Stamford-based Patriot Bank announces new CEO
STAMFORD — The parent company of Patriot Bank has announced that it has promoted one of its top executives to become its next chief executive officer and president.
David Lowery, executive vice president and chief lending officer of Stamford-based Patriot, will succeed current CEO and President Robert Russell Jr., who is resigning after nearly three years as chief executive to “pursue another career opportunity,” according to a news release. The change takes effect on April 21, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lowery, 48, joined Patriot in April 2021 as head of lending and was promoted to his current roles in September 2021. He leads Patriot’s Small Business Administration-focused division, as well as its commercial real estate, commercial-and-industrial and consumer-lending areas. Before joining Patriot, he held senior roles at several other institutions, including IBERIABANK, Metropolitan Commercial Bank and M&T Bank.
“Patriot’s board of directors unanimously support promoting talented employees from within the organization and are committed to provide David with the resources and expertise to continue the bank’s strong trajectory,” Patriot Chairman Michael Carrazza said in a written statement. “We thank Rob for his years of dedicated service to Patriot Bank and for managing a seamless transition.”
There are Patriot branches in Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, Milford, Norwalk, Orange, Stamford, Westport, as well as Scarsdale, N.Y. The bank also operates “express banking locations” with ATMs at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, downtown New Haven and Westfield Trumbull mall.
Patriot finished 2022 with total assets of approximately $1 billion, net loans of about $838 million and total deposits of around $860 million. Based on its deposits in Connecticut, it ranked No. 29 among banks operating in the state, as of June 30, 2022, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Among other developments in the past year, Patriot announced last July that it had terminated its agreement to merge with another firm, a deal intended to create the “largest digital bank in the U.S.”
“The parties have mutually determined that not all closing conditions of the merger agreement can be satisfied under the current structure and agreement,” Patriot said in a news release at the time. “Although the parties remain in active discussions regarding a modified transaction, it is uncertain whether a new agreement can be reached.”
Patriot had announced in November 2021 its plan to acquire, through a “reverse subsidiary merger,” American Challenger Development Corp., which was formed in January 2020 to establish a new digital national bank headquartered in Stamford. The transaction had been advancing through the regulatory process, with Patriot announcing last July conditional approval from the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
If it had completed the deal, Patriot would have joined a number of Connecticut-based banks that have participated in a merger or acquisition in recent years. Last April, M&T Bank completed its acquisition of Bridgeport-based People’s United Bank, while Stamfordbased Webster Bank finalized in February 2022 its merger with Sterling National Bank.