CommunityOne Board Chair Resigns To Take Directorship At First Niagara Financial Group; Replaced by J. Chandler Martin, Former Bank of America Treasurer

CommunityOne Bancorp

, Charlotte, North Carolina, announced today that the Chair and lead independent director of its Board of Directors, Austin A. Adams, has resigned. He has been appointed a director at First Niagara Financial Group, and its subsidiary bank, First Niagara Bank, N.A., a $38 billion community oriented bank headquartered in Buffalo, New York and banking law prevents Mr. Austin from serving on two bank boards at the same time. The Board has unanimously elected J. Chandler Martin as Chair of the Board and lead independent director in place of Mr. Adams. Mr. Martin, 63, is the former Treasurer of Bank of America, N.A., Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was responsible for funding, liquidity and interest rate risk management. Prior to that, Mr. Martin was Bank of America's Enterprise Market and Operational Risk Executive and the risk management executive for Global Corporate and Investment Banking. Mr. Martin has been on the Board of CommunityOne since it was recapitalized in October 2011. "I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to serve CommunityOne with a great management group and directors during the past three years, as we have overseen the restoration to health and service of this historic banking franchise, positioning it for growth through the coming years," said Austin Adams. "I leave the Board having accomplished these goals, knowing it is in good hands under the leadership of Chan Martin." "The CommunityOne Board has been fortunate to have Austin as its Chair since the recapitalization of the Company," said Brian Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of CommunityOne. "His experience as the former Chief Information Officer for JP Morgan Chase, and prior to that Banc One Corp. and First Union Corp., has been invaluable to us and we wish Austin the best. We also are fortunate that Chan Martin, a very experienced banker with deep risk management expertise, is on our Board and we are looking forward to Chan's leadership as the new Board Chair."