WARSAW, N.Y. — Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISI), parent of Five Star Bank, recently announced the appointment of Bruce W. Harting as a new independent member of its board of directors.

Harting’s appointment increases the size of the banking company’s board to 12 members, 11 of whom are independent. He is the sixth board member added since 2016, “consistent with the company’s commitment to board refreshment,” according to a Financial Institutions news release. Harting also joins the Five Star Bank board.

Harting, who most recently served as team chief investment officer, private wealth advisor at Rockefeller Capital Management, has worked in the investment banking and equity research fields for more than 35 years.

“Bruce’s exceptional skill set and deep experience broaden the scope of our diverse and talented Board of Directors,” Martin K. Birmingham, president and CEO of Financial Institutions and Five Star Bank, said. 

As a financial expert with strong strategic development, leadership, regulated financial services industry, and risk oversight experience, Harting will serve on the banking company’s audit and risk oversight committees.

Before joining Rockefeller Capital, Harting served as managing director and head of North American commercial-bank coverage in the investment banking group at Deutsche Bank. He previously was the managing director of investment banking at both Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital, covering banks and specialty financial companies. Harting spent the first 25 years of his career as an equity analyst at Barclays, Lehman Brothers, Salomon Brothers, and Kidder Peabody. 

A chartered financial analyst, Harting graduated from American University and received a master’s degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Five Star Bank, based in Warsaw in Wyoming County, has more than 45 branches throughout Western and Central New York, as well as a loan office in Maryland. Its CNY branches include offices in Auburn, Seneca Falls, Geneva, Ovid, Horseheads, and Elmira.

Financial Institutions and its subsidiaries employ about 650 people.