Falvey steps down as president and CEO of Bank of New Hampshire

LACONIA — Paul J. Falvey has resigned as president and chief executive officer of the Bank of New Hampshire, citing personal reasons for his departure after leading the financial institution through three years of dramatic growth.

Falvey, 55, stressed in an interview Saturday that the bank is in excellent shape.

Bank Vice President Michael Seymour reiterated that message and said that until a permanent successor is found, Falvey will be replaced by Michael J. Long, a member of the bank’s board of directors and the retired president and chief executive officer of Community Guaranty Savings Bank in Plymouth.That financial institution was acquired by the Bank of New Hampshire in 2016.

Falvey resigned Friday, effective immediately, and plans to relocate from Gilford to southeastern Massachusetts to be closer to family, Seymour said.

Falvey leaves during a time when the coronavirus pandemic has created tremendous uncertainty throughout the economy along with great demands on the bank as its employees work around the clock to administer Payroll Protection Loans backed by the federal Small Business Administration.

There has been huge demand for these loans from companies struggling to survive while wide swaths of the economy have been shut down by measures intended to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The federal loan program appeared to have some initial growing pains, but some of those loans have now been accepted, with actual funding expected in a matter of days.

“Everything going on in the world causes all of us to reflect a little,” Falvey said. “I came to the bank with a mission to really improve the bank in a number of ways. We really have achieved that. In a number of respects, the bank is in great shape and is performing very well.

“We grew up in the South Shore. We thought this was a good time to relocate and let another leader come in right now.”

He said he’s proud of what the bank has accomplished during his tenure. He said he plans to take at least six months to consider other possible opportunities.

“The bank is in terrific shape in all respects,” he said. “It’s a good time for me to step away.”

The bank completed its 188th year on June 30th, 2019.

In the bank’s 2019 annual report, Falvey stated that it had a strong year with record earnings, assets and loans.

“Net loans increased by $114 million or 9%,” he said “Wealth Management assets under management increased by 12% and bank earnings increased by 25% to $12.6 million, a high water mark for the bank.

“Equally important, we continued to see improvement in our overall performance trends consistent with the plans we put in place two years ago. The strategy is to remain independent and focused on customer service and financial performance. Bank of New Hampshire’s financial performance is now consistently ranked at or above the median performance for regional peers. The bank tied for first in overall bank performance rankings in New Hampshire as of the third quarter of 2018.”