Bank of Princeton makes management changes

By Lauren Otis / Staff Writer
   PRINCETON — After 17 months in operation, a senior management shakeup has hit The Bank of Princeton, the Princeton-based community bank.
   Peter Crowley, one of the Bank of Princeton’s founding investors, and its president and chief executive officer since inception has left, as has Gerard Murray, formerly the bank’s executive vice president and senior lender. The departures were discussed in a Sept. 4 letter to shareholders by Stephen Distler, chairman of the Bank of Princeton.
   "After capably founding and initiating the bank’s activities, Peter Crowley has moved on to tackle other career challenges," Mr. Distler said in the Sept. 4 letter. Mr. Murray "chose to return to his home region of Ocean County and joined a non-competing bank," he said.
   Mr. Distler and Mr. Crowley did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Mr. Murray could not be reached.
   In the letter, Mr. Distler said he had assumed the role of chief executive officer at the bank, and Martin Melilli had assumed the role of president. Mr. Melilli most recently spent four years at Synergy Bank in Cranford where he led a commercial lending department, and prior to that spent 14 years at Summit Bank and its successor, Mr. Distler said.
   Herb Schneider, senior vice president and senior lender at the Bank of Princeton, will take on the role of chief lending officer, according to Mr. Distler.
   "The sum and substance of these changes will be to tighten and better coordinate TBOP’s senior management and to carefully plan for our continued growth," Mr. Distler said in the letter to shareholders.
   For the six months ended June 30, Mr. Distler reported that the Bank of Princeton had a net loss of $1.25 million on net income of a little over $1 million. The bank had total assets of $114.5 million, deposits of $87.4 million, total gross loans outstanding of $57 million and capital of $26.7 million, Mr. Distler said in the letter.
   "Our lending window remains open and our loan pipeline is strong," Mr. Distler said. He added that the bank will be able to tighten lending standards and increase rates in the face of more lending opportunities created as other banks retrench. "As the housing industry nears a bottom, and with many existing lenders exiting the residential mortgage market, we are contemplating a cautious entry into this business," he said.
   Mr. Distler told shareholders that the new Bank of Princeton headquarters branch, located at 183 Bayard Lane in Princeton, is nearing completion and should be open in late October.