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A month after expanding into Connecticut with its acquisition of a Hartford bank, Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB) in Pittsfield, Mass., has added one of the state's most famous citizens to its board of directors.
May 16 -
Darrell Green, an initial investor in the bank, enjoyed a Hall of Fame career with the National Football League's Washington Redskins.
February 28
UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma has resigned as a director of Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB) in Pittsfield, Mass., after a little less than two years on the job.
The move comes shortly after Auriemma was reappointed head coach of the U.S. women's national basketball team, which won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Berkshire Hills has chosen Richard Murphy, the general manager of a minor league baseball team in Troy, N.Y., to replace Auriemma.
Auriemma, 59, was named to the Berkshire Hills board in May 2012, a month after the company acquired Connecticut Bank & Trust, in Hartford, where Auriemma was a director. The move was also part of a wider effort by Berkshire Hills to
Auriemma left the board because of time constraints, says Ray Smith, a company spokesman.
"We have a great relationship with Geno, and he's really helped us as we acquired [Connecticut Bank & Trust] and he continues to help us in the Connecticut market," Smith says.
Auriemma will continue to work as a spokesman for the company's Berkshire Bank operating unit. Berkshire Hills signed a four-year agreement with Auriemma, paying him $120,000 to serve as a bank spokesman.
Murphy joined the Berkshire Hills board on Jan. 23. Murphy is the GM of the Tri-City ValleyCats, a Class A minor-league affiliate of the Houston Astros.
More than a third of Berkshire Hills' 77 branches are in upstate New York, including several in the Albany area where the Tri-City baseball team plays, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
