Tompkins Financial promotes Guarino to newly created position

ITHACA, N.Y. — Tompkins Financial Corp. has promoted Charles Guarino to the newly created position of chief banking operations officer, the banking company announced.

Guarino’s promotion is a final step in realigning the responsibilities of Tompkins Financial’s chief financial officer and chief operations officer, Francis M. Fetsko, who will retire at the end of 2024.

In his new role, Guarino is responsible for overseeing the company’s technology and banking operations throughout the four markets it serves. He reports to Steve Romaine, Tompkins Financial’s president and CEO. Over the past five years, Guarino led mortgage sales and operations and small-business lending, where he successfully implemented its Paycheck Protection Program lending initiative, which generated more than 3,000 loans.

“Chuck has led the retail and small-business lending team at Tompkins Financial exceptionally well over the past five years and is ready for this expanded role,” Romaine said in a news release. “His strategic vision and ability to align resources and effectively execute are critical to his new role. I have had the pleasure of engaging with him on the central New York leadership team and have watched him execute strategic plans to help our clients succeed. It is rewarding to know the Tompkins organization empowers our team and allows us to fill this position from within our current ranks. I look forward to Chuck’s contribution and collaboration as he joins our senior leadership team.”

Prior to joining Tompkins Financial, Guarino spent more than 20 years in banking and financial management. According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously worked at Five Star Bank, which headquartered in Wyoming County, and has a number of branches in Central New York.

Guarino currently serves on the marketing and fundraising committee of Hub585 and previously held positions as first vice chairperson on the board of directors of the Urban League of Rochester, past fist president of Resolve of Greater Rochester, and past campaign cabinet member of the United Way of Wyoming County.

He graduated from SUNY Geneseo’s Jones School of Business in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in management and holds an MBA from the University of Rochester Simon Business School.

Headquartered in Ithaca, Tompkins Financial is the parent company of Tompkins Community Bank, Tompkins Insurance Agencies, Inc., and Tompkins Financial Advisors. It has 65 branch locations in the central, western, and Hudson Valley regions of New York along with southeast Pennsylvania.