Wells River Savings Appoints Judy Lavely Chief Operating Officer

Wells River Savings Appoints Judy Lavely Chief Operating Officer
WELLS RIVER, VT-Frank Tilghman, Executive Vice President of Wells River Savings, has announced the promotion of Judy Lavely to Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In making the announcement, Tilghman said, "With the addition of our new offices and the increasing importance of electronic banking, we felt that it was important to bring on a COO who will oversee all operations. Judy, who's been with us for four years, has such a broad background in banking-including as an operations officer-that we knew she'd be the ideal person to step into this new position."
Lavely has more than three decades of experience in working at Vermont banks, and has worked in virtually every facet of retail banking industry. She began her career as a customer service representative and loan assistant, and has served as branch manager, loan officer, operations officer, and vice president of retail lending. She has also served as product manager for a banking software company.
"I'm very excited about having the opportunity to look at the 'big picture' and bring the deposit and loan sides of our business together to ensure we're providing our customers with the best possible products and service," said Lavely. "Much of what I do as COO may not be immediately visible to customers. However, my long-term goal is to help Wells River Savings continue to be the best, most responsive and technologically sophisticated bank in the region, while never losing sight of our position as local residents' good neighbor bank."
Tilghman added, "At a time when the management of so many banks is far removed from their service areas, we feel it's important to promote from within and have a locally-based COO. Having staff who really know and understand our customers and the communities we serve makes a huge difference in the way we do business."
A locally owned and operated bank that has been serving the region for more than 175 years, Wells Rivers Savings currently has two offices on Main Street in Wells River, Vermont plus branches in Bradford, Fairlee, Newbury and East Thetford, Vermont.