BankRI President Meiklejohn moves to parent company, Tsonos named new R.I. president

PROVIDENCE – Bank Rhode Island’s president is moving up to the bank’s parent company, while another C-suite leader will take over the Rhode Island bank.

Brookline Bancorp Inc. on Sept. 29 announced a series of leadership changes triggered by the retirement of its chief credit officer, M. Robert Rose. As a result of Rose’s November retirement, BankRI CEO and President Mark Meiklejohn will step up to fill the role with the parent company, according to a news release.

Meanwhile, William Tsonos will fill the president role at BankRI. Tsonos currently serves as BankRI’s executive vice president of commercial lending.

Meiklejohn has served as BankRI’s CEO and president and member of its board of directors for the last decade. He joined the bank in 2006, originally as its commercial banking director and later became its chief lending officer in 2008.

- Advertisement -

Tsonos also started at BankRI in 2006 and as executive vice president of commercial lending has worked to grow its portfolio of commercial loans and deposits.

As of June 2021, Bank Rhode Island had the fifth-largest share of deposits in Rhode Island at $2.7 billion, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It has 20 branches in Rhode Island, according to PBN’s 2022 Book of Lists.

Brookline Bancorp is also the parent company for Brookline Bank and First Ipswich Bank in Massachusetts, and is set to close a $313 million deal to acquire New York-based PCSB Financial Corp. later this year. 

Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.