Jeffrey A. Evershed, architect of more than two dozen Keycorp Mortgage takeovers, has resigned.
The president and chief executive cited family reasons for "one of the hardest decisions I have had to make."
Ralph Carestio, executive vice president of Keycorp, will run the Cleveland lending division on an interim basis, Mr. Evershed said. No permanent replacement has been named.
Mr. Evershed was the corporate integrator at a mortgage company he once called "Mergers 'R' Us." Since 1990, he has helped to integrate 25 mortgage companies into Keycorp, adding more than 300,000 loans to its portfolio.
"Of all the things I am going to miss, [merging companies] is what I am going to miss the most," he said. But he added that the strains on his family were too much.
Mr. Evershed was scheduled to move his family within weeks to Cleveland, where Keycorp moved its headquarters. It was to be his family's fifth move in five years. His reasons for resigning are "really nothing more than not wanting to move to Cleveland," Mr. Evershed said.
Mr. Evershed said he and his wife sat on a bench on a golf course near his Albany, N.Y., home around sunset a couple of weeks ago. They talked about the impending move to Cleveland and its impact on their family. His wife told him the family "just can't do" another relocation, he said.
Keycorp employees were said to be stunned and saddened by Mr. Evershed's announcement. One high-level executive said Mr. Evershed's resignation came suddenly on May 23.
Mr. Evershed said his next job will depend on its impact on his family. He will look for a position in Albany so that his daughter can graduate from high school there. He would also consider moving to Portland, Ore., or Salt Lake City, he said.
