ALBANY, N.Y. — Berkshire Bank, a regional community bank with branches in New England and New York, recently appointed James J. Morris IV as its regional president for New York state.
Berkshire’s New York state region includes the Capital region, the Mohawk Valley, and Central New York markets.
Morris is an experienced banking professional who has served as regional president for Berkshire’s Capital region market since January 2020, in addition to leading the commercial real-estate team throughout the state.
Under his expanded role, Morris will support Berkshire’s lines of business in the New York state region including commercial and consumer lending, business and branch banking, and wealth management, the bank said in a news release. In addition, he will provide oversight to Berkshire’s two community advisory councils in the Capital and Central New York markets.
“Berkshire’s commitment to the New York region has never been stronger and we will continue to look for opportunities to strengthen our service offerings and enhance our community impact and presence under Jim’s leadership. His expanded responsibilities will help us achieve synergies in the market and unlock opportunities for meaningful impact in support of our Berkshire’s Exciting Strategic Transformation (BEST) and BEST Community Comeback plans,” Sean Gray, president and COO of Berkshire Bank, said.
Since joining Berkshire Bank in 2015, Morris has directed new-business origination, coordinated commercial-lending activities, and built deeper connections with communities, the bank said. Prior to joining Berkshire Bank, Morris had previous roles in commercial lending at Kinderhook Bank, Paragon Prime Funding, Citizens Bank, and Charter One Bank.
Berkshire Bank is a unit of Boston–based Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB). Berkshire has more than $12 billion in assets and operates 105 branch offices in New England and New York.