Primmer is pleased to announce that attorney Mark Scribner has joined the law firm. With over 20 years of legal experience, Mark concentrates his practice in the areas of financial services, banking, business transactions, real estate and securities law. He advises banking and non-banking financial institution clients on a broad range of legal issues, including commercial and consumer lending, financing and investment transactions, and loan restructurings.

St Michael’s College biology professor and chairperson of environmental studies, Dr. Valerie Banschbach of Jericho, learned Feb. 21, 2013, that she has been named a U. S. Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Banschbach will spend five months in India starting in the fall of 2013 teaching and researching organic versus conventional farms, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India.

Howard Schapiro, MD, an anesthesiologist at Fletcher Allen Health Care and associate professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, has been selected to serve as interim president of the UVM Medical Group and interim senior associate dean of Clinical Affairs at the College. He will serve in these roles while a national search is conducted to replace Paul Taheri, MD, MBA who recently left for a leadership position at Yale University.

Deborah Wachtel, ANP, MPH, MS recently joined Susanne Trost, MD at Central Vermont Medical Center’s Central Vermont Endocrinology practice.

The practice of endocrinology includes internal (endocrine) glands, such as thyroid, adrenal glands and pituitary. Conditions treated include polycystic ovary disease, osteoporosis, menstrual and gonadal problems and diabetes. The practice offers advanced technologies for diabetes patients such as insulin pump treatment and continuous glucose monitoring.

New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares, Inc. (the "Company") (NASDAQ: NHTB), the holding company for Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb (the "Bank"), today announced that Stephen W. Ensign will retire as an employee of the Company and the Bank, effective April 30, 2013. Mr. Ensign, who is in his 42nd year with the Bank, will continue to serve as the Chairman of the Boards of Directors for both the Company and the Bank.