Kenneth E. Edge, who was credited with transforming Amcore Financial Inc. of Rockford, Ill., from a local to a regional player in northern Illinois, has retired as its chief executive officer.
Mr. Edge, 62, will remain the $5.2 billion-asset company's chairman, it announced Monday.
The new CEO is William R. McManaman, 60, a longtime Chicago-area business executive who has been on Amcore's board since 1997.
In 2001, Amcore began an expansion that roughly doubled its branch network in Illinois and Wisconsin. It now has 79 branches.
Peyton Green, a senior analyst with First Horizon National Corp.'s FTN Midwest Securities Corp., said Mr. Edge was successful in building the infrastructure, and it will be up to Mr. McManaman to make the company grow faster and be more profitable.
"He will be able to help Amcore with inefficiency, which is mostly driven on the revenue side right now," Mr. Green said. "His nonbanking perspective will help guide them."
Last month Amcore reported that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 40% from a year earlier, to $7.5 million. It attributed the drop to higher loan-loss resevers brought on by the softening real estate market. Its efficiency ratio for the fourth quarter was 71.19%, versus 67.79% for the year-earlier period.
Amcore's shares closed at $20.32 Monday.
