committees and getting a clear shot of the "big picture."

"Everything I do with my marketing plan should match up with the CFO's goals and responsibilities," she says. "The bottom line is his responsibility; and, if I'm doing things to help him achieve his goals, he'll be a lot more willing to work with my plans."

Then, there was her scientific approach to background research, which Hill says "tends to ground her ideas in reality." Despite Dobb's self-proclaimed inherent dislike of spreadsheets, she learned to use them almost exclusively when communicating with a previous boss. A former military man, he was extremely analytical.

"It's all in how you present the information to the person you're dealing with, you have to look at personalities," she advises. "I'm really a big picture, gung-ho cheerleader type personality, but he thought that I was analytical, just like him."

From that piece of advice comes a suggestion that Hill and Dobbs firmly echo, mainly that both marketing and finance have to step outside their comfort zones.

"Both have to shed their egos," says Hill. "Marketing people have to be more analytical, and CFOs can't just be analytical, they have to start marketing themselves."

Thinking Outside Your Own Area of Expertise

Ocean City Home Bank

Ocean City, N.J.

Assets: $510 million, $530 with the holding company

Employees: 135 in six locations

Paul Esposito

Senior Vice President of Marketing

Don Morgenweck

Chief Financial Officer

What does Wile E. Coyote--always on the receiving end of a heavy anvil--and a bank marketing committee have in common? "ACME," says Paul Esposito. His explanation has something to do with the fact that the coyote character from the Road Runner cartoons always bought his contraptions from the Acme company.

"My theory when I got here was, marketing is about selling," he explains. "Acme seemed to sell everything Wylie needed, so why shouldn't it be the same for our customers?"

Officially, the acronym stands for "A Creative Marketing Ensemble." Over the years, the weekly ACME marketing meeting grew to include everyone in the bank. As a result, "communications and teamwork at this bank are excellent."

"ACME serves two purposes," claims Esposito. "One, it's a marketing meeting and we discuss ideas. It's also a staff meeting and an opportunity for the president to expound on his philosophies, which obviously has to fit the marketing plan and everything else."

The CFO, the bank president and the marketing director also go to lunch together every day. The entire structure helps CFO Don Morgenweck tremendously from a budget standpoint.

"Because we have this close relationship, there are no surprises and that helps in the planning process," says Morgenweck. "Also, Paul is not afraid to open up any aspect of what he's doing to make sure he's got the best deal. He doesn't do things just because that's the way they've always been done."

These are welcome changes for Morgenweck, who spent 22 years in banks that weren't as focused on communication. The greatest challenges there, he said, were in getting word to the branches and getting projects off the ground.

"This is not like any other bank I've worked in before," he explains. "I worked in one small bank that became a regional bank and there was no communication really. We were all confined to our own areas, while the bank grew from 10 to over 80 branches."

But there's more than communications that makes this team click. Both admit to being able to think outside his own area of expertise.

"I've been in the business for 28 years, so I guess I understand more than just crunching numbers all day long," says Morgenweck.

"And I have a financial background, so I'm bottom-line oriented," says Esposito. "I realize if we do something, we have to make money at it."

Personalities, too, are pivotal. Esposito admits to having had a great relationship with the previous CFO and was concerned about a newcomer. But he says he's been complimenting the president on a great hire ever since.

"We're very team oriented, so it's not a place where someone can come in with his own agenda," he says. "You have to work within the context of the whole group and Don does that very well."

He also has the range of experience you can't buy, not even at Acme.

"When Don speaks up at ACME meetings, I know his input is valuable," says Esposito. "He's been to other banks and a lot of us have been here for a long time. You can get set in your ways."

Taking the Time to Understand Each Other's Worlds

Highland Bank

St. Paul, Minn.

Assets: $390 million

Employees: 120 at seven locations

Alisha JR Johnson, CFMP

Senior Vice President/Director of Marketing

John Gill

Chief Financial Officer

Sometimes, what can be construed as a lack of appreciation about your job can come down to a simple difference in style. That seemed to be the case within Highland Bank when a new CFO entered the picture.

John Gill was originally hired as the new CFO for Highland Bank, its holding company and a related real estate entity called Wall Companies. After ten months of focus, the real estate operations had mined around, and Gill felt comfortable hiring another CFO to handle them full time. When Gill turned his full attention to the bank, he focused on strategic planning, tax compliance, estate planning, finance, accounting and treasury management activities.

In the meantime, his attendance at some bank strategic planning meetings left marketing director Alisha Johnson feeling skeptical.

"He began to throw out ideas," she says. "They were good ones, but they were things already being done at the bank. He really needed to know what we were doing and that comes back to communication."

According to Johnson, the relationship started out rocky, but has grown and improved over time.

"Our first true project was the budget, and I was frustrated," says Johnson. "I saw John allocating dollars outside of marketing I knew I was going to be managing. I couldn't understand why he wouldn't let me keep the money that I had."

Gill says he noted early on a difference in marketing philosophies and approach between the two of them. They came from very different backgrounds and banking environments, which contrasted significantly regarding focus and financial commitment of resources to marketing strategies.

"My prior experience included working for several banks with the specific strategic initiatives and focus of growing the size and profitability, and minimal marketing financial resources," explains Gill. "We doubled and tripled the size of those organizations through strict expense management, selling and producing through internal networks, without having financial resources available for marketing."

Johnson's background, as he assessed it, included working for larger organizations that had greater marketing resources. Each approach worked well in its own environment. But it was clear to both that they would need to work together to achieve the success they'd become accustomed to.

"We needed to learn to trust each other," says Johnson. "Today, I would say we trust each other 100 percent, but we needed to learn."

"We took the time to understand each others worlds," adds Gill, "including familiarization of styles and approaches, strengths and weaknesses--and we shared some victories together."

Perhaps the best lesson learned was to not take change too personally.

"I needed to be more flexible," admits Johnson. "It's hard not to when you're good at what you do, but you don't just get credibility--you earn credibility."

Today, says Johnson, when they she and Gill walk into an ALCO meeting, they're partners. They work together on a profitability management system as well as a product and pricing committee. All of these committees benefit from the expertise of both marketing and finance.

This year's budget discussion was apparently totally different than that first joint project a few years ago. For one thing, Johnson got back the money she used to manage.

"He knew why I needed those dollars," she says. "He really gets marketing and merchandising and sees the value of branding. So never underestimate who's on your team."

Gill says he's learned the value of the financial rewards that come from talented marketing people with a well laid out plan of action and strategy. But first, his advice for people in both fields is to spend some time understanding the other person's role.

"Determine what it will take for each to accomplish their individual goals while not losing site of what's best for the organization," he advises. "I believe that real successful bankers have figured this out and realize that you need both to have success."

Janet Bigham Bernstel specializes in writing about marketing and financial services industry issues. She works in Jupiter, Fla.