NBT Bancorp has added a new general counsel with extensive experience in the banking industry.

M Randolph “Randy” Sparks joins the company as executive vice president and general counsel where he will coordinate NBT’s legal activities, manage external legal counsel and assist in overseeing relations with regulatory agencies. 

Based at the company’s headquarters in Norwich, NY, Sparks was also named as a member of NBT’s executive management team and will be appointed corporate secretary by its board of directors.

He replaces Angela Wolfe Kelley, who held the position at the $12bn publicly traded holding company until June 2021 when she left to join PacWest Bancorp in Denver. Kelley was at NBT for just less than two years before making the move west.

Sparks began his career in private practice at Mayer Brown and Locke Lord before joining Bank of America’s legal department in 1998. He rose to the position of chief counsel and managing director of global transactional services before joining MidFirst in 2014 as general counsel and corporate secretary.

NBT President and CEO John Wyatt Jr commented that Sparks “brings a wealth of diverse experience in banking and financial services, and the legal and regulatory aspects of our business that support our strategic growth initiatives.”

Norwich, NY-based financial holding company NBT reported total assets of $12bn at year-end 2021. It primarily operates through NBT Bank NA, a full-service community bank that is one of the largest commercial lenders in the region. Rising US interest rates, inflation and a tight labour market could affect the bank in the coming months. The US Federal Reserve started raising interest rates in March with plans to raise rates aggressively over the coming months, including two half-point interest rate hikes in May and June. NBT Bank has 140 banking locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut.