The string of credit union CEOs who lose their jobs after they lead their institutions to change to bank charters continues.
The latest executive to lose his position is Thomas DiBenedetto, who stepped down from his position as chief operating officer with Haverhill Bank, according to the North Andover, Massachusetts Eagle-Tribune. The resignation came just over a year after DiBenedetto's Northeast Community Credit Union changed to a bank charter and immediately merged with Haverhill Bank.
Both financial institutions were headquartered in Haverhill and Haverhill Bank claimed to be the oldest mutual or cooperative bank in Massachusetts.
The two announced the deal in July 2007, but because it was the first one to have gone through a procedure that was specifically allowed under Massachusetts laws and regulations, the final member ballot approving it did not take place until October of 2008, with the final conversion completing soon after.
At the time, DiBenedetto reported that roughly 22% of the credit union's 9,000 members cast ballots in the voting but did not reveal the contests margin of victory.
The Eagle-Tribune reported that DiBenedetto had been in line to become bank CEO but that the bank's loss of $1.5 million in 2009 prompted a leadership shakeup.
