Lebanon
Adams, chief executive of glassware maker Simon Pearce and a director of Mascoma, is expected to join the Lebanon-based bank in the fall and assume the CEO role upon Christy’s scheduled retirement on Jan. 1.
Christy, who announced his intention to step down this past January, has led the bank for 27 years.
A graduate of both Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business, Adams has been CEO of Simon Pearce since 2012 and previously had spent a decade with White River Junction-based strategic consulting firm RSG Inc. He also serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including at the Montshire Museum of Science, and is a former chairman of Vital Communities and Delta Dental Plan of Vermont.
“If you boil it all down, he’s just an exceptional executive leader,” said Gretchen Cherington, board chairwoman of Mascoma. “The bank has really grown in terms of its mission and reach, and as we look out over the next five, 10, 20 years, we need someone of Clay’s caliber and experience to lead us there. … Community banking is really changing.”
Those changes have been driven home in recent weeks as Newport-based Lake Sunapee Bank, which has 35 branches in New Hampshire and Vermont, agreed to be acquired by Maine-based Bar Harbor Bankshares in a $143 million transaction.
Community banks also are grappling with declining foot traffic among their branch offices as customers choose to conduct banking online and by mobile phone.
Lake Sunapee Bank closed its Centerra Marketplace location and merged the branch’s operation with its Heater Road location in Lebanon in November, and a few weeks later in December, Claremont Savings Bank closed its Cornish branch.
Cherington acknowledged the impact that technology is having on banking, and said Adams’ experience in navigating Simon Pearce through similar challenges is a factor that elevated his candidacy.
“One of the things that attracted us about Clay is that at Simon Pearce, he has been quite astute in retail and the online sectors,” Cherington said. “That’s a sweet spot for community banking — how we use our bricks and mortar, and how we use our technology. He brought something to the table in that regard.”
In recent years, Mascoma has made a big push into commercial lending, with $283 million in commercial loans written in 2014, according to the bank’s website.
The bank has financed commercial projects across Northern New England in Concord, Burlington, Rutland, Brattleboro and Portland, Maine.
The bank, which has 27 branches and two loan production offices, has also beefed up its presence in private wealth management.
As a board member and chairman of Mascoma’s strategic planning committee, Adams “emerged early” as a candidate but faced competition from a large pool of prospects vetted by Philadelphia-based executive search firm Kaplan Partners.
The 100 initial candidates were culled to 30, of whom eight were brought in for a first-round interview and five called back for a second round.
“We had a very competitive search,” Cherington said.
Adams did not respond to a voicemail message on Tuesday.
Adams’ appointment follows the announcement earlier this month that Claremont Savings Bank hired Reginald Greene Jr. to succeed longtime chief executive Sherwood Moody, who is retiring. Greene had been executive vice president and chief lending officer at Ledyard National Bank.
Mascoma, with 347 employees, is the second-largest locally controlled bank as ranked by assets in the Upper Valley, with $1.4 billion, slightly behind Lake Sunapee Bank’s $1.5 billion in assets. Ledyard National Bank has $424 million in assets and Claremont Savings Bank has $374 million in assets.
John Lippman can be reached at 603-727-3219 or jlippman@vnews.com.
