The board of directors of New York Community Bancorp appointed Thomas R. Cangemi, the company’s current senior executive vice president and CFO, to the role of president and CEO of both New York Community Bancorp and New York Community Bank, effective Dec. 31. Cangemi also will become a director on both boards.
After 55 years of service, Joseph R. Ficalora will retire from his positions with the company and its subsidiaries, including his role as president, CEO and director. Ficalora’s retirement follows his banking career, the entirety of which was spent with New York Community and its predecessor bank, Queens County Savings Bank. Under his stewardship, the bank grew from below $1 billion in assets and eight branches in New York at the time of its IPO in 1993 to $55 billion in assets and 236 branches across five states today.
Cangemi joined New York Community in 2001 as part of the merger with Richmond County Financial, where he served as CFO. He was named senior executive vice president and CFO of New York Community Bancorp in 2005. Since joining the company, Cangemi has been responsible for a number of areas within finance, including strategic planning. Prior to Richmond County, he served as CFO at two New York-based community banks. Cangemi, who has 29 years of banking experience, started his career at KPMG, where he was a member of the financial services practice.
“Tom has been a valuable member of NYCB’s senior executive management team and has played an important role in the company’s growth and success,” Michael J. Levine, presiding director and chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee of New York Community Bancorp, said. “Having worked alongside Joe, Tom knows the bank extremely well and has a wide range of expertise and a demonstrated ability to deliver strong operating results. Tom is held in high regard inside of the organization and is well-respected by Wall Street analysts and the investment community. The board has the utmost confidence that he is the right person to assume the CEO role and looks forward to NYCB’s next chapter under his leadership.”
“I would like to thank the board and Joe for placing their confidence in me and I am honored to become our next president and CEO,” Cangemi said. “I am dedicated to working with our executive management team to develop ways to enhance our performance and evolve our business model while maintaining our conservative underwriting practices. I am also looking forward to working with all of our constituencies, including our board, employees, customers, regulators and the communities that we serve. Importantly, I am firmly committed to increasing shareholder value. It has been a privilege to have worked with Joe for the last 20 years and I am grateful for all of his contributions to the company. NYCB would not be the same organization we know today without his vision and leadership. He is retiring having built one of the top banks in the country.”
“The board and I appreciate Joe’s decades of service and dedication to the bank. He has been instrumental to the organization’s growth and success, and we wish him all the best in his retirement,” Levine said.
“I am thankful for the support and confidence shown to me by the board during my tenure as president and CEO,” Ficalora said. “I have worked closely with Tom for two decades and know that he, along with John Pinto and Robert Wann, our chief operating officer, will continue to do an excellent job guiding the company and serving our shareholders. As I transition, I would like to thank all of our employees for their tremendous work and dedication and I look forward to watching NYCB’s success for years to come.”
As part of this plan, the board appointed Pinto executive vice president and CFO. Pinto has been with the company for 20 years, most recently serving as executive vice president and chief accounting officer since April 2005. He joined the company in 2001 in connection with the Richmond County Financial merger and overall has 26 years of banking experience. Upon joining the company, he served as senior vice president and then first senior vice president in the capital markets group. Prior to Richmond County, he was at American Express Bank. He began his career at Ernst & Young, where he was a member of the financial services group.
“John’s appointment as our new chief financial officer is well deserved,” Cangemi said. “John and I have worked closely together for 22 years and he has been an integral part of our management team at NYCB since day one. I believe that he will do a fantastic job as our new CFO and I look forward to his continued contributions in his new role.”
