Due to the planned retirement of the bank’s long-time Chief Financial Officer, S&W has been retained by Reading Cooperative Bank (“RCB”) to lead the search and selection process for this key executive hire.
RCB embodies the best of what a modern community bank can be. The bank traces its roots back almost 140 years to the beginning of the cooperative banking movement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, when the founding principal of the bank was to allow the “workingman” the ability to purchase a home. Across generations of customers, RCB has maintained its cooperative ownership structure, meaning that it is owned by its customers who have their money in the bank. Local ownership and local decision making allows the bank to create financial solutions that best serve the people who live and work in its communities. In 2014 the bank took the unique step of amending its bylaws to protect its cooperative form of ownership and to ensure that the communities that it serves do not lose a local bank, local jobs, or local community philanthropy. Today, RCB serves its business and consumer customers by allowing them the ability to bank when and where they like, offering a network of retail branch locations and ATMs and a modern suite of online and mobile solutions. The bank has over $900MM in total assets, and an approximately $700MM loan portfolio. RCB is a fantastic corporate citizen, and supports causes “like education, the arts, the environment and fighting poverty,” through the Reading Cooperative Charitable Foundation.
Reporting directly to the bank’s President & CEO, Julieann Thurlow-the immediate past Chairwoman of the American Bankers Association-the CFO will join a collaborative and motivated executive leadership team. The position is responsible for the leadership and oversight of all finance and accounting functions for the bank, including both the day-to-day financial operations as well as leveraging financial data to inform future strategic decision making. The CFO will present regularly to the bank’s Board of Directors and serve as a member of key leadership committees. We are seeking exceptional finance & accounting talent for this highly visible and important community bank leadership role. Successful candidates will demonstrate not only the requisite technical skills and relevant past experiences, but also possess strong leadership and presentation skills and a developed executive presence. For additional information, please contact: Cameron Boyd, Managing Partner, Financial Services (cboyd@smithandwilkinson.com).