The pandemic brought an appreciation of the banking industry from the business community like no other time in history. The sector, pivoting its purpose in a matter of days, worked tirelessly to ensure the business community had what it needed to survive.
That appreciation also was a bit of a realization.
An underappreciated sector of the business world, banks have been adjusting to the needs of clients since their earliest days. Whether it’s getting big loans to the biggest companies or startup capital to those most in need, banks help fuel the economy.
Mike Affuso
CEO
N.J. Bankers Association
Despite numerous challenges and issues in the sector, this strong organization hasn’t skipped a beat since Affuso took over the top spot.
Jane Allerman-Rey
President & chief operating officer
Spencer Savings Bank
She leads a dedicated team of more than 300 employees, overseeing all facets of bank operations at an organization that has more than $4 billion in assets.
J. Carlos Arroyo
Region director, branch banking/Atlantic Region/Southern New Jersey
Wells Fargo
A region director serving the southern New Jersey area, Arroyo has 25 years of experience working with customers, building relationships and managing retail banking teams. He leads a team of nearly 600 in Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Mercer and Atlantic counties.
John Borelli Jr.
CEO
Newfield National Bank
Borelli, who has run the bank since 1999, is part of a family that is an institution in Gloucester and Cumberland counties; he succeeded his father, John Borelli Sr., who ran the bank from 1974-99.
Cathleen Callahan
Senior vice president & business banking Northeast region executive
Bank of America
Oversees team responsible for delivery of a broad range of product solutions to clients in New Jersey and the Northeast.
Marlene Caride
Commissioner
N.J. Department of Banking & Insurance
Former member of the General Assembly, she has skillfully led DOBI throughout the many banking (and insurance) issues that have impacted the state due to the pandemic.
Tom Comiskey
New Jersey regional president
M&T Bank
M&T may be one of the biggest banks in the state, but Comiskey makes sure its impact is felt one customer at a time through numerous programs created to assist those in underserved communities.
Thomas Coughlin; Ryan Blake
CEO; Chief operating officer
BCB Bank
Coughlin is the 40-year industry veteran who founded BCB Bank. Blake is a next-generation leader in the industry. Together, they lead a bank that has a big impact in underserved communities.
Robert Curley III; Martin Melilli
Market president (South Jersey); Market president (Central Jersey)
TD Bank
The bank recently announced a five-year Community Benefits Plan, developed in coordination with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, that will provide an estimated $50 billion of impact by providing lending, philanthropy, banking access and other activities for the benefit of diverse and underserved communities.
Enrico Della Corna
Regional president
PNC Bank
Della Corna is active and gives back at the state and local levels, serving on the boards of both the N.J. Chamber of Commerce and Choose New Jersey, as well as serving as chair of the Boys and Girls Club Northeast Youth of the Year gala in 2022.
Alma DeMetropolis
Managing director & manager of N.J. market
J.P. Morgan Private Bank
She brings more than 30 years of financial experience to her role of advising families, business owners, executives and endowments and foundations.
Pete Dontas
Executive vice president & market
executive, commercial banking
Wells Fargo
A veteran of more than four decades in banking, he is responsible for leading four regional commercial banking teams that provide credit, treasury management, deposit, international and capital markets services to commercial banking customers with annual revenue between $10 million and $2 billion.
Adam Farrah
President
UCEDC
We wanted to make sure we had one community development financial institution, or CDFI, on the list, since they do such important work in the communities they serve. Farrah, the longtime leader at UCEDC, is best-in-class.
John Fitzgerald
CEO
Magyar Bank
Bank, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, continues to do what it was created to do: support the banking needs of underserved communities.
Gilles Gade
CEO
Cross River Bank
Among many recent moves is this: a partnership with FinClusive that will help increase access to financial services for underserved communities.
Greg Garcia; Eli Rennert
Executive vice presidents
First Commerce Bank
Two of the top leaders of one of the fastest-growing banks in the state.
Alberto Garofalo
N.J. market president
Bank of America
Top man at one of the top banks in the state. For all he does for clients, he may be better known for all he does for the communities the bank serves.
Tom Geisel
CEO
Republic Bank
His most important job of late has been to clarify that he runs Republic Bank — not First Republic Bank, which recently collapsed.
Jorge Gomes
CEO & president
Lusitania Savings Bank
Second-generation leader of bank created to help serve underbanked communities in greater Newark area
Bernel Hall
CEO
New Jersey
Community Capital
It’s not your traditional bank, but it’s an organization that steps in to help provide loans, grants and funding for those who may get turned away from banks.
Heather Hendry
Senior vice president
& enterprise risk management officer
Peapack-Gladstone Bank
Viewed within PGB and in the New Jersey banking industry as a trailblazer in information security, cyber and fraud, she was named the bank’s information security officer in 2019. She leads multiple ERM assessment programs.
Eden Hoffman
Head of global communications
Cross River Bank
In a fintech world that still is establishing its brand and capabilities, having a strong leader in communications is a must.
James Hughes
CEO
Unity Bank
Longtime leader of bank headquartered in Clinton that caters to retail, corporate and small business customers through its 19 retail service centers located in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union, Warren and Bergen counties in New Jersey and Northampton County in Pennsylvania.
Tom Iadanza
President
Valley Bank
He was part of team that helped bank make $25 million investment in venture capital fund the Garage to support the bank’s digital transformation through the cultivation of Israeli fintech firms.
