BOSTON – Former Citizens Financial Group Inc. Chief Executive Lawrence K. “Larry” Fish has temporarily taken over as the top executive at NBH Holdings Inc. following the death of the company’s CEO, James G. Connolly, last week.
A spokesman for NBH on Tuesday confirmed a brief item in The Boston Globe that said Fish had stepped in, but declined to give further details.
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Connolly, who served as president of Citizens Financial Group Inc., for 15 months before resigning last June, died Thursday of an apparent heart attack while on a business trip to New York City. He was 49.
In October, Connolly and eight other veteran bank executives announced the creation of a new company, NBH Holdings, which they intended to register as a bank holding company. Connolly was president and CEO of the new firm, which had offices on Federal Street in Boston, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing.
“The current recapitalization of the U.S. banking industry provides a unique opportunity for NBH, and we appreciate the confidence that our investors have placed in us,” he said in a statement at the time.
Executives at NBH – short for National Bank Holdings – said they had raised $1.15 billion and planned to use the money “to build a leading community banking franchise focusing on serving the needs of retail and business customers,” according to a news release.
Fish, who was not part of NBH’s founding group, had served as Citizens Financial’s CEO for 15 years, leaving the post in March 2007 to become chairman of the bank’s parent company, RBS Americas. Last March, he stepped down from his role as chairman of both Citizens Financial and RBS Americas, severing ties with the bank.
Fish, who earned his bachelor’s at Drake University and his MBA at Harvard University, told The Globe that he would continue guiding NBH Holdings through the regulatory process while seeking a permanent successor as CEO.
