A lifelong Brooklynite, Joan Bartolomeo recently retired as Director of Community Development/CRA Officer at the former Signature Bank, where she worked for ten years. There, she provided day-to-day compliance with CRA requirements, including overseeing annual regulatory filings, NYS and FDIC CRA examinations, Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) impacts, corporate investments and contributions. She implemented monitoring metrics and oversaw affordable housing compliance activities and supervised efforts to ameliorate landlord/tenant conflicts resulting from multifamily mortgage lending. She was actively involved in Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Impact programs, including creating the Corporate Incentive for Volunteering in the Community (CIVIC) Program. She also managed community involvement programs such as Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), high-school level financial literacy, and the First Time Investors Program (FTIP), a proprietary in-house financial education program; Signature Bank’s 15-year participation with Bridge Street Development allowed over 300 community residents to begin building personal wealth.


Prior to joining the bank, Joan was President & CEO of Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation (BEDC), an organization dedicated to small business development & entrepreneurship and neighborhood-based commercial revitalization. BEDC provided technical support for development of locally led economic development initiatives and created REDAC, one of the first CDFI Loan funds in NYC which funded many small business start-ups, including MWBEs.


Joan resides in Windsor Terrace with her husband, former Brooklyn Assemblyman James Brennan. She is active on several other not-for-profit boards. She holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Studies.