New Commercial Banking President

Sovereign Bank has announced the appointment of Garden City resident Thomas A. Iadanza as Commercial Banking President of its Metro New York-New Jersey Division. In his new post, he will be responsible for all of Sovereign's Commercial Banking activities in New York and New Jersey.

With 25 years of experience in commercial banking in the metropolitan region, Iadanza has been Executive Vice President of the bank's New York Commercial Banking Group, responsible for business banking in New York City and on Long Island. He became part of Sovereign in June 2006 upon its acquisition of Independence Community Bank which Iadanza had joined in 2004.

Brendan Dugan, Chairman and CEO of Sovereign's Metro NY-NJ Division, said, "Over the past few years, Tom has helped us assemble a skilled group of business banking professionals who have strong ties to the metropolitan region. His expanded leadership role will enable us to effectively compete in this highly competitive market."

Thomas Iadanza said, "Our commercial relationship managers have greater resources and a strong and growing array of products available to make it possible to provide quality service to business customers of all sizes, from the micro-sized 'mom and pop' business to middle market enterprises."

Iadanza was a managing director in Citibank's Commercial Markets group before joining Independence. He directed the Citibank's Manhattan, Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut corporate lending groups, developing an $800 million loan portfolio and managing $1 billion in related deposits. Idanza came to Citibank when it acquired European American Bank (EAB) where he had been senior vice president responsible for the bank's Corporate and Real Estate Lending groups. In that capacity, he developed and managed the bank's corporate and real estate asset and deposit strategy throughout the entire metropolitan area and was a voting member of EAB's Credit Policy Committee. Iadanza began his career in banking in 1980 at National Bank of North America, an institution acquired by National Westminster Bank, where the managed the bank's Structured Finance and Health Care specialty units and was responsible for the NatWest SBIC and Equity Corporation.

Iadanza is a board member of Prospect Park Alliance and St. John's Cemetery and is also active in a number of other community organizations. A graduate of St. John's University with a Bachelor of Science in accounting, he resides in Garden City, with his wife, Sandy, and their three children.