Republic First Names New Chair, CIO Amid Strategy Shift

Republic First Bancorp — Pennsylvania’s Republic First Bancorp — which trades as Republic Bank — has elected Andrew Cohen as the independent chairman of its board of directors.

He takes over from Republic Bank founder Harry Madonna, who has stepped down as chairman but will continue to serve on the board.

Cohen is chief investment officer and co-founder of private equity company Cohen Private Ventures, which is a shareholder in the bank. Cohen has been on the board since 2017.

Separately, Francis Mitchell has been appointed treasurer and CIO. He joins from Truist Securities where he advised on depository and capital markets activities. He has also worked at several financial services companies, including Bar Harbor Bank, Webster Bank, and TD Bank.

SaviBank — Washington-based SaviBank has promoted Henry Lee to chief credit officer with effect from July 11. Lee will take over from Todd Anderson, who will transition to senior vice president for strategic projects before retiring in December 2023.

Lee joined SaviBank in June 2021 and is currently a senior vice president and senior credit manager. He previously worked at Heritage Bank as a commercial banking officer, and has also worked at Peoples Bank and Skagit Bank.

American Business Bank — Jeffrey Munson has been appointed as chief credit officer at American Business Bank (ABB). He is responsible for managing the bank’s credit administration, small business lending, and real estate departments.

Munson has worked for the bank since 2018, most recently as regional vice president of its San Fernando Valley office. Before joining ABB, he was a senior vice president and loan team lead at California United Bank, and he has also worked at First Regional Bank and US Bank.

First Citizens Bank/CIT — First Citizens Bank has made a number of appointments including for its subsidiary CIT Commercial Services.

Marc Heller has been promoted to vice chairman of CIT Commercial Services, with Michael Hudgens appointed president, both with effect from July 1. Heller has 50 years of financing experience. He joined CIT in 2004 and has been president of the company’s northeast region operations since 2016.

Hudgens has been managing director of CIT Commercial Services since March 2022, and has worked for the company for 35 years.

Thomas Fingleton joined as chief strategy officer for CIT Commercial Services earlier this year, while Jim Hudak has been named president of the CIT Commercial Finance group. Hudak previously oversaw CIT’s commercial finance businesses from 2008 to 2019, prior to CIT Group’s merger with First Citizens Bank last year.

Separately, following First Citizens’ purchase of the majority of the former Silicon Valley Bank at the end of March,Marc Cadieux has been appointed president of SVB’s commercial banking business. He has worked for SVB for 30 years, including most recently as chief credit officer.

Fidelity Bank — Pennsylvania’s Fidelity Bank has hired Ruth Turkington as executive vice president and chief consumer banking officer. She joins from Citizens Bank where she was a senior vice president responsible for consumer and small business deposit product strategies.

In her new role, Fidelity said Turkington would be responsible for consumer banking strategy and oversight of the bank’s branch network.

In addition, Rosemarie Coyne has been promoted to controller at Fidelity Bank. She has been a financial reporting specialist at the bank since 2012.

MVB Bank — The West Virginia-based bank has promoted Eric Tichenor to the role of treasurer, a newly created role. He has worked at MVB Bank since its inception as chief financial officer.

He is succeeded as CFO by Martha McLeod, previously a senior manager for technical accounting. Prior to this she worked as controller for two other banks.

USAlliance Federal Credit Union — CFO Brett Wheeler has been appointed interim CEO of the credit union as it seeks a permanent successor to Kristin VanBeek, who moved to Rockland Federal Credit Union in April.

Wheeler has more than 20 years of experience in credit unions, including six years at USAlliance Financial.

Affinity Federal Credit Union — The New Jersey-based credit union has hired John McHugh as chief financial officer. It follows the promotion of previous CFO Kevin Brauer to president and CEO.

McHugh joins from Goldman Sachs where he worked for more than 20 years, including as CFO for its mortgage and credit businesses.