Webster Financial Corporation, the holding company for Webster Bank, announced that its board of directors promoted John R. Ciulla to president of the bank and the bank holding company and appointed him to the bank's board of directors. In addition, the board appointed Joseph J. Savage to executive vice chairman of the bank and the bank holding company. Both report to James C. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer.

In his new role, Ciulla, previously executive vice president and head of Commercial Banking, will add reporting responsibilities for Community Banking, Webster Private Bank, and Marketing.

"John's promotion to president recognizes his outstanding leadership and Commercial Banking's consistently strong performance," said Smith. "As head of the unit, he has continued Commercial Banking's growth trajectory, driving strong revenue growth, earning in excess of the unit's cost of capital, maintaining strong asset quality, expanding Webster's commercial banking footprint, and developing his strong management team."

Savage, formerly president, retains oversight of Human Resources and directly oversees the bank's programs for leadership development, incentive compensation, and employee engagement. He will continue to serve as a member of the bank's board.

Ciulla joined Webster in 2004 as senior vice president for middle market banking and has served in a variety of management positions with increasing responsibility, including as chief credit risk officer from 2008 to 2010. As executive vice president and head of middle market banking from 2011 to 2013, he was responsible for several business units prior to his January 2014 promotion to lead Commercial Banking.

Prior to joining Webster, Ciulla worked at The Bank of New York where he was most recently managing director. He practiced law in New York as an associate with McDermott Will & Emery and with Hughes Hubbard. He serves on the board of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

Savage joined Webster in 2002 as executive vice president and head of Commercial Banking. He was promoted to president and appointed to the bank's board of directors in January 2014. Prior to joining Webster, Savage was executive vice president of the Communications and Energy banking group for CoBank in Denver, Colorado.