Peapack-Gladstone Bank Hires Team for Newest Subsidiary,

BEDMINSTER, NJ--(Marketwired - May 3, 2017) - Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: PGC) and Peapack-Gladstone Bank are proud to introduce a new team of private bankers and the opening of Peapack Capital Corporation, the newest subsidiary of the Bank, which will focus on equipment finance and leasing. 

"Equipment leasing is the logical next step for us," said Doug Kennedy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peapack-Gladstone Bank. "We have found a team that fits our aggressive style and is able to launch the program with a foundation built on years of experience."

Robert R. Cobleigh, a resident of Whippany, New Jersey, leads the team as an executive vice president of the Bank, and as the President of Peapack Capital. Cobleigh is responsible for launching the equipment leasing program and introducing the Bank's brand to this vertical. Robert has over 30 years of leasing and structured finance expertise in a broad range of industries and assets including manufacturing, trucking, business aviation, rail, marine and energy. A founding member, he most recently served as Regional Vice President and Credit Officer for Santander Corporate Equipment Finance, Inc. where he was instrumental in supporting the growth of a $1 billion portfolio for the Santander Bank, N.A. subsidiary. Prior to this, Robert was the Vice President of Credit for structured and specialty finance (leasing, mutual fund and trade finance) for MUFG-Union Bank/The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York. He has also held senior positions at RBS/Citizens Asset Finance, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, where he served as Vice President of Credit - Business Aviation, Buy Desk and Structured Finance; Siemens Financial Services, Inc., Iselin, NJ, where he was the Director of Credit of Capital Markets; Volvo Finance North America, Inc., Montvale, NJ, where he was the Senior Financial Analyst - Pricing; and International Proteins Corporation, West Caldwell, NJ, where he served as the Director of Treasury and Finance. Robert earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree - Finance and MBA - Investment Management from Pace University, New York.

Joining Robert is Denny Smith of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Smith will serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Peapack Capital. With 25 years of bank leasing experience, Denny most recently managed front and mid-office operational functions including pricing, structuring, buy/sell syndication, proposal creation, profitability analysis, incentive compensation, closing functions, change management, and Infolease system upgrade projects for Sovereign Bank/Santander Bank, N.A., as Senior Vice President and Managing Director. Previously, he served as Director of the group during in-footprint product launch in 2012 managing the B/S and l/S. He originally joined Sovereign Bank in August 2004 to launch tax and non-tax equipment lease products for all asset classes. He spent 15 years at Fleet Capital Corporation where he was Vice President, National Finance Manager, responsible for developing and communicating pricing philosophy and methodology to the Bank relationship managers, the leasing sales force and senior management, and for providing pricing and structuring support for all leasing products. He was also very involved in providing lease product education to relationship managers and their clients. Prior to Fleet, Denny was at a non-bank equipment lessor, Signal Capital Corporation. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Denny will help introduce Peapack Capital to the equipment finance market, responsible for operations, procedures and the efficiency of the division.

Frank Striplin and Christopher McManus also join Peapack Capital as Senior Vice Presidents and Sales Directors. Frank and Chris will partner with Smith and Cobleigh to initiate and develop the Bank's equipment leasing program and deliver the Peapack-Gladstone Bank brand of client service. 

Frank, a resident of Evans, Georgia, joins Peapack Capital from the Corporate Equipment Finance group of Santander Bank, N.A. where he booked more than $190 million in new business in less than two years and consistently maintained a backlog greater than $75 million. Consistently a top performer in sales volume and profit, Striplin was the six-time winner of the Chrysler Capital President's Award for Excellence. During six years at Citicorp, he was the leading producer in the southeast for five years and the leading profit and volume producer for the entire company one year. His performance earned him the Citicorp Chairman's Award five times and the Teamwork Award four times. While at Credit Lyonnais he built a team that produced a portfolio of approximately $900 million, generating a return on equity of more than 20%. He has held various sales positions as well as senior business development and leadership roles with several major banks and commercial finance companies, and has built and led several high-performance sales teams. During his career, he has produced or assisted in generating over $1.9 billion in new business.

Christopher McManus, a resident of North Wales, Pennsylvania, and graduate of Temple University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree is a highly accomplished equipment leasing and finance professional with over 25 years of direct lending experience. Chris has been a top performer at all levels of his career in equipment finance. He began his banking career at First Fidelity Bancorporation in 1991 in their equipment leasing group. In 1993 he was selected for the First Fidelity Professional Banker Program, a credit training program, where he spent one year developing his skills. After moving on to GE Capital as an underwriter, in 1995 Chris accepted a position on the direct equipment lending team. He spent much of his career as a top performer and a highly successful direct equipment lender at institutions like Mellon Bank US Leasing, US Bancorp, RBS/Citizens Asset Finance, Inc. and Santander Bank, N.A. He was a three-time recipient of the RBS/Citizens World Class Performers Award. He has proven successful at all levels of the marketplace, working with middle market size companies up to large corporate entities. His knowledge of the marketplace and asset classes gives Peapack Capital a tremendous advantage.

Rounding out the division, Mark L. Robinson and Dennis R. Magarro, join the Peapack Capital team as Senior Vice President, Senior Underwriter and Vice President and Senior Underwriter, respectively. 

Mark, a resident of Randolph, NJ, and graduate of Lehigh University with an MBA and BA in Finance, has over 30 years of proficiency in financial services with extensive and diverse experience in underwriting, relationship and portfolio management, originations, credit analysis, leveraged loan structuring, risk rating systems, document negotiation and compliance. Throughout his career he has held positions at Santander Bank, N.A., JA Mitsui Leasing Capital Corporation, CIT Group, Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services and Wells Fargo. 

Dennis Magarro is a results driven credit professional with 17 years of finance experience with diverse commercial lending organizations in credit analysis, underwriting, risk and portfolio management, finance and accounting. Educated at Sacred Heart University, graduating with a MBA in Finance, and Quinnipiac University, with a BS in Accounting, Magarro has held positions at Arthur Andersen LLP, General Electric Company - GE Capital, RBS/Citizens Asset Finance, Inc., MUFG - BTMU Capital Leasing and Finance and Santander Bank, N.A.

"It is important for us to enter this arena," said Kennedy. "As a high-performing boutique bank we are aggressively building our platforms and incorporating wealth, lending and deposit solution along the way. In order to grow, we need to expand into new territories. Peapack Capital allows us to do this in a purposeful and measured way."

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation is a New Jersey bank holding company with total assets of $3.95 billion as of March 31, 2017. Founded in 1921, Peapack-Gladstone Bank is a commercial bank that provides innovative private banking services to businesses, real estate professionals, non-profits and consumers, which help them to establish, maintain and expand their legacy. Through its private banking locations in Bedminster, Morristown, Princeton and Teaneck, its private wealth management, commercial private banking, retail private banking and residential lending divisions, along with its online platforms, Peapack-Gladstone Bank offers an unparalleled commitment to client service.