PROVIDENCE – James V. DeRentis, executive vice president and chief business officer of Bancorp Rhode Island Inc. (Nasdaq: BARI), will be leaving the company on April 3.

BancorpRI, the Providence-based parent company of Bank Rhode Island, announced his resignation in a brief news release this afternoon.

No reason was given for his departure, but the statement said he will continue to serve the company as a part-time consultant, with a focus on business development and marketing.

“Jim has played a large role in helping to grow BankRI from a relatively unknown startup in 1996 to a robustly capitalized commercial and retail institution with more than $1.5 billion in assets,” said Merrill W. Sherman, president and CEO of BankRI and its parent company.

“We are proud of his accomplishments and wish Jim all the best with his pending career change,” she said, adding: “He intends to publicly say more about his planned endeavors in the near future.”

The company said DeRentis’ responsibilities will be assumed by current executive management.

DeRentis is the second senior executive to depart from BancorpRI in recent months. William DeWitt, the company’s former senior vice president of marketing and communications, left the bank in January. (READ MORE)

Bancorp Rhode Island Inc. (Nasdaq: BARI), based in Providence, is the parent of Bank Rhode Island, a state-chartered, FDIC-insured institution with 16 branches in Providence, Kent and Washington counties. Additional information about BankRI and its parent company is available at BankRI.com.