PROVIDENCE – John A. Yena, former president of Johnson & Wales University, has been appointed chairman of Bancorp Rhode Island and its subsidiary Bank Rhode Island, replacing the bank founder Malcolm G. “Kim” Chace III, who died in June.
Bancorp Rhode Island has agreed to be acquired by Brookline Bancorp., a Massachusetts bank, in a $234 million deal that is expected to be finalized before year’s end.
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Under the terms of the transaction, BankRI will retain its board of directors, its bank charter and will remain headquartered in Providence.
Chace, a prominent Rhode Island businessman who had sat on the board of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway for years, had served as chairman of Providence-based BancorpRI and BankRI since its founding in 1996.
Yena, who joined the bank board at its inception, becomes only its second chairman. He was Johnson & Wales’ president from 1989 to 2004, when he stepped down and became the chairman of the university’s board of trustees.
As Yena moves into the chairmanship at BancorpRI, Meredith A. Curren, who has been on the BancorpRI board since 2002, has been named vice chairman.
Curren is a principal at Edgewood Holdings LLC, a financial advisory firm based in Cornwall, Vt.
