Amalgamated Bank is pleased to announce that Alison Reardon will join the bank as first VP and director of Washington, D.C., region to lead the bank’s expansion of its portfolio of D.C.-based labor unions, progressive organizations, non-profits and businesses.

Reardon joins Amalgamated from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — where she most recently served as legislative consultant. Alison is a veteran of both national and regional labor unions.

“Alison’s broad expertise, deep network and passion for furthering progressive causes will make her a tremendous asset to our expanding operations in the nation’s capital,” said Amalgamated Bank CEO Gabriel Caprio. “Our commercial clients expect a bank that understands their organization, can provide value-added services and shares their values. Alison will help us deliver on all counts.”

Reardon succeeds Keith Mestrich, who has been appointed chief of staff and EVP at Amalgamated.

Before joining Amalgamated, Reardon held legislative director roles for Social Security Works, Writers Guild of America and SEIU as well as a legislative advocate role for AFL-CIO. In addition to her legislative work, Alison also has almost 10 years of union field services experience; she advocated for state employees in Nevada and Alaska to advance worker’s rights and protections under collective bargaining agreements and state and federal laws, in addition to expanding union membership.

Recently, Reardon helped provide marketing assistance for Union Plus— consumer benefits offers for union members, created by the AFL-CIO, to strengthen union membership benefits.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity at Amalgamated to help a broad array of progressive organizations thrive financially,” said Reardon. “It is an honor to join an institution that has been devoted to providing essential financial services to workers, consumers and forward-looking groups throughout much of the last century.”

Reardon joins at a time of expansion for Amalgamated Bank’s Washington D.C. office. The bank’s D.C.-area deposits have grown by 240% since 2012. During that time, the bank has gained more than 100 commercial clients, including Organizing for Action, the Democratic National Committee, Public Citizen, the National Organizing Institute and the National Consumers League.