Key Appointments at Lake City Bank and Empire State Bank

Lake City Bank has promoted Lisa A. Fulton to senior vice president and chief operations officer.

Fulton, who has been at the bank for over 25 years, previously worked in its operations and development areas. In her new role she will lead the application management and project management departments.

Additional promotions include Lisa S. Fitzgerald to vice president, retail support group manager. Michele R. Ganser has been promoted to vice president and application management manager, and Eric D. Wagoner has been promoted to vice president and core banking operations manager.

Lake City Bank is a $6.2 billion bank headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, and is the fifth largest bank headquartered in the state.

Former CEO and president of Victory State Bank, Ralph Banca, has been named as executive vice president and chief credit officer at Empire State Bank.

In his new role, Banca will lead the bank’s lending department which focuses on small to mid-sized businesses. He will also oversee the management and development of commercial real estate, commercial, multifamily investor, and SBA lending.

BCB Bancorp, the holding company for BCB Community Bank has promoted Ryan Blake to senior vice president and chief operating officer of the company and the bank, effective September 15, 2021.

Blake joined the bank in 2008 and most recently was vice president and controller, as well as corporate secretary for the company and the bank.

Terrance R. Howard has also joined the bank as vice president, chief retail, and C&I lending officer.

BCB Bancorp was established in 2000 and headquartered in Bayonne, New Jersey. Its wholly owned subsidiary, BCB Community Bank, has 29 branch offices.

Citizens Financial Group has named Sarah Lindstrom as its head of business banking, effective October 4.

Lindstrom will report to Simon Griffiths, head of core banking for Citizens’ consumer bank.

Most recently, Lindstrom was head of retail network transformation and branch operations.

In her role she will be responsible for helping small and medium businesses optimize their financial performance, grow the business banking portfolio.

The Rhode Island-headquartered group has $185.1bn n assets as of June 30, 2021.