Provident Bancorp in Amesbury, Massachusetts, announced Friday that longtime president and CEO Dave Mansfield left the company Dec. 20.
Beyond characterizing it as a "mutual decision" between Mansfield and the board, the $1.8 billion-asset Provident did not cite a reason for the departure. Mansfield, however, presided over an ill-fated foray into digital-asset lending. Friday's announcement came little more than two months after Provident
Provident, corporate parent to the 194-year-old BankProv, reported net income of $5.6 million for the quarter ending June 30.
Earlier this month, Provident withdrew a S-3 registration statement advertising a $100 million shelf offering of securities. Though Provident filed the S-3 in April, it had not sold any securities pursuant to the registration statement.
Provident named Chairman Joe Reilly and Chief Financial Officer Carol Houle as interim co-CEOs. As part of the transition, Reilly stepped down as chairman. In his place, Provident named Laurie Knapp, a director who has chaired the Audit Committee, to lead the board.
Reilly, who joined the Provident board in 2018, is a former bank CEO. Reilly co-founded Centrix Bank & Trust in Bedford, New Hampshire, in 1999, and served as CEO until 2014, when Eastern Bankshares acquired the $909 million-asset Centrix for $41 million in cash.
Provident "remains well-capitalized and on sound financial footing," Reilly said in a Dec. 23 press release. Still, the company has yet to formally report third-quarter earnings or file a 10-Q report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In October, Provident disclosed it was in the process of evaluating the write-down of collateral, such as computer hardware used for crypto mining, used to back the loans.
Mansfield, who was 60 when Provident filed its most recent proxy statement in April, joined the company as chief financial officer in 2001. He was appointed president and CEO of Provident Bancorp and CEO of BankProv in 2013. Prior to 2022, Provident reported an annual profit every year of Mansfield's tenure as CEO, including net income of $16.1 million in 2021. In 2020, Provident granted Mansfield stock and option awards of about $2.2 million.
Provident's involvement in the digital-asset realm has grown significantly since Mansfield announced it would begin offering deposit services to crypto firms in July 2019. On June 30, Provident reported its digital-asset loan portfolio totaled $138.6 million, about 9% of total loans.
"Over the past 21 years, I have been fortunate to work with an amazing team at BankProv and I look forward to watching the bank continue to grow," Mansfield said in the Dec. 23 press release. "I leave knowing the bank is in capable hands."
A Provident spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the executive transition by deadline.
