Berkshire Hills Bancorp CFO to resign on Friday

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB), the parent company of Berkshire Bank, on Monday announced that Kevin Riley, executive vice president and CFO, will resign on Friday to pursue another undisclosed opportunity.

The banking company, which is based in Massachusetts but is building a growing presence in Central New York, has started a replacement search for this position.

Riley has made significant contributions to Berkshire since he joined the bank in 2007, Michael Daly, chairman, president, and CEO of Berkshire, said in a news release.

“On behalf of the company, I thank him [Riley] for his service and wish him success in his new endeavor,” Daly said.

Berkshire has retained the services of Mario Solari, a CPA at Hartford, Conn.–based Whittlesey & Hadley, P.C., to provide interim oversight for the CFO position.

Solari has 28 years of experience in public accounting, primarily with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and has been serving as a consultant to Berkshire since 2012.

In addition, Berkshire also named Josephine Iannelli as its principal accounting officer. 

Iannelli joined Berkshire as senior vice president and chief accounting officer on March 4.  She began her career at KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP and subsequently served at Cleveland–based KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) and National City Corporation, which the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC), headquartered in Pittsburgh, has since acquired.

Pittsfield, Mass.–based Berkshire Hills Bancorp has assets of $5.2 billion and 74 branches in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. The company first entered the Central New York market in 2011 with its acquisition of Rome Savings Bank and acquired DeWitt–based Beacon Federal last October.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com