Good morning. Thank you for joining the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of M&T Bancorporation, which sadly we've had to hold virtually again this year. I'm really looking forward to the time when we can gather again in person. I'm Renee Jones, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of M&T. Our Board of Directors and our management group are connected virtually.
Here in the room with me, though sitting quite far away, are Mike Spieccella, the Controller of the Company and Marie King, the Company's Corporate Secretary. The Inspector of Election is John Zack from the law firm of Hudson Ross LLP. As indicated in the proxy materials for this meeting, The following individuals were appointed by the company to serve as proxies and vote on behalf of our shareholders. Matthew Dovke, Vice President of Maryland Glass and Mirror Company Incorporated from Baltimore, Maryland Thomas Jacob, Chairman and Executive Officer of Blue Sea Products LLC in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and Patrick Paul, Chief Executive Officer of the Anderson Center For Autism in Strasbourg, New York. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your service And thank you for attending today.
Before we begin our official business, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge John D. Hawk, Jr, who is retiring as a Director following today's meeting. On behalf of all of us at M&T, I want to thank him for his years of service on our Board and as Chairman of the Risk Committee. And although Gerry has decided not to stand for reelection as a Director of M and T, we know he'll continue to be involved as a shareholder, as a mentor and of course as a friend. Jerry, thank you for your valuable years of service and for all that you've done to help make M&T the company it is today.
And now I'd like to call the annual meeting to order. Madam Secretary, do you have a report?
Mr. Jones, I can report that proper notice of this annual meeting has been given to M and T shareholders. I can also report that the Inspector of Election has executed results of office.
Could the Inspector of Election please advise us whether a quorum is present.
Mr. Jones, a quorum is present. Shareholders holding more than majority of the outstanding shares of the common stock of the company are either present at this meeting or represented by proxies.
Thank you. The annual meeting is now formally convened for the transaction of business. Any shareholder who intends to vote via the virtual meeting website rather than by proxy We're asked a question during the meeting should follow the instructions provided on the website. We'll address as many questions as we can. If there are any remaining questions that we're unable to get to, M and T's Investor Relations department will respond after the meeting.
At this point in our program, I traditionally speak about the performance of the bank, the success and the progress that we've achieved for our shareholders and for all our stakeholders and about the direction in which we are moving our strategies and plans for achieving success in the coming years and beyond. This is both our report card and our roadmap. Like last year, we've had to gather remotely to keep people safe and healthy and to do our part to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The video with which we opened the program this morning was intended to welcome you visually to our traditional meeting place here at our headquarters building up on M&C Plaza in Downtown Buffalo. But as I watch the camera zoom across the city, along the downtown corridor and into M and T, It reminded me of the important role that our organization plays in our community.
We're not just a collection of buildings on the city skyline. We're a collection of people, unified in our struggle to overcome challenges, to realize opportunities and achieve goals. We see ourselves as an integral part of the fabric of this community and every community that we serve. So while I'll talk today about our recent results, I'll do so in the context of our mission and purpose, which above all is to support and strengthen our communities to make a difference in people's lives, especially in challenging times like these. In the face of unprecedented conditions caused by the pandemic, net income for 2020 amounted to 1,350,000,000 compared with $1,930,000,000 in 2019.
The decrease was principally the result of an $800,000,000 addition to the reserves to address widespread and deep economic uncertainty that was present during the outset of the pandemic. Notably though, we remain profitable in every quarter as we have for 179 consecutive quarters dating back to 1976. In fact, in 2020, M and T grew its balance sheet by 19% and distributed $943,000,000 to our shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases, all while tangible book value per share grew by 7%. Our net operating return on tangible common equity of 12.8% exceeded our investors' cost of capital, a key measure of value creation for our shareholders, as it has every year for at least 3 decades. In fact, over the past 2 decades, only 2 other institutions among top 20 largest U.
S. Banks have achieved that distinction. Yesterday, we reported our results for the Q1 of this year. Net income was $447,000,000 up 66% from last year's Q1, reflecting a reversal of the prior year's uncertainty. And we achieved a return on average tangible common shareholders' equity of over 17%.
Not explicit in our financial performance in 2020, but underlying those results, we're improving trends in overall customer growth, customer experience, customer satisfaction and employee and community engagement, measures that are part of our balanced scorecard for the year. Our retail customer satisfaction rating, which measures the likelihood of customers to recommend M and T to a friend or colleague, increased 6 percentage points to 44%. And our customer satisfaction score in Baltimore alone increased by 26 percentage points over the last 2 years and now sits at 58%. Internally, employee engagement increased by 4 percentage points to 88%, despite the year's hardships, exceeding the 75th percentile across all industries in the U. S.
