ON THE MOVE

Loftus To Head New Women-Focused Impressia Bank

A new bank, designed to support the financial development and advancement of women business owners and women leaders, will have its headquarters in Buffalo. Western New York banking veteran Mary Kate Loftus has been appointed as president.

Impressia Bank, the newest sister division of BankOnBuffalo, will focus exclusively on meeting the financial needs of women – chief among them, access to capital, which continues to be the biggest barrier to market entry and success of female founders. To solve this problem, Impressia Bank will go beyond traditional banking by offering women solutions that are often not provided by banks today. Impressia Bank is the sixth division of Pennsylvania-based parent company, CNB Bank.

With nearly 25 years of banking experience, Loftus brings her passion for supporting women as well as her expertise in customer experience, strategic growth, and community banking to her role as president of Impressia Bank. In this role, she will focus on developing leaders and successfully investing in women entrepreneurs to level the gender gap in funding.

Loftus served in leadership positions at Fortune 500 financial institutions with responsibility for transformational change, strategy, and customer engagement through digital banking, branch management, and contact centers. Among her career achievements, Loftus was identified by Forbes as one of “6 Women Changing the Face of Leadership in Banking and Finance.”

“At Impressia Bank, the future is female. This is a new way to bank, inspired by women in business and designed to meet clients where they are. Our ambition is to not just be our customer’s bank, but to be the trusted partner and friend they need on this journey to grow their business,” said Loftus. “As a lifelong resident of Buffalo, I’m grateful for this opportunity and thrilled that Buffalo has been selected for the headquarters of Impressia Bank.”

Avidia Bank Names Cozzone President And CEO

Avidia Bank has named Robert D. Cozzone as its new president and CEO. He replaces Mark O’Connell, who will retire in May.

Cozzone joins Hudson, Mass.based Avidia from Rockland Trust, a $20 billion community bank, where he enjoyed a successful 24-year career. Most recently, he served as Rockland’s executive vice president and chief operating officer reporting to the CEO. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing management of all consumer and small business banking activity as well as finance, treasury, and corporate services. Prior to that, he served as Rockland’s chief financial officer and retail executive.

In his former role as COO, he was responsible for some 1,000 employees and 123 retail branches.

“I’m grateful to be selected by the board to join a capable and dedicated team, and I look forward to building lasting relationships with them,” Cozzone said. “Avidia’s genuine commitment to the community and its tradi- tion of innovation and excellence in customer service is admirable.

The bank has enjoyed tremendous growth and success under Mark’s leadership, and I’m committed to continuing that legacy.”

Cozzone serves on a number of boards and committees, including Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Thompson Island Outward Bound, Plimoth Patuxet Finance Committee, and the Bridgewater State University Riccardi School of Business Advisory Board.

O’Connell will retire after 35 years of service and helping steward Avidia from a $120 million bank with two branches to a $2.5 billion full-service financial institution with nine branches.

OceanFirst Names President Of Residential, Consumer Lending

OceanFirst Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of OceanFirst Financial Corp., appointed Stephen Adamo as president of residential and consumer lending.

Adamo will lead the residential and consumer lending divisions at OceanFirst, which is headquartered in Red Bank, N.J. His responsibilities include the growth and expansion of all residential home lending products, consumer lending products and sales, services, loan officers, and delivery channels.

With almost three decades of experience in mortgage banking, Adamo most recently was president of national retail production at Embrace Home Loans in Middletown, R.I. Previously, he was head of mortgage, home equity, consumer loan operations, and consumer underwriting at Santander Bank, and held executive leadership positions at Weichert Financial Services and Citi- zens Financial Group.

Joseph J. Lebel III, OceanFirst president and chief operating officer, said, “Steve is a seasoned mortgage and banking professional with an impressive record of significantly growing residential mortgage teams and driving results throughout his career. We are pleased to welcome Steve to OceanFirst.”

Tompkins Community Bank Names New Market Presidents

Tompkins Community Bank announced the appointment of two new market presidents across its New York State footprint. Diane Torcello has been appointed to president of the bank’s Western New York (WNY) market, and Johanna Anderson has been appointed to president of the bank’s Central New York (CNY) market.

The dual announcement also marks a significant milestone in the bank’s executive leadership history. The appointments of Torcello and Anderson come nearly one year after the appointment of Ginger Kunkel, president of Tompkins’ Pennsylvania market, marking the first time that three of the bank’s four market president roles have been filled by women leaders.

In their new roles, Torcello and Anderson will be responsible for the bank’s growth, community and client engagement and stakeholder relations throughout their respective markets, as well as fostering relationships with clients of Tompkins insurance and wealth affiliates.

A veteran of the banking industry, Torcello is well-known throughout the community for her expertise in retail, commercial, operations, and branch man- agement. She began her 18-year tenure with Tompkins as vice president and branch manager before being elevated to senior vice president and community banking manager in 2013, a position she has held for the past decade. In this role, she is responsible for the leadership of all staff and operations of the Western New York branch network, as well as the direct involvement and management of the largest deposit relationships. She also interacts routinely with the Tompkins WNY bank board on business development and strategy..

A three-year member of Tompkins’ CNY board, Anderson is known for her expertise in residential and consumer lending, commercial real estate management and affordable housing development work, as well as her advocacy for financial education. In her more than five years as executive director of INHS, Anderson has actively led the mission to build affordable housing developments, as well as support homeowners and renters with financial and maintenance services. In her prior position, she served as the chief credit officer of Home HeadQuarters, Inc., where she managed the process and production of all lending products and oversaw the development of credit approval processes.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Risk Organization Succession Plan

Citizens Financial Group announced that Richard Stein will assume the role of chief risk officer upon the retirement of Malcolm Griggs in the first quarter of 2024. Upon assuming the CRO role, Stein will report to Bruce Van Saun, chairman and CEO, and serve on the bank’s executive committee.

Stein will join Citizens from Fifth Third Bancorp, where he most recently served as executive vice president and chief credit officer with responsibility for enterprise-wide credit risk management. In that role, he oversaw consumer credit, special assets, middle market credit, commercial credit, capital markets credit, and commercial real estate credit while managing all regulatory and governance stakeholder relationships. He also held increasingly responsible risk management roles at Comerica and Bank of America over the course of his more than 25-year career.

A 34-year banking industry veteran, Griggs has been with Citizens since 2014, helping guide the bank through dramatic transformation and growth since becoming an independent public company. He was appointed chief risk officer in 2016, previously serving as chief credit officer. He joined Citizens from Citigroup, and over the course of more than 30 years, he has also served in senior risk management leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wachovia Corp., and Fifth Third Bancorp.

“Richard is a highly experienced risk management executive whose deep experience, drive, and sharp strategic insights will enable him to provide strong and effective leadership for our risk organization as we continue our efforts to become a top-performing bank,” said Van Saun. “We have designed a thoughtful transition process that will further strengthen our risk management capabilities while ensuring strong continuity.”

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