Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has hired James Brown as the company’s senior vice president, head of commercial banking and Philip Jurgeleit as its executive vice president, chief credit officer.
Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the parent company of Berkshire Bank, which is headquartered in Boston and has locations across Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It was started in Pittsfield and in 2017, it acquired Worcester-based Commerce Bank & Trust Co.
Berkshire is the seventh largest bank in Central Massachusetts when ranked by local deposits, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank has $2 billion in local deposits and 14 Central Massachusetts branches, including locations in Marlborough, Westborough, Shrewsbury, Worcester, West Boylston, and Holden.
In his new position, Brown will oversee Berkshire’s commercial banking operations. He replaces George Bacigalupo, who started as the director of commercial/enterprise sales management on Jan. 1 and will hold the position through December, when he will retire, according to the Tuesday press release from Berkshire.
Jurgeleit will be charged with running the company’s credit underwriting, policy, and approval processes. He replaces Georgia Melas, who retired.
