It”™s easy to understand why Fannie Lansch is a successful banker and Westchester County business leader. Prodigious smarts, youth and a beauty that transcends photography certainly have something to do with it. But Lansch also possesses something less tangible ”“ the personal touch. She listens when you speak, focusing intently on you with wide eyes.
And despite managing millions ”“ first for Union State/Key Bank and now for HSBC ”“ while also serving as president of the Westchester Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the youngest member of the Westchester Economic Development Council, she can still take childlike joy in life”™s simpler pleasures. Talking about her life and work over latte at The Westchester in White Plains, she pauses briefly to acknowledge the sudden arrival of Santa Claus for another day of eager tykes and their even more anxious parents.
“Santa,” she says, beaming and offering him a round of quiet applause.
This ability to connect instantaneously and simultaneously has served Lansch well in a life that has heretofore been all about bridges ”“ between cultures and between business and the larger community. She was 20 when she joined her mother in the United States, having graduated high school at 15 and started her own fashion business by age 17 in her native Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
“It was either continue on the path I was on and start from zero here or try another with better possibilities,” she says. “So I looked at the classifieds and decided to seek a career in finance.”
She enrolled at Miami Dade College, where she was placed in the honors program and earned an associate”™s degree. After the University of Miami (bachelor”™s in business management), she targeted Pace University in White Plains, because, she says, she wanted to work full-time and Pace has one of the best part-time MBA programs in the country. She arrived in New York around 9/11. But even in the midst of that uncertain time, she was selected for Union State Bank”™s management training program ”“ one of a handful out of 200 applicants ”“ and wound up in the lending department.
“It was a great opportunity, because a lender has to get to know the businesses themselves.”
At Union State, she went from being an analyst to starting the construction loan department, where she managed an estimated $650 million portfolio.
Lansch was enjoying the meteoric rise of the true prodigy. But she doesn”™t see it that way.
“Just say I was determined,” she says. “I didn”™t even think about it. I knew I was starting from scratch and just identified the things I had to do.”
So when Key Bank acquired Union State in 2007 and she lost her job, Lansch ”“ 7½ months pregnant with the first of her two daughters ”“ turned to the Internet. In 2009, she launched QueTuBuscas.com, an online portal of resources that brings together Hispanic businesses and individuals seeking their services. (English-language readers can access the site ”“ whose name means “What Are You Looking For?” ”“ by logging on to myqtb.com.) To date, QueTuBuscas has had visitors from 60 countries.
Lansch could”™ve developed this into a full-time business. But she wanted to continue her career and spend time with her children ”“ her second daughter was born last November. In June, she became vice president and senior business relationship manager for HSBC, covering Westchester.
Headquartered in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking firms in the world, offering highly specialized industry-based solutions ”“ including foreign exchange, trade and supply chain, payments and cash management, insurance ”“ besides the traditional cash and lending products.
Traveling around the county, Lansch manages a portfolio of businesses whose assets range from $1 million to $30 million.
“I love the job,” she says. “They”™re very supportive of the work I do in the community, and at the end of the day, it helps me be a better banker.”
Central to that work is her leadership of the Westchester Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where she”™s served as president for five years, having joined the chamber in 2002. There are those critics who think that ethnic labels like “Hispanic Chamber” tend to marginalize groups. But Lansch says, “the role of the chamber is forging partnerships and reaching out.”
To that end, the chamber plays host periodically to the Business Roundtable, at which area business and community leaders can brainstorm. The chamber has initiated the Westchester Business Needs Assessment Survey, in part to identify the number of at-home businesses.
And the chamber will also be presenting for the first time a Dec. 8 dinner dance at The Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown that will bring together businesses in need with those that can help. (The chamber”™s annual gala has been moved to the spring.)
All this, and Lansch still has time to sit on the 10-member Westchester Economic Development Council, advising County Executive Robert P. Astorino, as well as on Congresswoman Nita Lowey”™s Hispanic Advisory Board.
The key, she says, is “prioritizing ”¦ doing fewer things with greater impact.”
And drive.
“Money helps,” she says. “But if you don”™t have a goal in mind, the passion and the discipline, then all the money in the world can”™t help you.”
