Financial Institutions Inc. of Warsaw, N.Y., has hired a former Bank of America Corp. executive to turn around its struggling Wyoming County Bank there.
John J. Witkowski, 43, succeeded Jon Cooper, who resigned in April, as president and chief executive officer.
Mr. Witkowski was a senior vice president in Bank of America's client development group. He had held a similar job with FleetBoston Financial Corp. before Bank of America bought it.
He has worked for 12 years in the financial services industry, but his first job after graduating from Columbia University in 1984 was as quarterback with the Detroit Lions. He played with the Lions and the Houston Oilers and later in the Canadian and Arena football leagues.
The $738 million-asset Wyoming County Bank and its $2.2 billion-asset parent have struggled with asset-quality problems for two years.
In this year's first half the parent's four banks lost $9.7 million on an operating basis and charged off $43.7 million of loans. Wyoming County Bank alone took lost $673,000 on that basis and charged off $15 million.
Financial Institutions' other subsidiaries are National Bank of Geneva, Bath National Bank and First Tier Bank & Trust. Its four banks have a combined 50 branches and 72 automated teller machines in western and central New York.
