Center Bancorp in N.J. Names New Bank Chairman, CFO

Center Bancorp (CNBC) in Union, N.J., has named a new chairman for its bank.

The $1.6 billion-asset company also announced Wednesday that it had made its interim chief financial officer permanent.

Howard Kent was elected chairman of Union Center National Bank, succeeding Alexander Bol, who had been chairman for 12 years. Bol, 65, will continue to serve as the company's chairman.

Center Bancorp also announced that Francis Patryn had been named CFO of the company and its bank. Patryn, a former chief financial controller at the company, had been interim CFO since Vincent Tozzi resigned at the end of May.

Kent, a bank director since 2008, chairs the loan and discount committees. He co-founded two real estate investment firms in Englewood, N.J.

The change was intended to "bring additional depth of skills and experience to the board of the bank as the company seeks to enter a phase of strategic growth, principally in its loan portfolio," Anthony Weagley, the bank's president and chief executive, said in a press release.

Center agreed to buy Saddle River Valley Bank in February. It agreed to partner with the family office Alexander, Troy & Co. in January.