William F. Hatfield, most recently FleetBoston Financial’s vice chairman for
Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, has been named president of Bank
of America Rhode Island, as the North Carolina-based bank takes over operations
in the area and phases out the Fleet name in the months ahead.
The appointment came on Friday, Aug. 13, Neil D. Steinberg’s last day as chairman and CEO of Fleet Rhode Island, and just two weeks after he announced his resignation to take the top fund-raising job at Brown University, his alma mater. Fleet Rhode Island President Joanna Robbins, who headed retail banking, left quietly earlier this year.
Though Hatfield will have Robbins’ title, Anne Finucane, Northeast president for Bank of America, described him in a news release as Steinberg’s successor. Steinberg said in an interview that Bank of America’s “very successful model” across the country is to have a president in each market. As the senior executive for Rhode Island, Hatfield will lead business operations, community involvement and philanthropy for the bank.
“Bank of America is very fortunate to have an outstanding leader, civic champion and experienced banker like Bill Hatfield lead our team in Rhode Island,” said Finucane. “We are very excited to have him stepping into this critical role. Rhode Island, where Fleet was established in 1791, is an extremely important market to Bank of America.”
Hatfield, 48, of Barrington, was also local head of Fleet’s Private Clients Group, Quick & Reilly brokerage and Columbia Management Group operations. He has been at Fleet since 1981 and has held several leadership posts in corporate banking.
“I have spent my career with this company,” Hatfield said in an interview, noting that most of his service has been in Providence. In 1995, Hatfield was transferred to Boston, but he returned to Rhode Island two years ago, and has shared Steinberg’s community-involvement responsibilities since. Hatfield serves on the boards of Family Service of Rhode Island, the Trinity Repertory Company, the Meeting Street School and St. George’s School and on the CEO Council of Junior Achievement of Rhode Island.
But Rhode Islanders will not only see a familiar face at the top of Bank of America’s local operation, Hatfield stressed. “If you look further into the organization, we are all Rhode Islanders,” he said. “We are all deeply committed to the community.”
The entire Bank of America Rhode Island leadership team is made up of local executives with more than 15 years’ experience in this market, Hatfield said. “To me, that is just incredibly powerful and representative of our commitment to this community.”
Asked what his priorities would be, Hatfield said growth is “absolutely” at the heart of the bank’s immediate plans – not the acquisitions-based growth that fueled Fleet’s rise in the last few years, but “organic” growth across all business lines.
Once the Rhode Island market leader, with as much as 46.7 percent of deposits as of June 1998, Fleet bottomed out at 21.8 percent in 2002 and has slightly rebounded since. Hatfield said Bank of America is bringing “higher standards” for customer service and retail banking, and, “We’re going to build on a very strong customer experience to boost our position in this market.”
Along with his duties as president, Hatfield will be managing director of the Private Bank in Rhode Island, the new name for the Private Clients Group that he has overseen for the last two years.
Hatfield is not taking over Robbins’ duties as retail banking chief; that job remains open. Steinberg had served as Fleet’s Rhode Island middle market banking executive, and 17-year Fleet veteran Oliver Bennett has been named to succeed him in that capacity. Bennett, who has been with Fleet’s middle market banking group since 1994, will now lead that team, joined by Virginia Roberts, Rhode Island middle market banking executive for health care and institutions.
