Ohio regional lender KeyBank named James R. Barger to head its Connecticut/Massachusetts banking market, effective July 22.
Barger, previously market president and sales leader in KeyBank’s Rochester, N.Y., market since 2013, succeeds Jeff L. Hubbard, who will remain through Aug. 1 before leaving KeyBank to pursue other opportunities, a KeyBank spokesperson said Monday.
Based in New Haven, KeyBank’s northeast turf covers Connecticut and Massachusetts, via the Boston and Springfield markets.
A Boston native and Navy veteran who has spent the last 26 years in banking, Barger began his banking career at M&T Bank as a commercial loan officer in Buffalo, N.Y. He joined in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2004.
He has a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Cornell University. He sits on the boards of the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester Preparatory Charter School and the Greater Rochester Enterprise, among others.
Barger will relocate to Connecticut.
Hubbard, a Guilford native, was named Key’s Connecticut/Massachusetts president in Aug. 2016. He previously worked for First Niagara Bank. First Niagara sold off a batch of New England branches that KeyBank acquired to expand its Northeast presence.
Hubbard is co-vice chairman of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.
