MIDWEST
FirstMerit Corp. of Akron has hired Kenneth A. Dorsett as an executive vice president and the head of the wealth management services team at FirstMerit Bank.
Before joining the $10.4 billion-asset company, Mr. Dorsett was in the private wealth management group at Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh. Before that he had been a senior vice president and national sales manager for private banking in Pittsburgh at PNC Bank.
Pulaski Financial Corp. of St. Louis, the $1.1 billion-asset holding company for Pulaski Bank, announced Christopher Reichert has resigned as executive vice president in charge of the bank's residential mortgage lending business in order to pursue other opportunities.
He also resigned as a member of its board of directors.
MIDDLE ATLANTICFirst National Bank of Pennsylvania, a $6.8 billion-asset unit of F.N.B. Corp. of Hermitage, has hired Mark D. Sullivan as a senior vice president and its director of treasury management.
He will report to Frank Kreider, the bank's executive vice president of commercial banking.
Mr. Sullivan has more than 26 years of financial services experience. Most recently he was senior vice president of treasury management for Sky Financial Group, which Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus bought this year.
First Niagara Financial Group Inc. of Lockport, N.Y., has elected G. Thomas Bowers as the chairman of the company and its First Niagara Bank.
He succeeded Robert G. Weber, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 for directors.
Mr. Bowers has been a director of the $8 billion-asset First Niagara Financial since it acquired Finger Lakes Bancorp Inc. in January 2003. Before that he had been the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Finger Lakes from June 1995 to January 2003. He has more than 36 years of banking experience in upstate New York.
Signature Bank of New York has hired Paul A. Santamaria and Carl M. Gambino as group directors and senior vice presidents in charge of a new private client banking team at a branch in midtown Manhattan.
Mr. Santamaria and Mr. Gambino will be based out of the $5.7 billion-asset bank's Madison Avenue branch.
Both men have more than 29 years of financial services experience. Most recently they were senior vice presidents and district managers for North Fork Bank's Manhattan region.
To complete the six-member team, Signature Bank has hired Paul D. Patella and Anthony M. DeLorenzo as associate group directors and vice presidents and Martin J. Moran and Jose U. Tuarez as senior client associates.
WESTCentral Valley Community Bank of Clovis, Calif., has hired Lydia Shaw as the senior vice president in charge of its retail and consumer activities.
She will succeed Shirley Wilburn, who is retiring after holding the job for seven years at the sole subsidiary of Central Valley Community Bancorp.
Ms. Shaw has more than 24 years of financial services management experience. Before joining the $489 million-asset bank, she was a vice president and division manager for Washington Federal Savings and Loan in Seattle.
Rabobank, a Roseville, Calif., unit of the Dutch company Rabobank Group, has hired Chris Nelson as an executive vice president and its director of marketing.
Mr. Nelson has more than 25 years of financial services experience. Before joining the $7.5 billion-asset bank, he was the head of retail banking at Farmers and Merchants Bank in Lodi.
