For Mark, Wellness Means Conscious Choices

The moment our interim Head of Core Banking and Pittsburgh Market President made a wellness decision to prioritize a true work, life balance.

It was a beautiful summer night in Pittsburgh years ago, when Mark, interim Head of Core Banking and Pittsburgh Market President, says he made a wellness decision that forever impacted his life—a conscious choice to better his work, life balance. He remembers the moment vividly.

“I was in my early 40s and early in my career. My four kids were young and tucked in bed. I was sitting in the hot tub with my wife on the patio and we were enjoying a glass of wine.” Mark, though, recalls he wasn’t living in the moment. “My wife said to me, ‘can I ask you a question?’ She said, ‘can you tell me where it is that you’re running to?’ You’re sitting in a hot tub, we have four kids, we never get to be alone, and you’re out in nowhere land thinking about work. I just figured at least if I know where you’re running to, I can run there with you.’”

Mark says that was the lightbulb moment for him. “That very specific moment, I knew I was going to become better at balancing work and home,” he said. Mark adds that he’s very thankful that he’s able to work for a company where he’s able to prioritize that.

At Citizens, we’re committed to supporting and encouraging all forms of colleague wellness through the belief that focusing on the whole person enables every colleague to thrive and show up as the best version of themselves across all dimensions of their lives.

“I made a very conscious decision that I was going to coach my kids’ athletic teams,” he said. “I was going to find a way to coach, which seemed like an impossibility at the time. I ended up the president of the athletic association. My wife and I ran that association all the way through the kid’s childhood.”

Mark’s kids have since grown, but he’s still disciplined about his family time. At his lake house in Deep Creek, Maryland, he enjoys Sundays with family and friends. He says it’s a time to sit down around the table and have dinner or play board games or get immersed in nature and go fly fishing. “That time is very precious to me,” he said. He says he learned that “being present” with family and friends is so critical to achieving balance—and for Mark, it took that moment of clarity with his wife to realize that he wasn’t as present at home as he was at work.

Learn more about our commitment to colleague wellbeing here.