Executive Management
Chairman & CEO: Edward F. Manzi Jr.
A Webster, Massachusetts native, Ed Manzi graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts Lowell with a B.S. in Accounting. Manzi then earned his M.B.A. with high distinction in 1992 from Bentley College and is a current Certified Public Accountant.
Manzi held executive management positions at several New England community banks. After serving as the President & CEO of the Shirley Co-operative Bank for seven years, Manzi became President & CEO of Fidelity Bank in July of 1997. Under his leadership the bank has expanded significantly throughout Central Massachusetts, including a strong and growing presence in Worcester. In August 2010, Manzi was appointed Chairman of Fidelity Bank.
Manzi has received awards from the Northern Worcester County Association of Realtors, Mount Wachusett Community College, and the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce for his support of the Central Massachusetts community. In addition, under Manzi’s leadership, Fidelity Bank has been recognized by the North American Energy Efficiency Partnership and the Worcester Business Journal for their “green” building initiatives as well as recognition from American Banker magazine for innovation in Banking.
In addition to his responsibilities at the Bank, Ed serves as the Chairman of the Shine Initiative, a member of the Audit Committee of the United Way of North Central Massachusetts, a member of the Board of Directors of CBERA, as well as many other Board and civic involvements.
President, Chief Financial Designer & Chief Lending Officer:
John F. Merrill
A Worcester native, John Merrill has had a distinguished 28-year career as a leading commercial banker in Central Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Westfield State University with a B.S. degree in economics.Merrill began his banking career with Shawmut Bank in 1981and quickly established himself as a leading middle market lender. He led Shawmut’s middle market lending team in Central Massachusetts before becoming Regional President and Senior Lender for Fleet Bank in Central Massachusetts in 1990. For ten years, Merrill was Fleet’s senior officer in the Central Massachusetts area representing the bank in all community and charitable activities and managing a $500 million commercial loan portfolio.
In 2002, Merrill became the Commercial Market President for Sovereign Bank and served as the Senior Commercial Lender for Massachusetts. He was promoted four years later to Market President for four Eastern Massachusetts counties and New Hampshire. In 2008, Merrill became Executive Vice President, Managing Director Business Banking Division for Sovereign’s commercial operations stretching from Maryland to New Hampshire.
He was appointed as Fidelity Bank’s President, Chief Financial Designer and Chief Lending Officer in September, 2010.
Merrill has been an active member of the Worcester community having served on the boards of the Worcester Boys and Girls Club, Worcester Business Development Corporation, United Way of Central Massachusetts and Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives. He was also former chairman of Junior Achievement of Central Massachusetts, Worcester Area Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Club and Centre City Development.
In 2007, Merrill was recognized for his contributions by the Worcester community as the recipient of the Aubrey Reid Award for distinguished community leadership.
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer:
Michael O. Gilles
Michael Gilles has over 30 years of community banking experience and has served as a Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer with a number of Massachusetts financial institutions. Gilles is a graduate of Bentley College with a B.S. degree in accounting and the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at the University of Delaware.
Gilles began his banking career with The Co-Operative Bank of Concord where he remained for 20 years working his way up to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He oversaw the acquisition of a number of other financial institutions and ultimately directed the financial activities of the bank’s new holding company, Walden Bancorp. Gilles helped manage the successful conversion and initial public offering of the Bank in 1985. Walden was acquired by US Trust of Boston in 1997.
From 1998 to 2004, Gilles served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Bay State Federal Savings Bank where he helped grow the bank’s assets more than two-fold in five years. He also assisted in Bay State’s successful conversion from a mutual to a stock ownership company resulting in raising more $40 million in new capital. Bay State was acquired by Compass Bank in 2004.
Prior to joining Fidelity Bank in April, 2010, Gilles was Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Beverly National Bank where he was responsible for the financial, retail and operational activities of the holding company and its subsidiaries. He led a successful recapitalization of the bank that helped support asset growth and core earnings improvement. Beverly was acquired by Danvers Bank in 2009.
Gilles has been an active member of the Massachusetts banking community, serves on the advisory committee of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, the finance committee of the Massachusetts Bankers Association and is a special advisor to the Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation. He is also a past president of the Boston Chapter of the Financial Mangers Society.
