By Mary Beth Roach
“I get to be a forever learner,” said Cassandra Gehrig, first vice president for marketing at Pathfinder Bank.
An understatement, perhaps, when one considers that her role, which includes developing and implementing marketing and communications plans and strategies, changes constantly with the ever-evolving social media and technological advances.
Gehrig’s work encompasses the entire banking system, with its 11 branches across Onondaga and Oswego counties, including a limited production office in Utica.
A SUNY Oswego grad with a background in marketing and economics, Gehrig stayed in Oswego after graduation and got a job as a part-time teller at one of the Pathfinder Bank branches. She saw the job as a learning opportunity in which she could use a little bit of her background.
“I didn’t, for one minute, think there was a level of growth that I have experienced,” she said.
She moved into the loan department and expressed an interest in marketing, which at the time, was what she called “traditional marketing,” with print, TV and radio. Today, digital marketing, additional technology and evolving customer needs are significantly changing the scope of her job.
And while technology is making significant impacts in the financial community, what is the impact that women in leadership roles?
For Gehrig, she sees it more in terms of life experiences than just gender.
“I believe it’s about leaning into the human experience that makes someone a great leader. Organizations are a collection of people that all come from different life experiences, hardships, challenges,” she said. “Knowing yourself, reflecting on your life experiences, drawing knowledge from them, and then applying the lessons learned to our work can be really powerful.”
Drawing from her experience, she said she has seen that many of the female leaders that she has worked with have flexibility, adaptability and self-awareness.
For many women like Gehrig, who is also a wife and the mother of a toddler, life is a balancing act, with responsibilities both at home and at work, but it’s that ability to juggle and to realize what’s important in both universes that can make for a good manager.
