HarborOne's Greater Boston team includes, upper step, left to right: Gregg Dennison, VP Business Service Officer; George Drugas, VP Small Business Banking Team Leader; middle step, left to right: Kim Norng, AVP Branch Officer Cambridge; Sarah K. Doracaj, AVP Branch Officer Brighton (Cleveland Circle); floor, left to right: Drew Grandi, Regional Branch Manager HarborOne Mortgage; Ruslan Kagramanov, VP Branch Officer Brookline; Alejandra Vasquez, AVP Branch Officer Brighton (Commonwealth Avenue); Barry Aldorisio, Mortgage Loan Officer HarborOne Mortgage.
Three of the branches HarborOne Bank acquired from Rockland Trust have now opened, doubling the Brockton-based bank’s footprint in the metropolitan Boston area. And key members of their leadership team are being drawn from former Century Bank staff.
The locations that opened on Dec. 13 in Brighton, Brookline and Cambridge are former East Boston Savings Bank branches that closed following last month’s merger with Rockland Trust.
After announcing plans to close 18 branches, including 16 East Boston Savings locations, as part of the merger, Rockland Trust agreed to sell eight of those branches – four to HarborOne and four to Chelsea-based Metro Credit Union.
HarborOne’s new branches are at 1952-1956 Beacon St. in Cleveland Circle in Brighton, 1739 Massachusetts Ave in Porter Square in Cambridge and 473 Harvard St. in Brookline. Another former East Boston Savings Bank branch at 1608 Commonwealth Ave in Brighton was also acquired by HarborOne.
“We’re excited to offer the people who live and work in these thriving neighborhoods, and businesses small and large, a new choice in state-of-the-art personal and business banking,” James Blake, CEO of HarborOne Bank, said in a statement. He added: “We are excited to expand our Greater Boston presence and extend our commitment to customers in these new markets.”
HarborOne opened its first Boston branch on Broad Street in 2019 after opening a loan production office at the same location in 2018. The bank opened branches in Quincy and South Boston over the last year. The Boston area locations have generated more than $370 million in loans outstanding and $100 million in deposit relationships, HarborOne said in the statement.
“The banking sector in Massachusetts is undergoing rapid changes caused by mergers and acquisitions of community banks,” Joseph Casey, HarborOne Bank president and chief operating officer, said in the statement. “We believe our commitment to the communities we serve, our experience as hands-on neighborhood bankers, and the high quality of our consultative banking services across the board offer the kind of experience that individuals, families and businesses want.”
HarborOne has hired Keith Pauletti as vice president and regional manager of the Boston metro branches. Pauletti came from Century Bank, which was recently acquired by Eastern Bank, where he was regional manager and vice president in Century Bank’s East region.
Two branch managers at the new locations also came from Century Bank, according to their LinkedIn profiles: Sarah Doracaj, now branch manager of the Cleveland Circe location, and Kim Norng, branch manager in Porter Square.
While Rockland Trust retained the customer accounts associated with the four locations, the agreement called for HarborOne and Metro Credit Union to offer jobs to any branch employees who wanted to continue working at the locations.
Ruslan Kagramanov, previously with East Boston Savings Bank, continues his role as branch manager of the Brookline location. Alejandra Vasquez, most recently with Citizens Bank, will be branch manager of the Commonwealth Avenue location.
Before expanding into the Boston area, HarborOne’s footprint covered Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The bank now has about 30 branches and $4.5 billion in total assets.
