FRANKLIN, MASSACHUSETTS, February 16, 2006

Dean Bank was chartered in Franklin, Massachusetts on June 15, 1889, as a mutually owned financial institution. As a mutual institution, the bank would have no investors and no stockholders to demand a return on their investment. With depositors being the banks only constituents, it had the freedom to use profits solely for the benefit of its depositors and the ability to financially support community activities without first needing to satisfy the demands of stockholders. More importantly, it had the ability to remain a community bank indefinitely. This was the primary reason why Wayne A. Cottle, President and CEO of the bank, has remained at the helm for 30 years.

Committed to the true concept of community banking, Cottle joined the bank as its President and Chief Executive Officer 30 years ago, on January 2, 1976. He was given the charge of advancing the then $6.9 million institution into the modern age of banking while keeping its true community bank mission in the forefront. For the past 30 years, Cottle has led the now $200 million institution through significant growth, has expanded the banks branch network, installed noteworthy financial education programs, and he has become a national leader in the mutual community banking industry – all of which has benefited Dean Bank’s local communities. Cottle referenced his tenure stating, “You would think that after 30 years my original charge would have been met but keeping a community bank thriving in today’s highly competitive environment is a challenge that can never totally be met, and that challenge seems to grow bigger every day.”

Under Cottle’s leadership, Dean Bank has invested deeply over the years into the local communities, including the student financial education programs he initiated. Over 3,000 local elementary and middle school students in 13 different schools are now enrolled in the Bank’s Save for America program in the towns of Franklin, Bellingham, Blackstone, Millville and soon to include Mendon. For more than 11 years, Dean Bank has offered its savings program in the schools, working with parent volunteers who hold a “banking day” once a week at each school. This program has served to educate children on the importance of saving money and rewards them with small prizes for doing so.

In 1984, Cottle opened a very innovative branch office at the Tri-County Vocational High School in Franklin. This branch has been operated by students under the supervision of Branch Manger, June Reneghan, for over 20 years and continues to function as a full service branch office and educational facility that serves students and staff of the school, as well as the public that uses the school for vocational services such as daycare, hairstyling, or auto repairs. For 20 years, the branch has been the model facility used by the Massachusetts’ Departments of Education and Banking to promote similar public and private partnerships. John M. Jones, Superintendent of the Tri-County Regional School District referenced Cottle’s opening of the school branch as an “act that has led students to careers in banking and finance who otherwise would not have been introduced to those careers.” Jones described Cottle as a “high-performing individual who demonstrates innovation, commitment and energy not only to his bank but to his community.” Dean Bank also employs Tri-County students each year through the school’s cooperative education program. This enables students to earn an income while receiving hands-on experience in the field of banking or computer technology, and allows them to graduate with marketable skills. Cottle admits that neither of the Save for America program or the Tri-County branch office are revenue producers for Dean Bank but he acknowledges their high community service value and remains committed to them. The bank’s educational initiatives drew international attention this year when the bank was visited by a Japanese graduate school professor and three of his students seeking information on the programs in hopes of introducing them to schools in Japan.

Over the years Cottle has been heavily involved with local organizations like the YMCA, Rotary Club and United Chamber of Commerce, which named him Business Person of the Year in 1985. Investing in the local community has always been a priority of Cottle’s. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the bank’s primary regulator, has given the Bank the highest possible ranking of “Outstanding” for each of the past six Community Reinvestment Act examinations it has conducted to assess the bank’s performance in meeting the financial needs of its communities. Cottle stated that “the bank recognizes that a community’s financial needs include education as well as loans and providing these programs is a key component of the bank’s business plan.”

An advocate for community banks, Cottle has been an active member of the Community Bank League of New England and the Massachusetts Bankers Association and has served in various capacities with those organizations. He is an active participant in his industry’s regulatory and legislative affairs and has testified on behalf of community banks numerous times before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Banks and Banking. He has also represented New England community banks with testimony before the United States Senate Banking Committee in Washington. Cottle served as Chairman of the Community Bank League in 2000 – 2001.

Cottle continues to represent community banks as the Massachusetts Director on the Board of the Independent Community Bankers Association of America (ICBA). The ICBA, with nearly 5,000 members, represents the largest constituency of community banks in the nation, and is dedicated exclusively to representing the interests of the community banking industry and its customers. He serves as Chairman of its Mutual Institutions Advisory Group and works closely with mutual institution executives from around the country on issues of concern to mutual institutions where he helped to initiate a national agenda to sustain and promote mutual banks and protect their unique status. In 2004, Cottle was one of 8 individuals receiving national recognition by the ICBA as “Movers and Shakers” within the industry because of their commitment and support of the community banking industry.

Cottle enjoys his community bank environment and enjoys fighting for the right of community banks to exist. “The independence we have in operating locally as a mutual community bank enables us to better preserve our true orientation without the threat of the bank being a target for purchase by an out-of-town bank that would not have the same feeling of responsibility to our local communities,” says Cottle. “This means a lot to customers of Dean Bank and to the residents of our communities, who keep seeing other local banks being bought out or merged out of existence. I will participate in any way I can to help retain a healthy community bank industry in this country.”

Anthony Vignone, law partner of Vignone and Vignone, LLP in Wrentham and Dean Bank’s Chairman of the Board says that Cottle’s record speaks for itself. “Dean Bank has had the largest growth rate of any other local bank during Cottle’s reign and it can be credited to his dynamic leadership. It is because of Wayne’s efforts that Dean Bank is the only bona fide mutual community bank left in the Franklin community.”

Dean Bank, founded in 1889, is a Massachusetts state-chartered institution with offices located in Blackstone, Franklin and Bellingham, a mortgage and loan center in Mendon, and a full-service educational and training facility at Tri-County Regional Vocational High School in Franklin. The Bank is a member of the FDIC and a member of the SIF.

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