It will mark the end of an era at Webster Bank when James C. Smith, son of the Waterbury bank’s founder, retires this spring after more than 30 years in leadership roles at the Waterbury bank. Smith, 71, has been non-executive chairman of the bank’s parent company, Webster Financial Corp. (NYSE: WBS), since retiring as […]
It will mark the end of an era at Webster Bank when James C. Smith, son of the Waterbury bank’s founder, retires this spring after more than 30 years in leadership roles at the Waterbury bank.
Smith, 71, has been non-executive chairman of the bank’s parent company, Webster Financial Corp. (NYSE: WBS), since retiring as CEO two years ago. He had been the bank’s president from 1987 to 1995, when he was named CEO.
His father, the late Harold Webster Smith, founded First Federal Savings of Waterbury in 1935, which was renamed after him when he retired in 1995.
In the culmination of a transition plan two year in the making, John R. Ciulla, 54, who succeeded James Smith as CEO in 2018, will assume Smith’s chairman role at the company’s 2020 shareholder meeting in April.
Smith called Ciulla a “principled leader” who has “ably demonstrated his leadership skills, strategic acumen and responsible stewardship of the values that define Webster.
Webster Financial had $30.39 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31. The bank has 157 branches and offices across southern New England and New York with the bulk of them, 112, in Connecticut. Webster is the second-largest Connecticut-headquartered bank by deposits.
Smith is not exactly riding off into the sunset. Last spring, Gov. Ned Lamont named Smith co-chair of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center.
* * *
Albertus Magnus College President Marc M. Camille, Ed.D., has been elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU), a national policy organization serving as a unified voice for private, nonprofit higher education. Camille’s term concludes in February 2023.
* * *
New Haven law firm of Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey LLP has elected Richard L. Street managing partner. Previously Street was assistant managing partner and practice group leader of the firm’s litigation group.
Street joined the firm as an associate in 1993 and made partner in 2001. He is a trial lawyer with substantial experience representing energy companies and other businesses in land use, catastrophic personal injury and construction litigation matters.
Street earned his JD from Duke University School of Law and AB cum laude from Hamilton College. He is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association, Waterbury Bar Association, New Haven Bar Association and the Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association.
