Harry D. Madonna Named Interim Chief
Executive Officer and Executive Board
Chair
Harris
Wildstein re-appointed Lead Independent
Director
Andrew
Cohen appointed to Audit Committee
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 9, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- Republic First Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRBK)
(the "Company"), the parent company of Republic First Bank d/b/a
Republic Bank (the "Bank"), today announced that founder and former
CEO and Board Chair, Harry D. Madonna,
Esquire has been named Interim Chief Executive Officer of
the Company, effective immediately. He will also hold
the role of Executive Chair of the Company's Board of Directors
(the "Board"). These changes come on the heels of the
departure of Vernon W. Hill, Jr. as
CEO, who, together with Barry
Spevak, resigned from the boards of the Company and the Bank
today. Mr. Madonna has pledged to maximize value for all
constituents.
Mr. Madonna concluded: "I am honored to be entrusted to the task
of moving forward in this new and changing
environment. We are entering a critical phase in the
evolution of the institution and I and the Board are eager to
return to our primary tasks of optimizing the Company's and the
Bank's performance and providing stability and value to all of our
stakeholders."
Harris Wildstein has been
re-appointed as Lead Independent Director of the
Board. Mr. Wildstein said "We are thrilled to continue
forging forward on the changes started last month, further aligning
management, leadership and the Company with its shareholders,
employees and other stakeholders. With recent addition
of Benjamin C. Duster, IV to the
Board and as Chair of the Audit Committee, and Harry Madonna's return, we believe we have put
in place a team that well-recognizes its fiduciary duties to all of
its constituents and will focus on both the short-term and
long-term future of the Company and the Bank."
Given the resignation of Mr. Spevak from the Boards of the Bank
and the Company, Andrew B. Cohen, an
accomplished financial manager, has been named as the third member
of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Madonna has more than 30 years of banking experience,
founding Republic Bank in 1988. He has served as President and CEO
of Republic First Bancorp, Inc., Republic Bank's holding company
since 2001, Chair from 1988 to 2016, Interim Board Chair commencing
in July of 2022, and President of the Bank from 2001 to 2010. From
2002 to 2005, he was of counsel to Spector
Gadon & Rosen, PC, and a partner of Blank Rome LLP from
1980 to 2001.
Mr. Wildstein was a co-founder of the Company and the Bank and
has served on the Company and Bank Boards since 1988. He is
the President of HVW, Inc. and President at R&S Imports Ltd.
Mr. Cohen is the Chief Investment Officer and Co-founder of Cohen
Private Ventures which invests long-term capital, primarily in
direct private investments and
other opportunistic transactions, and manages family
office activities, on behalf of Steven A.
Cohen and his family. Mr. Cohen is the Vice Chairman,
member of the board of directors, and a minority owner of the New
York Mets Baseball Club, as well as a member of the board of
directors of several other public and private companies including
Laureate Education, Inc.
About Republic
Bank
Republic Bank is the operating name for Republic First Bank.
Republic First Bank is a full-service, state-chartered commercial
bank, whose deposits are insured up to the applicable limits by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The Bank provides
diversified financial products through its 34 offices located in
Atlantic, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey; Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania and New York County in
New York. The bank also offers a
wide range of residential mortgage products through its mortgage
division, Oak Mortgage Company. For more information about Republic
Bank, please visit www.myrepublicbank.com.
Forward Looking
Statements
The Company may from time to time make written or oral
"forward-looking statements", including statements contained in
this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). These forward-looking
statements include statements with respect to the Company's
beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations,
estimates, and intentions that are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors,
many of which are beyond the Company's control. These factors
include competition, timing, credit risks of lending activities,
changes in general economic conditions, price pressures on loan and
deposit products, and other factors detailed from time to time in
the Company's filings with the SEC. The words "may", "could",
"should", "would", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect",
"intend", "plan", and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. All such statements are made in
good faith by the Company pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The
Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement,
whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or
on behalf of the Company, except as may be required by applicable
law or regulations.
Important Additional
Information
The Company intends to file a proxy statement and may file a
proxy card with the SEC in connection with the Company's 2022
Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "2022 Annual Meeting") and, in
connection therewith, the Company, certain of its directors and
executive officers will be participants in the solicitation of
proxies from the Company's shareholders in connection with such
meeting. SHAREHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO
READ SUCH PROXY STATEMENT, ACCOMPANYING PROXY CARD AND ALL OTHER
DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN
THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION
ABOUT THE 2022 ANNUAL MEETING. The Company's definitive proxy
statement for the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders contains
information regarding the direct and indirect interests, by
security holdings or otherwise, of the Company's directors and
executive officers in the Company's securities. Information
regarding subsequent changes to their holdings of the Company's
securities can be found in the SEC filings on Forms 3, 4, and 5,
which are available on the Company's website
at http://investors.myrepublicbank.com/ or through the
SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Information can also be found in the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2020 on file with the
SEC. Updated information regarding the identity of potential
participants, and their direct or indirect interests, by security
holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the definitive proxy
statement and other materials to be filed with the SEC in
connection with the 2022 Annual Meeting. Shareholders will be able
to obtain the definitive proxy statement, any amendments or
supplements to the proxy statement and other documents filed by the
Company with the SEC at no charge at the SEC's website at
www.sec.gov. Copies will also be available at no charge at the
Company's website
at http://investors.myrepublicbank.com.
CONTACT:
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David Neff
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Michael
Gaimari
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|
Neff
|
Neff
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C:
215-681-6333
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C:
609-805-6433
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E:
dn@neffknows.com
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E:
mg@neffknows.com
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SOURCE Republic Bank