Incoming Rockville Bank CEO William H.W. “Bill” Crawford IV has aggressive growth plans for the community bank with $1.7 billion in assets.
With $171 million in freshly raised capital, Crawford said he sees the Vernon-based lender growing to $3 billion to $5 billion in assets over the next three to five years.
That will likely include organic growth through new branches and increased lending, as well as acquisitions to expand the bank’s footprint across the state.
“I view Rockville Bank as an acquirer,” Crawford said in a recent interview.
Crawford, who most recently worked at Wells Fargo in Virginia, will take over the reins of CEO April 26 from William J. McGurk, Rockville Bank’s longtime chief executive who is retiring.
Crawford said he doesn’t envision any major changes at the bank, other than the deployment of capital the bank recently raised in a stock offering. Besides that, Crawford said, he plans to continue to grow the strengths of the brand, which has included financial discipline, a focus on customer service and a penchant for creating public awareness.
Does that strategy include being in the public eye as much as his predecessor? Sort of, Crawford said.
“I’ll be very much in public interacting with customers, communities and investors,” said Crawford, who noted that on his first day on the job earlier this year he shot a TV commercial and did live radio. “Will I be there as much as Bill McGurk? I don’t know if anyone can really measure up to that.”
Of course McGurk, who has been with the bank since 1980, will be staying on at the company in a non-executive role for two more years as vice chairman of public affairs. In that role, he will continue to star in commercials and do other public relations work.
At Wells Fargo, Crawford was regional vice president of commercial banking in eastern Virginia. Prior to that, he had stints at Wachovia Bank and SouthTrust Corp.
Crawford, who will hold a bank’s top spot for the first time, said he decided he wanted to be a chief executive in 2008 when he saw the effects of the financial crisis.
“When I look back at the number of mistakes that were made and how bad things got, I wanted the opportunity to be at the head of the ship,” Crawford said.
Now that he’s there, he’s playing a key role in the bank’s growth strategy, working with company officials on developing a strategic plan.
Earlier this year, the bank converted from a mutual holding company to a fully public institution, raising about $171 million in a stock offering. That capital infusion will spur acquisitions or other growth opportunities, bank officials said.
Crawford wouldn’t tip his hand on potential acquisition targets, but there are community banks in Connecticut searching for a partner as increased costs related to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law is making it harder for small financial institutions to do business.
Crawford said he also expects Rockville Bank to add to its 21 branch network and increase commercial lending.
In terms of the competitive landscape, Crawford said the bank sees good opportunity to steal market share away from NewAlliance Bank, which has been acquired by and will soon be rebranded as First Niagara Bank, a financial institution based in Buffalo N.Y.
Besides that, Crawford said the most pressing concern will be riding out these times of economic uncertainty. “It’s still a tough environment and unemployment is way too high,” Crawford said. “We have to maintain good financial discipline.”
