Cambridge Trust Company announced the appointments of Chris O’Connor, Senior Vice President and Peter Coates, Vice President to lead their new Asset Based Lending (ABL) practice.

“The Bank made the strategic decision to add asset based lending offerings to our commercial lending practice to further strengthen and diversify our broad set of financing solutions,” said Denis Sheahan, President and CEO of Cambridge Trust Company. “Chris and Peter’s extensive experience will bring the leadership and depth of knowledge we need to execute our expansion into asset based lending.”

O’Connor joins Cambridge Trust as a Senior Vice President with over 25 years of experience in asset based lending. He most recently served as President and Chief Credit Officer at Salus Capital Partners, a private finance company focused on retail finance, in Needham, MA. O’Connor previously started and ran the Asset Based Lending Group at Rockland Trust and was EVP of Business Credit at Webster Bank. He is also a member of the Commercial Finance Association and Turnaround Management Association and resides in Norwood.

“I look forward to helping build this new Asset Based Lending practice with Cambridge Trust,” said Chris O’Connor. “Their existing commercial lending portfolio has an excellent reputation within the market area and the addition of ABL will only help better serve their clients and reach new ones.”

Coates was named Vice President and has worked in asset based lending for 30 years, most recently at Salus Capital Partners in Needham, MA as SVP, Special Assets. He also worked at Citizens Bank, GE Capital, People’s United Bank, and HSBC Bank USA. Coates is a member of the Commercial Finance Association, Turnaround Management Association, and Association for Corporate Growth.

Cambridge Bancorp and its subsidiary, Cambridge Trust Company, are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the heart of Harvard Square. Cambridge Trust Company is a 126-year-old Massachusetts chartered commercial bank with $1.8 billion in total assets and 11 Massachusetts locations in Cambridge, Boston, Belmont, Concord, Lexington, and Weston.