Dime lands N.Y. banking vet to speed commercial transformation

A little more than two years after Community National Bank in Great Neck, N.Y., agreed to sell itself, Stuart H. Lubow, its former chairman and CEO, has jumped back into banking.

Dime Community Bancshares in Brooklyn, N.Y., announced late Thursday that it has named Lubow senior executive vice president and head of business banking. The $5.82 billion-asset Dime has historically focused on multifamily lending, but it recently announced plans to diversify its balance sheet. Its shift comes as banking regulators are expressing growing concerns about high concentrations of commercial real estate loans.

The addition of Lubow to its management team will drive Dime's evolution into a full-service commercial bank, President and CEO Kenneth J. Mahon said in a press release. Lubow "shares our values and focus on the customer and brings a unique skill set of starting and growing the commercial bank services necessary to producing an improved commercial-bank-like loan and deposit mix," said Mahon, who was recently named a Community Banker to Watch by American Banker.

Mr. Lubow will be joined by another Community National alumnus, Conrad Gunther, who was named executive vice president of business banking.

Lubow's roots in New York's banking market extend back to 1979, when he was hired as an assistant treasurer at Chase Manhattan Bank. He was tapped to lead Community National Bank in 2005. The $945 million-asset Community National agreed to sell itself to Bridge Bancorp of Bridgehampton, N.Y., for $141 million in stock in December 2014. The deal closed the following June. Prior to joining Community National, Lubow served as president and CEO at Community State Bank in Teaneck, N.J.