Heidi Parkhurst was named Iowa market president for Bank of America earlier this year. She has spent more than 20 years as a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America acquired in 2009. She will continue to provide financial services to her Merrill Lynch clients while overseeing all Bank of America operations in the state. Also among her charges is the guiding of the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts in Iowa. Parkhurst followed her father to Merrill Lynch and rose in the ranks to become senior vice president of wealth management and senior resident director for Merrill Lynch Quad Cities. Busy is a place Parkhurst likes to be. She is an advocate for women and children, serving on the board of Iowa Women Lead Change, and as president of the Women’s Connection in eastern Iowa and western Illinois and a director of Havelife Foundation, which provides scholarships to help students ages 10 to 15 to cover the costs of participating in athletics, music and arts education. She was a charter member of the Women’s Leadership Council of the United Way of the Quad Cities Area. Strong woman? Yes, in many ways. Parkhurst was training for her first Ironman competition when she was interviewed recently by the Business Record.

Iowa is a state with more than 300 community banks. How does a multinational banking operation make its presence felt on a local and personal level?
I think it’s kind of delivering that experience one client at a time. It’s hard to say you don’t have a large presence in Iowa; we do try to grow our business in the state under our three pillars — valuing our people, giving back to the local community and financial literacy. We do a lot of things in education and health and literacy. We try to give back to the community and promote sustainability. I have some differentiation in that I live in the state of Iowa, I do business in the state of Iowa and I love the state of Iowa. From the firm’s perspective, we have tried to focus our efforts on the position of women and children in the state. I sit on a number of statewide boards, looking at the position of women and girls, recognizing that we are behind. How can we use our charitable mission and focus in that area? The bank is doing great things with leadership, education and advocacy in the development of women, not just within the the firm. Like any business, we also understand the business reason for making sure we are servicing women as clients and bringing women into the workforce.

Did you experience any gender bias during your career?
If nothing else I felt encouraged. We have leadership programs, we have mentoring programs. I have led initiatives for women. When you’re in a position to have influence, you should use it in a positive fashion. I would say (Merrill Lynch) absolutely has given me multiple opportunities. But the industry itself needs to make strides in moving forward. I had a sense of the culture at Merrill Lynch from my dad. Like any large organization, culture is location-specific. I don’t think people realize that Merrill Lynch has been in Iowa for almost 100 years. As time goes on, what I have seen in good times and in bad, we have had a culture of giving back to the community. Whether we have done that more quietly, that might be the case. I believe in advocacy. I would like to see more advocacy for my firm and the state of Iowa. I think it’s good to talk about the good things we do.

How do you blend the various responsibilities you have with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch?
From an advocacy standpoint, it’s not like I got this role and became an advocate. When the opportunity came to be market president, it was something that I really had a passion for doing. I work hard, I try to deliver things, manage the process and establish a routine. 

Is there anything about the Iowa market that makes it stand apart from Bank of America’s other markets?
We stand with the bank really well on the advocacy for diversity and inclusion, the advocacy for women, the support for education.

To some extent it’s my own personal passion. But if you talk to any company in any industry, they understand the business case for acquiring and retaining women as customers and clients as well as employees. My peers and I go into a community and try to share our message about what we are doing. 

Do you spend more time as an advocate than as a banking professional?
I spend as much time on the banking side of understanding what the clients’ needs are, as would any bank president. To me those things are hand in glove.