FISI - Financial Institutions Inc. Announces Leadership Changes | Benzinga
WARSAW, N.Y., Dec. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) (the "Company"), parent company of Five Star Bank ("Five Star"), SDN Insurance Agency, LLC, and Courier Capital, LLC, today announced changes to its executive leadership team and an associated realignment to strengthen its ability to execute on its long-term strategy and risk functions.
Reid A. Whiting, who formerly served as Senior Vice President, Director of Indirect and Fintech Lending Solutions, was named Chief Banking Officer. This newly created position leverages Mr. Whiting's proven track record of executing on operational efficiency and process improvement during his tenures at both Five Star and Morgan Stanley, where he had global responsibility for a range of large-scale efficiency and regulatory change initiatives. As Chief Banking Officer, he will oversee all consumer banking channels, including digital banking, the retail branch network and call center, along with consumer lending, residential mortgage and the Company's growing Banking-as-a-Service, or BaaS, line of business. Mr. Whiting will also join the executive leadership team as a direct report of President and CEO Martin K. Birmingham.
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Blake G. Jones, a 20-year marketing and communications veteran, was also appointed to the executive leadership team, reporting directly into Mr. Birmingham and her span of control has been expanded to include enterprise sales. Her elevation to the Company's executive ranks ensures that marketing, brand strategy and enterprise sales are aligned more closely with the Company's long-term strategy and better positioned to support the success of Five Star and its affiliates.
Additionally, several executives will assume expanded leadership responsibilities, ensuring the Company is better situated to serve its internal and external stakeholders. The Company's operations, product, and technology areas will move under Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer W. Jack Plants II, leveraging Mr. ...