For the first time since we began measuring 20 years ago. Moreover, we continue to expand the diversity of our senior leadership team and our Board of Directors, while embarking on programs that will ensure that our colleagues can be their authentic selves at work and enable us to be the bank of choice for diverse communities in every community that we serve. We touched over 2,800 not for profit organizations in our communities, providing $34,900,000 in grants, while our dedicated employees generously gave more than 50,000 hours in volunteer service to others. We organized we originated $1,600,000,000 loans in low and moderate income areas in 2020, and we underwrote an additional $11,300,000,000 in new commercial loans and leases. And although we operate in just 7 states in the District of Columbia, we became America's 5th largest issuer of Small Business Administration 7 loans.
We're also the number one issuer of these SBA loans in Baltimore, Buffalo, Delaware and Philadelphia and Washington DC. And in New Jersey, New York City and West Virginia. And we delivered $7,000,000,000 in emergency PPP funding to 35,000 local businesses and through them help protect more than 765,000 jobs. We've worked hard to launch and support several initiatives to help our communities respond to and recover from this unprecedented crisis. From Open 4, which connects women and minority owned small businesses and non profits with resources, guidance and support to the Southwest Strong program providing micro grants to small businesses in Philadelphia, to the Women's Housing and Economic Development program providing relief to working mothers in the Bronx.
And not only did our commercial and small business banking teams receive a record 25 National and Regional Greenwich Excellence Awards. But the Greenwich Crisis Response Index also identified M and T as a standout in its support for small business during the pandemic. For all this and more, I'm deeply proud of my colleagues and deeply grateful for our teams of what we might call our economic first responders. We didn't just do our jobs, we went above and beyond. We acted with care and concern and with empathy and compassion.
This is what M and T is about. This is what makes it possible for us to achieve exemplary financial results while fulfilling our purpose to make a difference in people's lives. It's our colleagues' heartfelt care and commitment to each other, to our customers and to our communities, combined with their dogged determination to do whatever it takes never to give up. We understand that families are still suffering and businesses are still struggling. So our efforts will continue to reach out to every neighbor in every neighborhood, seeking with our community partners to give strength and support wherever we can.
Looking forward, as we emerge from the pandemic, we also remain focused on creating sustainable equitable engines for economic growth, especially in and around the small and mid tier cities that we predominantly serve. The formula for regional economic success started changing before COVID struck, influenced by the digital revolution, which has been accelerating throughout the pandemic. In the decade after the financial crisis, 70% of our country's population growth and 80% of job growth accrued in the biggest U. S. Cities, mainly those on the East and West Coast.
Now, however, a number of mid tier cities are starting to buck that trend by successfully growing tech and innovation ecosystems but attract modern creative class talent. Cities like Boulder, Columbus, Detroit, Omaha, Pittsburgh and others. In today's digital economy, economic development and prosperity is about building a community, an ecosystem, if you will, that attracts, retains, develops and engages modern talent, talent whose economic function is to create new ideas and solutions. We're competing in a race for relevance And the communities that are leading the race are likely to gain an unsurmountable advantage. The cities that are leading the race are doing so by adopting new paradigms and constructs around convening and decision making and abandoning top down command and control ways of thinking and working.
Such ecosystems are inclusive, diverse and transparent. Decisions and directions are not set in a vacuum by a select few, but made collectively and collaboratively with all stakeholders invested in the process. All must be invited to participate and all are expected to contribute. They practice a give first approach, giving 3 times before expecting anything in return. And oh yes, the entrepreneurs, the problem solvers, the idea makers, the risk takers must be at the center where they are the engines of economic growth, identifying new problems, new solutions and new opportunities and founding new companies.
These kinds of ecosystems are magnets for modern talent. And our new tech hub at Seneca 1 will be a significant addition to our emerging ecosystem in Buffalo. Yes, the hub is for us. It's where our customer facing bankers will work side by side with technologists, customer experience engineers, data scientists, coders and programmers, together in new ways that focus intensely on what our customers need, on mapping their journeys and identifying the moments that matter. But the real purpose of the Tech Hub is to serve as a community asset that creates a sense of place for the problem solvers in our community, the creators, the innovators, the entrepreneurs who will help us grow and compete.
