The Dealmakers Top Bankers: Doug Kennedy, Fleet Bank New Jersey

It seems only fitting that someone with the name Kennedy got his first job in banking through a contact made at a St. Paddy's Day party. At the time, Doug Kennedy, the vice chairman of Fleet Bank New Jersey, was an intern to the president of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, where he received both his undergraduate and MBA degrees. At the black-tie event Kennedy met a banker, and the next day he was hired by City Trust, which is now part of JP Morgan Chase.

Kennedy's first job was as a teller at $86 a week. He joined NatWest Bank in 1983 and relocated to New Jersey in 1993 to be head of corporate banking. After NatWest's operation here was taken over by Fleet he became head of Fleet New Jersey. Kennedy moved to Summit Bank in January 2000 only to see that bank acquired by Fleet a year later. In the post-merger re-organization Kennedy was named vice chairman and head of large commercial lending.

The shelves on the bookcases in Kennedy's sparsely decorated office in Cranford are loaded with Lucite tombstones of deals in which he has participated. One of the prominent ones is for Coach USA, the national bus transportation rollup that involved the takeover of several smaller New Jersey bus companies. Fleet is also the principal banker to Silverline, the window construction company that has its headquarters in North Brunswick.