Eastern Bank, Webster Five and RE/MAX are featured in this week’s roundup of organizations announcing changes to personnel.

Katherine Castro

Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank has hired Katherine Castro as vice president and mortgage loan originator in its home and finance department. Castro will work out of the Lawrence office, originating loans in the Merrimack Valley area. Prior to joining Eastern Bank, Castro was assistant vice president and mortgage loan officer with Pentucket Bank. She also served as an assistant branch manager at Pentucket.

The bank also hired Catherine Scherer as vice president and commercial real estate relationship manager. Scherer, who works out of Eastern Bank’s Lynn Fells office in Saugus, most recently worked as vice president and commercial lending officer at Beverly Bank.

Fort Hill Companies

Fort Hill Companies LLC, a full-service architectural, engineering and urban planning firm with offices in Massachusetts and Florida, today announced the addition of Jamie Simchik as principal planner in its Fort Hill Places division. Based in Boston, Simchik will lead urban planning, transportation planning, real estate advisory services, project management and business development for the division. Prior to this current role, he was principal of Simchik Planning & Development.

Peter Bakkala

Needham Bank

Needham Bank has hired Peter Bakkala as the new senior vice president of risk management. Bakkala has more than 30 years of experience in risk management, audit and compliance. Most recently, he was president of government and professionals banking at Citizens Bank.

Plimoth Investment Advisors

Plimoth Investment Advisors announced the appointment of Louis E. Sousa to the position of senior vice president and chief investment officer. In this role, Sousa will be responsible for the oversight of the investment management process, directing research activities and developing asset allocation strategies for current and existing clients. Sousa was a founding member of the investment office at Wellesley College in 2002, where he spent 10 years as a member of the team managing the college endowment. He later went on to manage marketable equities and hedge fund strategies for Williams College.

RE/MAX Leading Edge

RE/MAX Leading Edge has added The Covelle & Cohen Greater Boston Real Estate Team, led by Erica Covelle and Mike Cohen, to its roster of agents. Cohen and Covelle have nearly 20 years of combined real estate experience, and both worked at Century 21 Commonwealth.

Roberta Parker

Rollstone Bank & Trust

Roberta Parker has been named senior vice president of retail lending at Rollstone Bank & Trust. She joined RBT in 2004 and, in her 12 years there, has held a number of roles in the lending division, including credit analyst, commercial loan officer and mortgage officer.

Sagan Realtors

Barry Livingston has joined Sagan Realtors, where he will focus his efforts on luxury rentals as well as residential and commercial properties in Marblehead, Swampscott, Lynn and Salem as well as surrounding communities north of Boston.

STV | DPM

Project management firm STV | DPM has hired Justin Tierney as director of business development. He will lead the Newton office’s business development initiatives for the corporate, life science and high tech/R&D business segments. Prior to joining to STV|DPM, Tierney worked for some of New England’s top construction management firms.

Ryan O’Hearn

Webster Five

Webster Five Cents Savings Bank has named Ryan O’Hearn mortgage loan originator. O’Hearn has 11 years of experience working in mortgage, consumer and business lending, most recently at TD Bank for three years as mortgage loan originator. He has worked in various locations and assisted a variety of communities within central Massachusetts.