Thomas Kemly
CEO
Columbia Bank
He was named CEO in 2012, but he has worked at the bank in a variety of roles since 1981. Throughout his career, he has worked to advance housing opportunities for families of all incomes, accelerate local community development and increase charitable giving efforts.
Doug Kennedy
CEO
Peapack-Gladstone Bank
He has led the bank to new heights in his decade at the helm — not only at the bottom line, but as the leader of a company that is an annual winner in numerous Best Places to Work competitions.
Steven Klein
Chair & CEO
Northfield Bank
Active in the industry, Klein currently serves as the first chair of N.J. Bankers Association.
Bob Koar
Senior managing director
Webster Bank
Koar is the key leader of the bank’s presence in North Jersey, particularly with middle-market business owners.
Tony Labozzetta
CEO
Provident Bank
Leader of the day-today operations of a top community bank in the state, one that could have $25 billion in assets should a proposed merger with Lakeland go through. It is awaiting final regulatory approval.
Elizabeth Magennis
President
ConnectOne Bank
Always eager to give back to the next generation, she once offered this advice to an internship class: “Raise your hand and volunteer for projects that no one wants to do. You’ll get noticed pretty quickly.”
Chris Maher
Chairman & CEO
OceanFirst
He is chair of N.J. Bankers Association while running one of the oldest and largest commercial banks headquartered in New Jersey, with 75 branches and more than $10 billion in assets.
Ellen Marshall
Executive vice
president & region
head, N.Y./N.J.
commercial banking
Santander Bank
Jersey native has built a 30-year career in commercial banking. Her current responsibilities include managing the commercial banking business in New Jersey, as well as Manhattan and Long Island.
Chris Martin
Executive chairman
Provident Bank
Longtime executive continues to provide veteran leadership for what potentially could become a supercommunity bank.
Karyn Miller
Managing director
& market manager
Capital One
The highly regarded banking executive continues to build Capital One brand in the state for business banking.
Donald Mindiak
CEO
First Commerce Bank
Growing bank, in connection with its proposed holding company reorganization, recently submitted an application to list the common shares of its proposed holding company on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Craig Montanaro
CEO
Kearny Bank
He also serves as president of the Kearny Bank Foundation, which donated more than $700,000 in 2021.
Maria Moschella
Northeast retail
banking market
manager
PNC Bank
One of PNC’s most senior-level bankers in the state, with nearly 20 years of industry experience, she was promoted earlier this year to the role of Northeast retail banking market manager, where she leads a region that includes more than 70 branch locations in New Jersey alone.
Curtis Myers
Chair & CEO
Fulton Bank
It has been a steady rise for Myers, who joined Fulton Bank in 1990, became an executive officer in 2013 and was promoted to board chair and CEO at the start of this year.
James Nesci
CEO
Blue Foundry
A veteran of numerous top banks in the state and region, he has been CEO of Foundry Bank since 2018 and has been instrumental in the development of the Blue Foundry Bank brand, which has taken off in recent years.
Rebecca O’Connell
Metro market executive
Citizens Bank
She continues to lead the branding and awareness charge of Citizens, which came into New Jersey in a big way with the acquisition of Investors Bank.
Vito Pantilione
CEO
Parke Bank
From the time of the bank’s formation in 1998, Pantilione has served as its CEO and a director.
Ira Robbins
CEO
Valley Bank
Aside from being a top industry official respected by all, he is a thought leader on banking issues — and a frequent commenter on the state of the industry.
Robert Ross
Head of banking support
and strategy, wealth and
investment management
Wells Fargo
He is charged with developing and implementing a cohesive client, adviser and market support coverage plan to ensure superior service levels by bringing consistency and simplicity to process execution, defining clear accountabilities and streamlining access to support specialists.
Patrick Ryan
CEO
First Bank
Bank announced in December that it has a definitive merger agreement to acquire Malvern Bancorp. Upon closing, First Bank will have approximately $3.68 billion in assets with 27 branches located in seven N.J. counties, three eastern Pennsylvania counties and one Florida county.
Gregory Scharpf
CEO
Amboy Bank
He is a third-generation leader of the bank, which was purchased by his grandfather in 1959.
Thomas Shara
CEO
Lakeland Bank
Veteran executive still runs the dayto-day operations of a bank that is awaiting regulatory approval to merge with Provident.
Frank Sorrentino
Chairman & CEO
ConnectOne
Community banks are facing numerous challenges not of their making. Having a steady veteran hand such as Sorrentino is a major plus for ConnectOne.
Lindsey Stampone
Market executive,
global commercial
banking
Bank of America
Working with public and private companies of all industries across the state, she leads teams that help mid to large commercial businesses ($50 million-$2 billion) unlock working capital and achieve their financial goals.
James Vaccaro
Chair & CEO
Manasquan Bank
Highly respected banking executive has spent more than a decade running the $2.2 billion bank that operates from 15 offices and branches located in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Matthew Verney
Market president
Truist
Recently promoted to the post, among his duties will be to lead the bank’s commercial expansion into North Jersey.
Joe Yewaisis; Chris McFadden
CEO; Chief financial officer
Union County Savings Bank
Pair is helping to bring new leadership to veteran bank.
Jenn Zorn
Executive
vice president
& director
of education
and business
development
N.J. Bankers
Association
Longtime executive at N.J. Bankers is one of the people behind the scenes that makes so many things run smoothly
