BROOKLINE, Mass. – Brookline Bancorp Inc. is undergoing a change near the top.
Brookline, which has agreed to purchase Bancorp Rhode Island Inc. in a $234 million deal that is expected to close by year’s end, says it has appointed a new chief financial officer and treasurer.
Julie A. Gerschick will succeed Paul Bechet, who is retiring after serving as Brookline’s CFO since 1997. The bank said Bechet will remain with the company through early 2012 in part because of the acquisition of BancorpRI, the parent of Bank Rhode Island.
Brookline said Gerschick is founder and president of The Andover Group Inc., a specialized consulting firm that provides advisory services to large and mid-sized financial institutions, the Federal Home Loan Bank, and other companies.
She also worked as an audit and consulting partner at KPMG in Washington, D.C., as senior vice president for Great Lakes Bancorp, and as a fellow at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, D.C.
Last month, Brookline posted a second-quarter profit of $7 million, slightly lower than the $7.08 million from the same period a year earlier.
