It starts with the handshake, which is alarmingly strong.

But it doesn't stop there. Meeting Jill M. Taylor, the new president of KeyBank's Utah operations, is a new experience on a lot of levels. Because she's a woman and a mother in an industry that continues to be led primarily by men. Because she's 35 years old, when most of her counterparts are considerably older. Because she worked her way up through the banking system after earning a journalism degree instead of an MBA.

"I was supposed to be the next Katie Couric," Taylor laughs. "It didn't happen. It's OK."

Taylor grew up in Salt Lake City and graduated from Cottonwood High School. After a brief stint at "that other" Utah university, she completed her degree at the University of Utah, which she followed up with an internship and jobs at local television stations.

She had worked at the bank part time through college, and after she and her husband, Jason, had their first son, she took a year off to decide what she wanted to do.

"I ended up at the bank," she said. "I'm still trying to figure out how that happened exactly. But I was very fortunate to be given opportunities from there."

"The bank" in question was Valley Bank, where Taylor began her career about 17 years ago. Valley Bank eventually merged with Bank One, which recently became Chase.

Over the course of her career, Taylor has worked as a teller and "in just about every position there is at a branch," and then moved to the administrative side as a sales and service coach. Eventually, she worked her way to district manager.

At Key, Taylor has served as district retail leader, where she supervised branch management and worked closely with business banking operations.

"It gives you a real good appreciation for what people are actually doing," she said. "Any time I'm faced with an opportunity where I need to ask for something, I'm really cognizant of what that's going to sound like to that part-time teller, or what's that going to sound like to that administrative assistant. Hopefully, it helps me in how I'm communicating."

It must have helped because late last year she got the call.

"Jill Taylor's drive for superior client relations, and the success she achieved in applying new approaches to help clients achieve their goals and objectives, made her the ideal candidate to lead our Utah KeyBank District," said Michael Hobbs, president of KeyBank's Rocky Mountain region. "Her ability and proven track record in developing results-oriented sales teams, fiscal performance, strategy formulation and execution are qualities she brings to KeyBank, and that will continue to benefit our clients."

Cleveland-based Key has 38 branches in Utah and employs more than 300 people. Its market share is about 4 percent, but it ranks among the top five banks in the state.