UTICA, N.Y. — Adirondack Bank Chairman H.T. (Tom) Clark, Jr. will transition to chairman emeritus, effective on Jan. 1, 2024, the bank announced on Dec. 7.

He will remain a director on the bank’s board of directors and act as a consultant to the bank while his son, current Vice Chairman Robert Clark, will become executive chairman of the board.

“I am proud to turn the chairmanship of the bank to my son Robert, who is a key member of the bank’s executive management team and has played an important leadership role in the growth of Adirondack Bank,” Tom Clark said in a news release. 

Robert Clark has worked for the bank since 2011, serving as vice chairman since 2018. In this role, he has overseen the bank’s branch network, marketing, retail lending, deposit operations, and human-resources departments.

As executive chairman, Clark will facilitate the operations and deliberations of the board and the execution of the board’s functions and responsibilities. He will also work with the board and the bank’s CEO to identify value-enhancing strategic initiatives and develop future growth strategies.

“Through the hard work and dedication of many employees and directors, we have built Adirondack Bank into the full-service community bank that my father envisioned more than 30 years ago,” Robert Clark said. “I am excited about the opportunity as the bank’s executive chairman to build on my father’s vision and work with the board and the bank’s CEO, Rocco Arcuri, on setting the strategic direction for Adirondack Bank’s continued growth in the years to come.”

Tom Clark formed Adirondack Bank in 1990 after purchasing and rebranding the Saranac Lake Savings and Loan Association. The savings association, founded in 1989, had $29 million in assets and two branches located in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.

Today, Adirondack Bank has total assets of about $1 billion, about 200 employees, and 20 branches across the Mohawk Valley, Adirondack North Country, and Central New York.

“Thirty-three years ago, I purchased the Saranac Lake Savings and Loan Association with one goal in mind, to build what was then a small, struggling savings association with limited product offerings into a full-service community bank that served the financial needs of local consumers, businesses, and municipalities,” Tom Clark said. “Since that time, accessibility to banking services in upstate New York has diminished considerably through consolidation and branch closures, particularly by the largest financial institutions. Adirondack Bank has played a critical role in stepping in to meet the financial services needs of our local communities as one of the few remaining locally owned and operated community banks in upstate New York.”

In 2022, Clark noted, Adirondack Bank generated an economic impact of more than $160 million in the communities it serves through loans originated, employee payroll, payments to local third-party vendors, and contributions to charitable organizations.

“Adirondack Bank plays an important role in the economic and social well-being of the communities we serve in the Mohawk Valley, Adirondack North Country, and Central New York, and it reflects Tom’s decades-long commitment to these communities as an entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist,” Arcuri said. “It has been a pleasure for me to work with Tom as the bank’s CEO, and I am looking forward to the next generation of leadership in Rob Clark, [with] whom I’ve had a great working relationship for more than 22 years.”

Headquartered in Utica, the privately owned community bank has 17 full-service and two limited-service branches in Oneida, Herkimer, Clinton, Essex, and Franklin counties, along with a loan-production office in Syracuse.