‘It’s rewarding and fun’

INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE: Merrill W. Sherman, chair of the R.I. Infrastructure Bank, speaks with her colleague Joseph R. Dewhirst, interim executive director, in Providence. Sherman, 67, is applying years of financial expertise she's accumulated to her position. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE: Merrill W. Sherman, chair of the R.I. Infrastructure Bank, speaks with her colleague Joseph R. Dewhirst, interim executive director, in Providence. Sherman, 67, is applying years of financial expertise she's accumulated to her position. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Today, at 67, the Jamestown resident chairs the quasi-government R.I. Infrastructure Bank, heads up her own consulting firm and is involved in a host of nonprofit boards. She puts in at least 30 hours a week managing the busy, ever-changing construct of commitments.

“My days are busy and full. It’s actually a little more hectic now, because of having less structure to my schedule,” Sherman said. “And I keep thinking I have less of an excuse to say, ‘No,’ to a request for a meeting or help, since I do not have a ‘day job.’ ”

She sits on boards of directors at the Providence Foundation and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and is a trustee for Crossroads Rhode Island and the Preservation Society of Newport Country. She also remains on the board of directors at Brookline Bancorp Inc., a position she assumed after the bank acquired Bank RI, where she had been CEO.

“I sit on so many boards and I absolutely love what I do, so I’m not actively seeking paid employment,” she said, “but if the right project came along, it would be something I would consider. It’s a pleasure to give my time to make Rhode Island a better place and help others lead more successful lives.”

- Advertisement -

She attributes her longevity in part to taking care of her health.

“I’m not as physically active as my trainer thinks I could be, but having a personal trainer is the only way I show up at the gym – for my appointment,” she said.

Her industry doesn’t have clear-cut retirement guidelines, she said. But when she left the work-a-day world after the acquisition, she had sufficient resources that enabled her to choose what to do next.

At the R.I. Infrastructure Bank, she’s applying years of financial expertise she’s accumulated “to make sure we do things efficiently and at the best possible prices,” she said.

Despite her own active working life, Sherman has reservations about people past traditional retirement age taking on some leadership roles.

“I think when you hit your mid-70s like Bernie Sanders, while he’s clearly sharp and vigorous and campaigning like crazy, at some point your energy level is not what a younger person’s would be,” she said. “It is a concern. Especially if you look at someone who is elected and would take office next year for four years. I know some people in their late 80s who are sharp, but I’m not sure they’d be highly successful in a 9-to-5 job, not to mention one that requires 24/7 attention.”

As for her multiple stints heading into her seventh decade?

“It’s just tremendously exciting to use your business-organization skills, as well as the finance skills, to help get programs off the ground and manage complex projects,” she said. “It’s rewarding and fun.” •

No posts to display