NEW ENGLAND
Wainwright Bank and Trust Co. of Boston said Jan A. Miller, its president and chief executive officer, has been elected the chairman of the Massachusetts Bankers Association.
Mr. Miller had been the vice chairman of the trade group, which represents 215 institutions throughout New England.
Wainwright Bank has $725 million of assets.
MIDDLE ATLANTICSandy Spring Bancorp Inc. of Olney, Md., has made Daniel A. Russo its internal controls officer, a newly created job, and bumped him up to senior vice president.
Mr. Russo had been a vice president and the assistant controller for the company, which owns the $2.3 billion-asset Sandy Spring Bank.
The company said the job was created in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.
Signature Bank of New York has hired Robert J. Rothschild as its head of commercial real estate lending, a newly created job.Mr. Rothschild, who has also been named a senior vice president at the $3.5 billion-asset Signature, was a vice president and the regional group head for real estate lending on Long Island at Bank of New York for 13 years.
Before that he had worked for five years at Dollar Dry Dock Savings Bank, rising to senior vice president of commercial real estate lending. (Emigrant Savings Bank of New York bought Dollar Dry Dock in 1992.)
Earlier he had been a vice president and a team leader at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., where he worked for 12 years. (What is now JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought Manufacturers Hanover Corp. in 1991.)
SOUTHEASTSouthFirst Bancshares Inc. of Sylacauga, Ala., said Sandra H. Stephens, who has been the interim chief executive officer of the company and its $142 million-asset First Federal of the South, has been given the jobs permanently.
She took over those posts in March from Joe K. McArthur, who left the company.
Ms. Stephens had been the chief operating officer of the company and the bank since joining both in 2001.
Before that she had worked for 10 years at First Federal Bank of Tuscaloosa, Ala., first as its chief financial officer from 1992 to 1997, then as its chief operating officer from 1997 to 2001.
First National Bank of Christiansburg, Va., has hired David W. DeHart as its president and chief executive officer.Mr. DeHart had been SunTrust Bank's president for Virginia's New River Valley for the last four and a half years. At First National he succeeded R. Bruce Munro, who had led the bank on an interim basis since September and plans to retire soon.
First National is one of three banks owned by FNB Corp. of Christiansburg and has $723 million of assets.
WESTTemecula Valley Bancorp Inc. of Temecula, Calif., has hired Martin E. Plourd as its community banking officer and an executive vice president.
Mr. Plourd had the same job and title for the past 18 years at Valley Independent Bank of El Centro, Calif. (Valley's parent, Rabobank International of the Netherlands, changed the bank's name to Rabobank in April.)
Temecula Valley Bank has $656 million of assets.
Bank of Marin of Corte Madera, Calif., has promoted Russell A. Colombo to chief operating officer. Mr. Colombo, an executive vice president, had been the branch administrator since joining the $761 million-asset bank in March 2004.
Before that he had been a senior vice president and group manager for six years at Comerica Bank. Still earlier in his 30-year banking career he had been a senior vice president and regional manager for Union Bank of California.
American Security Bank of Santa Ana, Calif., has hired Dolly Nugent as its compliance officer and a senior vice president.Ms. Nugent came to the $353 million-asset bank from Citizens Business Bank of Ontario, Calif., whose compliance officer she had been.
