Executive Update

Alfred B. DelBello, a former Lt. Governor of the State of New York and prominent member of the Westchester County business and civic communities, has joined the Advisory Board of Signature Bank, a subsidiary of Bank Hapoalim, the largest bank in Israel. DelBello is currently a partner in the White Plains, NY - based law firm of DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Tartaglia Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP. From 1983-1985 he served as Lt. Governor of the State of New York. Prior to that he served for nearly a decade as the Westchester County Executive after serving as the Mayor and a Councilman for the City of Yonkers. Earlier in his career, he served as president and CEO of Signal Environmental Systems.

Signature Bank also announced the appointment of financial industry veterans Richard Podolec and Marvin Wagman, who both recently retired from J.P. Morgan Chase after nearly forty years of service, as senior vice presidents and group directors at Signature's new Williamsburg Brooklyn location. While at Chase, Podolec served in senior roles including vice president and branch manager of the Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bay Ridge and Montague branches. Wagman, who has worked in Williamsburg for more than three decades, previously served as sales manager and small business relationship manager at Chase's Havemeyer location.

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Charles A. Davis, director of Marsh and McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) and president and CEO, MMC Capital, has been appointed to the Executive Advisory Board of DWL, an Atlanta-based business services software provider. Prior to joining MMC Capital, Davis was with Goldman Sachs & Co. for 23 years where he served as head of Investment Banking Services worldwide, co-head of the Americas Group, head of the Financial Services Industry Group, a member of the International Executive Committee and a general partner. Davis is also a director of AXIS Specialty Limited, Media General, Inc., Merchants Bancshares Inc. and Progressive Corporation.

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Joseph A. Smith, Jr., a counsel at the Washington D.C. office of Thacher Proffitt & Wood, has been appointed North Carolina's Commissioner of Banks by Governor Mike Easley. Smith will replace Hal Lingerfelt, who is retiring this spring. The position is effective June 1 of this year. He joined Thacher Proffitt in two years ago and has specialized in advising banks, thrift institutions and other financial services firms with regard to mergers and acquisitions, complex financing transactions and asset securitizations. Previously, he was general counsel and secretary for Centura Banks, Inc. and Centura Bank in Rocky Mount, N.C.