Throughout a long career in banking communications, the skills Krista Phillips, M.A. ’03, learned as a graduate student at La Salle University have contributed to her success.  

Krista Phillips, M.A. ’03, always believed that effective communication is key for any organization. This has been proven to her as she’s used the lessons learned in the graduate Strategic Communication Program at La Salle University throughout her career and into her in her newest role, M&T Bank Regional President for Greater Baltimore, an additional position to her existing role as the company’s Chief Customer Officer.   

Phillips graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in communication focused on advertising. She quickly started her career, working for an advertising agency where she managed a contract for the National Bank of Maryland.  She went into the role initially thinking of banking as a commodity but quickly realized there was more to it. It’s a field that’s both rational and emotional, she said, and a product that people always have with them.   

“Even before cell phone days, you had your license, your debit or credit card, and your keys,” she said. “That was basically what you needed.”   

With that realization, Phillips, with her communications training, found her career path.   

“Banking is built on relationships. Relationships are fostered through communication,” she said. “What I found through advertising and banking is that I could really launch my career in this industry, and I found that I had a strong passion for it.”  

Now focusing on banking communications roles, Phillips relocated to the Philadelphia area and started thinking about furthering her education. Although she was considering an MBA program, the initial interest she found in communication during her undergraduate degree stayed with her.   

“I was curious in learning about the profession of communication, because I have this belief that communication is central to building trust and to making the world a more sound place,” Phillips said.   

She’d also discovered the unique role that communicators played in her industry.   

“The communicators were the ones that bought the voice of the bank to the markets,” she said. “But we were also responsible for understanding the dynamics of the consumer and bringing that lens back into the company.”   

Living in Yardley, Pa., Phillips started looking for a program that would suit her needs. She came across the perfect fit: La Salle’s graduate Strategic Communications Program, then known as the Professional Communication Program.   

The flexibility of the program meant that she could pursue her education in the evenings, while working her full-time job, and it was in a great location as well.   

“It was a great experience for me,” Phillips said. “Not only was it just the flexibility of literally being down the block from my house, but also I found a lot of the topics really engaging.”   

On top of the curriculum, Phillips also benefited from the people around her in the program, both her classmates who came from a variety of fields and professional areas, and the expert professors who were teaching her.   

“It was a great way to meet other professionals and also to quench my thirst for lifetime learning,” she said.   

Although her interest in graduate education was centered around continued personal growth and learning, not to just further her career, Phillips notes that it has helped her as she’s progressed through the working world.   

“As I was getting more senior roles, I quickly understood that communication was somewhat my secret weapon and a superpower of mine, because I can speak to audiences, I can distill down complex thoughts into simple messages so that everybody can understand no matter who the stakeholder is,” she said. “That has been a key asset that I’ve been able to leverage throughout my career.”  

The skills and theory she learned at La Salle have continued to help her through the variety of roles—both communications and more business focused—she’s held at banks including JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and, most recently, M&T Bank.   

Phillips joined M&T Bank in 2025 as the organization’s chief customer officer. In early 2026, she added another title: Regional President for Delaware.   

Being asked to fill the role was an honor, she said, and it’s one that she’s excited to get deeper into, especially at an organization that is so dedicated to its local community.   

“This is something I’m ready to tackle, and I can’t wait,” Phillips said, adding that there is an element of newness to the role as previous institutions she’d worked at didn’t have community-focused leadership positions in the same way. “It’s a wonderful combination of all the skills that I’ve learned along my journey, and I’m able to bring all the capabilities of the bank to this market and I’m able to really listen to our customers and future customers and bring that back into the bank.”   

Looking to the future, Phillips is committed to continuing to learn and serve her customers, describing that as success in her newest role, and she knows that the communication skills she learned at La Salle will help her to do that.   

“Focusing on the fundamentals of communication and the practice of communication at La Salle has helped me further my leadership skills and my craft as a chief customer officer,” she said. “I’m extremely proud to be an alumni of La Salle.”   

-Naomi Thomas