The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Change in leadership at People’s United Financial
Bridgeport-based People’s United Financial, the parent of People’s United Bank, has a new president.
The company announced Friday morning it has appointed senior executive vice president for commercial banking Jeff Tengel to the role. Tengel joined People’s United in 2010 from PNC Bank to lead the the company’s commercial division.
Tengel will succeed Jack Barnes, who has served as president at People’s United since 2010. Barnes will stay on as CEO.
“As our company continues to grow, we need to make sure our organizational structure properly supports the future trajectory of People’s United,” Barnes said in a press release. “Jeff is uniquely qualified to help lead the company through our future expansion.”
The decision was made as part of a thorough succession plan in place at the company, Barnes said, adding that Tengel had been in consideration for the role for some time as the board sought to consolidate leadership with the company.
Strategies, products and services People’s United delivers to customers will remain the same along with the teams that are in its current markets as the company looks to continue growth.
“We’ve had a considerable amount of growth over the last 10 years, and as we grow we are trying to adjust the leadership positions in the company to reflect some of that growth, and we expect that to continue as we move forward,” Barnes said in an interview Friday.
Tengel has been running People’s United’s commercial division where he has helped expand its product offerings. He has also help secure several acquisitions for the company over the last eight years.
In his new role, Tengel will also be responsible for the company’s retail bank and the wealth management businesses.
That growth is evident in the People’s United’s latest quarterly report. The company’s revenue of $386.2 million was up 16 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
Earnings also saw an increase of more than $30 million compared to the first quarter last year.
“It’s just a strengthening and clarifying of leadership going into the future,” Barnes said. “They’ll just be working together more to make sure we take care of all of our customers in the most complete way that we can and this will allow them to continue on that process.”