Banking Executive and Community Leader Brings 30 Years of Experience to The Nation’s First Credit Union

Manchester, NH – The Board of Directors of St. Mary’s Bank announced today that Ronald H. Covey, Jr. has been named the next President and CEO of the nation’s first credit union.

Covey brings more than 30 years of banking experience to his new position, most recently serving as Executive Vice President of Commercial Banking for Ocean Bank in New Hampshire and Maine. He will be the eighth President and CEO in St. Mary’s 100 year history, succeeding Ronald J. Rioux, who will be retiring at the end of January, 2009.

“For over a decade, Ron Rioux has embodied the spirit of St. Mary’s Bank, so when he announced his retirement, our board set out to find a successor who possessed not only the necessary banking experience, but a person who understood our core values of community-oriented and member-focused service,” said Ovide Lamontagne, Chairman of the Board. “Ronald Covey not only met this criteria, but his years of personal and professional dedication to the state’s banking industry and countless community organizations show he possesses the same community values of the members who originally founded St. Mary’s Bank.”

Covey’s previous work experience also includes senior management roles at Citizens Bank, Numerica Savings Bank and BankEast. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and received his MBA in Finance from Southern New Hampshire University.

He serves on the boards of the NH Daniel Webster Council, Boy Scouts of America, Robie’s Historic Preservation Foundation and as Vice Chairman of the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Covey also volunteers with a number of other business and community organizations across the state, including the NH Charitable Foundation, NH Bankers Association, NH Business and Industry Association and the NH High Tech Council among others.

Some of the early priorities Covey lists as part of his new role include a continued commitment to making loans available to members, particularly in this struggling economy; building on St. Mary’s mission to serve the ever-diversifying immigrant population of greater Manchester; and expanding technology to increase member convenience.

Covey is expected to join St. Mary’s in mid-December and will work closely with Rioux and the board on a transition plan. “Having just celebrated our 100th anniversary, I felt it was important to find a leader who could help set the stage for St. Mary’s growth in the next century and Ronald Covey is that person,” said Rioux.

Chairman Ovide Lamontagne lauded the significant accomplishments St. Mary’s Bank has enjoyed under Ron Rioux’s leadership and expressed optimism that Ron Covey can build upon Rioux’s achievements. “Since joining St. Mary’s in 1993, Ron Rioux has led tremendous growth, while strengthening the institution’s commitment to the community and the members it serves. During his tenure, St. Mary’s has merged with two credit unions, grown the branch network from three to eight and expanded to nearly 60,000 members,” Lamontagne noted.

“Ron Rioux was also instrumental in conceiving the idea of and bringing to reality America’s Credit Union Museum. Through the generous contribution of the Armand Lemire family in donating the property, Ron’s vision was realized when the Museum was opened in 2002 on the site of the original St. Mary’s Branch, with a mission to tell the history of our country’s credit union movement while embracing the future through education,” Lamontagne said.

“As outstanding as these accomplishments are, perhaps Ron Rioux’s most significant contribution is the establishment of a multi-year, multi-million dollar community outreach program that includes a grant option and a variety of loan programs designed to meet the different yet specific needs of the underserved. This program has been modified and strengthened over the years to meet identified needs in the community,” Lamontagne said.

Rioux is also credited with helping to establish a statewide, five-year, $35 million program based on a similar St. Mary’s program that offered fair and reasonable loan alternatives to low-to-moderate income New Hampshire families. St. Mary’s and other credit union across the state participated in the program which ended this past October and proved to be so successful that the institutions loaned $70 million, twice the amount originally committed.