United Adds Four Commercial Bankers in Western Mass.

GLASTONBURY, Conn. — William Crawford IV, CEO of United Financial Bancorp Inc. and United Bank of Glastonbury, Conn., announced that United Bank has added four more senior-level commercial bankers to join the bank, this time strategic hires for the Greater Springfield commercial banking team.

This is the second major announcement United Bank has made in the past week regarding a successful recruitment of a team of top commercial bankers who are widely known in their respective markets and who bring with them decades of commercial banking experience and a strong commitment to the community.

On the heels of last week’s announcement of a commercial team from Santander, N.A. hired to cover the Greater Worcester market, United has recruited the following bankers from People’s United Bank to cover the Greater Springfield region: Dan Flynn, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Wholesale Banking; Tony Liberopoulos, senior vice president and commercial banking regional executive; and Rick Rabideau, senior vice president and commercial banking team leader. The fourth key hire for United Bank in the Greater Springfield market is Sheryl McQuade, senior vice president and Massachusetts senior credit officer.

“Just like we said when we announced our Worcester commercial-banking team last week, our goal is to make Greater Springfield a robust commercial growth market for United,” Crawford said. “The individuals we recruited, in conjunction with our commercial teammates we already have covering the market, along with Dena Hall, our Western Massachusetts regional president, will position us to achieve great success in this region of Massachusetts.”

Flynn will report to David Paulson, executive vice president and head of Wholesale Banking. His primary role will be to drive numerous enterprise-wide commercial-banking functions for United’s wholesale-banking team. He will have oversight of United’s Greater Springfield commercial banking operations, as well as management responsibilities for the bank’s shared-national-credit business and all business-banking teams.

Most recently, Flynn was senior vice president and market manager at People’s United Bank, primarily for Western Mass., for seven years, where he was responsible for managing and coordinating all aspects of C&I lending activities. In his previous roles at People’s United, he held similar responsibilities for managing and coordinating all aspects of a significant C&I portfolio in the Central Mass., Western Mass., and Vermont markets. Before People’s United acquired Bank of Western Massachusetts, Flynn was executive vice president and senior lender from 1989 to 2009 for the Bank of Western Massachusetts.

Liberopoulos, who will be directly responsible for United Bank’s commercial-banking practice in Greater Springfield, brings 27 years of commercial-banking experience, most recently holding the position of senior vice president and regional manager for People’s United Bank in Springfield. He also spent more than a decade at Fleet Bank and BayBank in various positions, including underwriting, loan resolution, and lending.

Rabideau also comes to United from People’s United Bank, where he most recently served as senior vice president and team leader. He will take on a dual responsibility with United as a commercial banking officer, focusing on developing and growing commercial-banking opportunities as well as a player-coach role in leading and mentoring other teammates on the commercial team.

Rabideau’s career in banking started in 1986 with Shawmut Bank, where he was a commercial banker from 1988 to 1996. He then joined First International Bank/UPS Capital, eventually ascending to senior vice president with the key responsibility of managing 10 lenders who made up the Springfield and Hartford market lending units. In 2008, he joined People’s United Bank.

“Dan, Tony and Rick not only bring a proven record of developing and maintaining profitable business development opportunities but they have deep personal and professional ties to the community,” Crawford said. “They are a perfect complement to what we are trying to do in the Greater Springfield region as a commercial bank and a good corporate citizen.”

McQuade has more than 25 years of corporate and commercial banking experience, most recently serving as senior vice president, commercial regional leader for Berkshire Bank, where she was responsible for all commercial teams and production in Connecticut. She worked for Bank of America and predecessor banks in a variety of senior production and credit roles for the business-banking, middle-market, and corporate-banking divisions.