Creative class talent doesn't so much care if they're solving problems in banking or healthcare, daycare or barbershops, Used car sales, electric vehicle battery chargers or even green powered excavation equipment. As long as they're working together to eliminate pain and friction from people's lives to make people's lives simpler and richer. The Tech Hub and the larger ecosystem around it will become a place where creative collisions occur, where people from different companies interact, share problems, collaborate on solutions, develop ideas and ultimately turn those ideas into new companies. It will enable us to attract new talent and leverage that talent to its full power and potential. It's already been building momentum with 43 North, our startup competition and accelerator program, along with this its portfolio of startup companies and other tech firms like OTO, Serendipity Labs, Lighthouse Tech Services.
With ACV Auctions, Buffalo's first $1,000,000,000 startup, along with other startups like Spark Charge and Squire, the companies of all shapes and sizes, it's already stretching beyond Seneca 1. And as bankers, our role is to support the entrepreneurs and the risk takers to help them achieve their ideas and dreams. That's why we were founded. And that's what we've always done and that's what we'll always do in Buffalo and in each of our communities and ecosystems that we serve and support. Further success will also require our universities, middle schools and high schools, Boot camps, coding clubs and scholarships and joint recruiting campaigns, all of which are beginning to emerge.
At M and T, we've long recognized the importance of quality education. This is especially true as it relates to lifting up children and families, breaking the cycle of poverty and providing everyone with the opportunity to participate fully and fairly in the workforce, in the economy and in society as a whole regardless of race or background. That's why we're working with a number of public private sector partners to expand inclusivity through our Tech Academy, which will be an important part of our effort to attract, develop and retain diverse talent. And those who have the aptitude, but have not had the opportunity to pursue a career in tech. Our Western New York skills New York Tech Skills Initiative is now underway, providing in demand tech skills to people affected by persistent underemployment and unemployment and underemployment exacerbated by the pandemic.
500 people are already enrolled and our hope is for over 3,000. We also launched the Z Development Program, which will expand opportunities for candidates from non traditional backgrounds in underserved communities. And in fact, we just hired the 1st class of 10 Mainframe Apprentices into the 2 year program. This is in addition to our broader technology development program designed much like our long standing management development programs, but with a tech track. In Delaware, we're partnering with Zip Code Wilmington to connect technologists from M and T with students during a 12 week training and mentoring program, after which they can interview for a full time job.
Across the footprint, We've supported startup business plan competitions for entrepreneurs, sponsored women in agile professional networking groups and even run Coder Clubs to help develop skills in tech and STEM and computer science among middle school students. We must also do more to reach into black and brown communities, to reach communities of women. I must admit that this work is not easy. We at M&T know this from experience. In 1993, we began our unique partnership with the Westminster Community Charter School.
Since then, we've invested more than $17,800,000 to help provide training for teachers and summer programs, programming for kids, nutrition, health, technology and physical plant. We've helped improve educational outcomes for thousands of children on Buffalo's East Side, a neighborhood where investment and involvement have been lacking, where outcomes and opportunities have been hard to come by. A number of our graduates went on to attend the best private high schools in the city, supported by Buffalo Promise Scholarships And among those, many have, are or will attend top colleges. Now, that's not to say, however, that we've achieved complete success. Students were not always reaching their full potential.
Our overall test scores Well, better than those at other schools serving impoverished neighborhoods and families, we're not measuring up district wide. Recently, the Buffalo School Board voted not to renew the Westminster Charter and to revert it back to district control. That action by the School Board surprised us. It saddened us and to be candid, it frustrated us, not because of the loss of our charter, but because it was arrived at through the kinds of old processes and behaviors that we need to change that are inconsistent with modern inclusive ecosystems, ecosystems that thrive on inclusion and transparency and coming out from behind closed doors, Ecosystems in which the people who are involved in the work and the outcomes have a voice in the decisions. Ecosystems that puts talent, in this case the students, first.
We're not discouraged, however, nor are we deterred. We will continue to working to create a new framework for setting direction and decisions in our community. We'll continue to work for students and families to improve access to preschool programs, scholarships, Wi Fi and broadband access, support services for disadvantaged families and to improve educational outcomes and opportunities. We will work to make our modern economy and ecosystem accessible to everyone. Indeed, we are more convinced than ever that new forms of partnership between public and private sector will require will be required to achieve successful results in our communities, especially in those that are the most challenged.
Our CIO has often told me that the best time to invest in tech was 10 years ago, but the second best time is today. I believe the same holds true for people. Bob Wilmers, who would have turned 87 years old today understood this. This is the reason he was planting new grapes in his vineyard when he was 78 years old, investing for future generations to enjoy. It's the same reason he started and emphasized our talent development programs and our partnership at Westminster.
