Provident Bank expands commercial lending team with key hires

Provident Bank, a leading New Jersey-based financial institution, said Monday it recently welcomed four new members to its commercial lending team to support the bank’s plans to grow its commercial deposits and loan portfolio.

Lee Ehudin and Adam Kuras have joined the bank as first vice presidents/commercial lending team leaders for Provident’s North Jersey region. Both Kuras and Ehudin are responsible for managing their respective teams of commercial lending relationship managers and lending specialists to provide creative commercial loan, deposit and wealth management solutions to meet the needs of small to midsized companies across the Provident Bank footprint. Both Kuras and Ehudin will also manage a loan portfolio and service the lending needs of existing clients.

Ehudin has more than 15 years’ experience in commercial lending, and most recently served as vice president, senior commercial loan officer, at ConnectOne Bank.

Kuras has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services and most recently served as first senior vice president, chief lending officer, with Unity Bank.

Provident also announced that Nick Mileo has joined the bank as vice president, commercial lending relationship manager for the Metro commercial lending team. He is responsible for originating, evaluating and structuring complex loan requests and transactions for the metro New York/New Jersey market. He will also work closely with accounting firms, law firms, intermediaries and trade associations to source new business.

Mileo has more than 15 years’ experience in banking and most recently served as director, business banking, at Capital One Bank. Mileo holds an MBA with a concentration in finance and a Bachelor of Science with a concentration in accounting.

In addition, Provident welcomed John Reda as a relationship manager for the Bank’s SBA lending team. Reda is responsible for soliciting credit-worthy prospects and customers in an effort to develop new business, increase and retain existing business within the framework of the policy and procedures of the bank and SBA loan programs. He will also promote profitable growth of the loan portfolio and ensure an exceptional customer experience.

Reda has several years’ experience in financial services and most recently served as a franchise sales specialist at Advantage Capital/First Bank of the Lake, Osage Beach, Missouri. Prior to that, he served as an internship analyst at Nova Capital Global Partners Investment Bank, New York.

“I am pleased to welcome Lee, Adam, Nick and John to the team. Each brings with them a distinct skill set, along with extensive knowledge of our markets and the lending needs of businesses,” said Steve Guidette, market president, NJ & NY Commercial Lending. “They understand our business strategy and know what is needed to drive results and deliver best-in-class banking solutions to our clients.”