WATERBURY – Webster Financial Corp., parent of Webster Bank, has announced John R. Ciulla will succeed long-time chairman and CEO James C. Smith, who is slated to retire at the end of the year.
Ciulla currently serves as president and will become the third CEO in the company’s 82-year history. He will assume the role on Jan. 1 and become the first member outside of the Smith family to hold the position of CEO.
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Smith became CEO in 1987, succeeding his father, Herold Webster Smith, who founded the bank in 1935.
“It has been an honor to lead Webster and work with our community-minded, values-guided bankers as we’ve built Webster into the leading regional bank we are today,” Smith said in prepared remarks.
Smith will transition into a non-executive chairman position at the parent company of Webster Bank and HSA Bank.
“Over the past 10 years in particular we’ve undertaken a transformation to position Webster for continued growth as a high-performing regional bank,” Smith said. “We have successfully developed and implemented our strategic management framework, which invests capital and resources to support strategies that create value for our customers and shareholders.”
Ciulla, who joined Webster in 2004, has served in a variety of position. He was appointed president in 2015 and is responsible for managing most of the company’s business units.
Ciulla said his tenure at the bank under the directive of Smith should help him in the transition and in moving the company forward.
“I have had the privilege of working closely with Jim over the past 14 years and appreciate and value his principled leadership and extraordinary contribution to Webster,” he said. “I have benefited from his counsel throughout my career at Webster, and especially from our close working relationship these past few years.
Webster Bank, which serves Rhode Island and has corporate offices in Providence, has $26.2 billion in assets.
Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter @Eli_Sherman.
