PeoplesBank in Mass. Names CFO to Succeed Bowen as CEO

PeoplesBank in Holyoke, Mass., will promote its chief financial officer to lead the bank, as Chief Executive Douglas Bowen plans to retire.

Bowen, 61, will retire next year as president and CEO of the $2 billion-asset mutual bank, in a two-step process. The 53-year-old Thomas Senecal, chief financial officer, has been chosen to succeed Bowen.

"[Senecal] and I believe in our bank's mutual charter," Bowen said in a news release. "We will remain a mutual bank going forward."

Ahead of the succession plan, PeoplesBank has given Senecal the additional title of chief operating officer, with oversight of retail operations, internal control and risk oversight.

Senecal will remain COO until February, when he will be named president at PeoplesBank's annual meeting. Senecal will be appointed CEO in July.

PeoplesBank has not determined Senecal's successor as CFO. Senecal's duties as COO will be rolled into his responsibilities as president.

Bowen will remain active in the bank's management and strategy during the transition period.

Bowen joined the bank in 1975 as a teller. He established PeoplesBank's commercial lending department in 1986 and became chief lending officer in 2002. He has served as president and CEO since 2007.

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