Anthony Magnano is now senior vice president of enterprise health care banking at KeyBank and is enjoying rediscovering Buffalo after spending years in Nashville, Tenn.
Anthony Magnano has a pandemic story that a lot of Buffalo expatriates can probably relate to.
The Buffalo native had been working in Nashville, Tenn., with Bank of America for several years, and he was getting ready to take a new job there with JLL, a commercial real estate services firm.
Then the pandemic struck. Magnano came back to Buffalo to work remotely for a few months. He eventually returned to Nashville, but Buffalo remained on his mind. So when a job opportunity here with KeyBank surfaced, he took it, and moved back last December.
Magnano, 32, is now senior vice president of enterprise health care banking at Key, and enjoying rediscovering Buffalo.
Q: How did the pandemic affect your life in Nashville?
A: When that basically broke last year, I left Nashville to kind of spend some time up here. Everyone at that time was basically going remote. I was still at (Bank of America) at the time. … I took the opportunity to get closer to family, because at the time, we really had no idea how bad it would get.
I ended up spending March through May (in 2020) up here. I was basically living in Buffalo, and I hadn't been in about eight or nine years at that point. It was refreshing for a number of different reasons. But obviously, it also brought to light the fact that it is nice to be close to family, regardless of circumstance, whether it's a global pandemic or not.
We had an unfortunate event occur to our family just two years ago now: My dad unexpectedly passed. It definitely made a lot of sense for me, especially with the pandemic and eight months after that occurrence, to try to be here and be supportive of the family that I do have, which is basically all back in Buffalo.
I ended up spending a few months here early in the pandemic. I went back to Nashville and tried to kind of get back to normal. But at that same time, I kind of found myself gravitating to coming back and forth to Buffalo. … Pandemic aside, I felt myself wanting to spend more in Buffalo, with family and in this community.
Q: You had just started your new job with JLL when KeyBank called about a job. What happened from there?
A: I think it was six or seven weeks into my time with JLL is when I got a call from a recruiter from KeyBank. My gut reaction initially was, I shouldn't entertain. I'd only been with JLL for six, seven weeks at the time. It's not in my character to just kind of do that to an employer.... I didn't want to ruin any sort of reputation I had with JLL by exploring this other opportunity.
But lo and behold, that conversation with the recruiter went well. At the end of the conversation I was like, where's this position going to be located? He said, "It's actually going to be in upstate New York and that's why we reached out."
I was like, it's been a while since I've seen anything that was attractive from a career opportunity perspective in Buffalo. And this could be a really interesting way for me to get back home and do it with a great organization that has a phenomenal brand presence and market presence and also continue to further my trajectory as it relates to my career.
Q: How did JLL react to you leaving so soon?
A: Honestly, it was received pretty positively, or as positively as it could be. I think they kind of understood I'm from here. It's not a market where there's constantly a bunch of senior banker type roles that become available, especially to folks who have been out of the market for a while like myself.
Anthony Magnano moved home for a job with KeyBank.
Q: How is it living in Buffalo again?
A: It just kind of feels like that indescribable feeling of being home and being around familiar faces and friends. Obviously, I'm not able to do that as much perhaps as I would under normal circumstances. But I've tried to make a valiant effort of letting people know, especially those close to me, that I'm back.
I could not have a better reception than what I've had thus far. … It's funny how Buffalo is one of those towns where maybe you haven't seen someone in eight or nine years, and you pick up right where you left off.
It's also interesting that I'm at that point in time in my career where you're now starting to see classmates find themselves in other interesting roles, where there's now an intersection between friendship and business.
Q: Was it hard getting to know clients at your new job with Key during the pandemic?
A: It's a challenge, but I think at this point, I might (benefit from) the fact that this has been going on for about a year. It's not something that's necessarily foreign to clients, where I think if I were to be doing this in March of 2020, it would be that much more challenging.
For better or for worse, (virtual meetings) seem to be the norm and pretty commonplace. I think I kind of have that playing to my advantage. But it does continue to make it challenging. Buffalo's very much built on that handshake, you look the person in the eye and you're able to develop a relationship in person. And I look forward to the day where I'm able to do that. ... I have actually been introduced to folks in person. I look forward to being able to do that more often as people feel more comfortable.
Given that I [also] cover Rochester and Syracuse, the whole virtual meeting aspect does allow me to kind of cover more ground in less time. It gives me the tools to be able connect with people in Rochester and Syracuse without having to make the two- or three-hour drive. It has its pros and cons.
Q: What are your impressions of the health care industry in upstate New York?
A: I think the health care community at large suffered a huge setback last year, regardless of whatever it was you're doing, whether you were a hospital, a public health agency, an ambulatory surgery center, you experienced a reduction in cases and whatnot, and that's going to affect the bottom line.
What's been great to see is, as the state continues to open up, I think a lot of these hospitals are starting to get back to where they were, and hopefully 2021 and beyond will have positive implications.
Matt Glynn
April 23, 2021 at 04:04PM
https://ift.tt/3xi6P4R
A Buffalo expat comes home with KeyBank amid pandemic - Buffalo News
https://ift.tt/3d5QSDO
No comments:
Post a Comment