And it's the same today, Whether we're investing in the tech hub, the ecosystem or education, whether we're working with Westminster or Highgate Heights in Buffalo, The Baltimore Leadership School for young women or the Bridge Boston Charter School in Roxbury, Massachusetts, we're investing in people. We're investing for the future. Speaking of investing in the future, as you know, acquisitions have historically served as the primary vehicle for expanding our unique brand of banking into new communities. We've often been asked about our plans to acquire, but the truth is more often than not, our merger partners select us with the expectation that our brand of banking will be in the best interest of their long best long term interest of their shareholders. This is certainly the case in our partnership with People's United, which we announced just a few months ago.
Our merger will create the 11th largest U. S. Based commercial bank holding company and the dominant regional banking network in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic States that account for over 1 quarter of the U. S. Economy.
Think of a company that believes in the power of friendly, caring people, working together to bring solutions to customers, people who value ongoing relationships that span generations and people who take pride in being leaders in their community. An organization with a history of strong returns to shareholders, sound risk management and asset quality and a leading customer deposit share in its main markets. All this might sound like a description of M and T, But those are the words that People's United uses to describe their company and culture. They chose us because we share a sense of purpose. And we see this partnership as an opportunity to expand and extend our shared commitment to customers and communities that we both will serve.
Together, we'll bring the very same approach to banking in communities that we practice in Buffalo and Baltimore, Patterson and Pottsville, Wilmington and Washington, to the cities and towns now served by People's United, from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Boston, Massachusetts to Bangor, Maine and from Montpelier, Vermont to Manchester, New Hampshire. So for all of these reasons, my colleagues and I are proud of our accomplishments. We're excited about the prospects and we're engaged in the work. The future is bright, and we look forward together confidently. Thank you.
I want to thank you for allowing me the time. Now, let's turn to the rest of the agenda. The first proposal to be considered is the election of 19 directors for a term of 1 year and until their successors have been elected and qualified, which is described in the proxy statement for this year's meeting.
Mr. Jones, on behalf of the Board I nominate for election as Directors of the company to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders And until their successors have been elected and qualified, the persons listed as nominees in the company's proxy statement dated March 8, 2021.
I declare the voting open on the election of directors. The second proposal to be considered is the approval of the compensation of M and T's named executive officers, which is described in the proxy statement for this meeting.
Mr. Jones, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I move for the approval of the compensation of M and T's named executive officers as set forth in the company's proxy statement dated March 8, 2021.
Voting is now open on this proposal. The 3rd and last item to be considered is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC as M and T's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2021.
Mr. Jones, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I move for the ratification of of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC as the independent registered public Accounting firm of M and T for the year ending December 31, 2021 as set forth in the company's proxy statement dated March 8, 2021.
Voting is now open on this proposal. We will now give 30 additional seconds for voting to be completed on the virtual meeting website. Thank you. I declare the voting closed. At this time, I'll respond to questions from shareholders that have been submitted prior to or during the meeting.
Ms. King, have any questions been submitted?
Yes. Mr. Jones, our first question. Mr. Jones, our first question, how does M and T balance the real estate, FinTech and digital going forward?
Thank you for the question. I think it's a great question because we think sense of place, which I think of as real estate and is really important in attracting modern talent. So if you think of attracting modern It's the main ingredient to being able to go on the digital revolution that we're going on. We're competing heavily with FinTech Companies. And really they fall into sort of 2 categories, those that are looking to disrupt our business and looking to stand on their own.
But what people often miss is that there are 100, if not 1000 of FinTech Companies that are actually working with us alongside us. So for example, when we had about 72 hours to set up our PPT program during the first round during the pandemic last year. In that 72 hours, we were we actually partnered with a fintech firm That allowed us to get up and running and work with us through the course of a weekend, hearing customer friction points and pain points and addressing our services all the way through that process. So as a result, we were able to deliver the results that I shared before about $7,000,000,000 of PPP funding. So oftentimes, FinTech is really a misnomer.
I think of it as a group of creative people. And if we create an environment in part through our real estate and places like the Tech Hub that really talented people want to come, Then other talented people are going to want to collaborate with us and what they'll do is solve problems and make life easier for our customers. So thank you for the question. The 3 go hand in hand.
Mr. Jones, there are no further questions.
Thank you, Madam Secretary. Would the Inspector of Election now please give his report?
Mr. Jones, I can report that all of the nominees for Director were elected and that proposals 23 were approved.
Thank you. This concludes our agenda. I want to thank you again for participating in our Annual Meeting today. I wish you all good health and please stay safe and be well. There being no objection, the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of M&T Bank Corporation is adjourned.
Thank you.