Berkshire Hills Bancorp Adds Depth to Wealth Management Team with New Hires Heston and Crowley

BOSTON, Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. BHLB, the parent company of Berkshire Bank, a socially responsible community-dedicated bank with branch locations in New England and New York, is excited to announce the addition of two veteran wealth management professionals to its Wealth Management team.

Karen Heston, CFP®, MBA and Stephen Crowley, MA, MBA join Berkshire Bank's growing Wealth Management team of credentialed and experienced wealth management professionals to further support its ongoing commitment to clients and provide additional wealth management expertise and support to each client relationship.

"We are pleased to welcome Karen and Stephen to our team," said Kathryn Hersey, SVP, Director of Wealth Management and Chief Investment Officer. "Karen and Stephen bring significant experience working with non-profits and institutional investors and will support our ongoing commitment to delivering significant community impact through specialized expertise in not-for-profit management."

More information on their backgrounds is included below.

Ms. Heston joins Berkshire Wealth Management as VP, Wealth Portfolio Manager. She has over 25 years of experience in investment management and providing financial advisement and guidance to clients. Ms. Heston will co-manage fixed-income investments and develop programming and solutions that empower women to thrive in their investments, careers, and life.

Before joining Berkshire Bank, Karen served as a Senior Financial Advisor for Martha's Vineyard Investment Advisors, LLC. In that role, she advised individual clients and non-profit organizations with respect to investment policy and asset allocation, portfolio risk management, and retirement planning strategies. As a Managing Partner of Sage Capital Management, LLC, Karen worked as the key portfolio manager in Sage's market-neutral convertible bond strategy for over two decades. She began her career as an interest rate risk management specialist working on the top trading desks of several NYC money center banking institutions.

Ms. Heston is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont and received her MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business. She is also a CFP® professional and works with advisory clients in a planning capacity.

Mr. Crowley joins Berkshire Wealth Management as VP, Relationship Manager. He has over 25 years of experience in investment management and providing financial advice and guidance to clients. 

Mr. Crowley will develop programming and solutions that focus on non-profit and socially responsible investments.

Prior to joining Berkshire Bank, Stephen served as a Senior Financial Advisor for BNY Mellon. In that role, he advised institutional clients and non-profit organizations with respect to investment policy, asset allocation, and portfolio risk management.

Stephen has extensive experience managing non-profits and charitable trust accounts for colleges and universities. He has also developed socially responsible investing programs for clients. Mr. Crowley earned his bachelor's degree from Connecticut College in Economics, and a Master's and MBA from Boston University in Economics and Finance.

Berkshire Wealth Management provides purpose-driven investment management, financial planning, and estate management solutions with a focused approach on driving growth and depth in client relationships through a concentration on wellness, financial health, community, and sustainable and responsible investment. 

ABOUT BERKSHIRE HILLS BANCORP
Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the parent of Berkshire Bank, which is transforming what it means to bank its neighbors socially, humanly, and digitally to empower the financial potential of people, families, and businesses in its communities as it pursues its vision of being the leading socially responsible omni-channel community bank in the markets it serves. Berkshire Bank provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management, and investment services. Headquartered in Boston, Berkshire has approximately $11.7 billion in assets and operates 107 branch offices in New England and New York, and is a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. To learn more, call 800-773-5601 or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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Media Contact:
Marc DeNofio AVP, Public Relations Officer
mdenofio@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (518) 322-5601

Investor Relations Contacts:
Kevin Conn, SVP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
Email: KAConn@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (617) 641-9206

David Gonci, Capital Markets Director
Email: dgonci@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (413) 281-1973

SOURCE Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.