Peapack Private Bank and Trust appointed Paul Kotronis as Senior Managing Director of Commercial Real Estate on July 10, 2026, bringing a major banking talent into the New Jersey regional bank's ranks as it seeks to deepen its commercial real estate footprint in the New York and New Jersey markets. The appointment comes with a strategic mandate for Kotronis to support and expand the bank's commercial real estate lending platform while driving relationship-based deposit growth in the densely competitive Northeast corridor.
Joseph Fingerman, Senior Managing Director and President of Commercial Real Estate at Peapack Private, described Kotronis as an exceptional addition given his extensive experience, market relationships and expertise in multifamily and commercial real estate finance. The search firm involvement was not disclosed in the announcement. Kotronis arrives with more than 20 years of commercial real estate lending experience and a demonstrated ability to build large-scale lending platforms while maintaining disciplined risk management and regulatory compliance across diverse markets.
Kotronis comes to Peapack Private from Signature Bank, where he served as Group Director and Senior Vice President heading the commercial real estate group. In that role, he managed a $5 billion commercial real estate portfolio and originated more than $4 billion in multifamily and commercial real estate loans while leading and mentoring teams of lenders and analysts. His career before Signature Bank included a substantial stint at A&E Real Estate Finance as Director and Senior Vice President, where he played a key role in launching a commercial real estate debt fund platform and developing lending policies, underwriting standards and operational infrastructure. He also held positions of increasing responsibility at Santander Bank and New York Commercial Bank. Kotronis holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Real Estate from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Mathematics from Hunter College.
Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation, Peapack Private's parent company, operates with total assets of $7.7 billion and assets under management or administration of $13.1 billion as of March 31, 2026. Founded in 1921, the bank focuses on relationship-driven banking in New Jersey and the broader New York metropolitan area, serving privately owned businesses, commercial real estate clients, nonprofit organizations and affluent households. The bank operates primarily as a regional commercial and private banking institution rather than attempting mass-market reach, competing on service depth and local decision-making rather than product novelty or national scale.
Kotronis's hiring appears strategically timed given both Peapack Private's stated emphasis on deepening commercial banking relationships in core Northeast markets and the CRE landscape that has shifted materially since Signature Bank's March 2023 collapse, the fourth-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Signature's failure stemmed partly from excessive cryptocurrency deposit concentration and exposure to the connected New York real estate market. While Kotronis's departure from Signature is not dated or explicitly attributed in available statements, his movement to a stable, well-capitalized regional bank with strong deposit franchises could reflect the industry consolidation that followed banking system stresses of 2023. The appointment suggests Peapack Private sees an opportunity to win commercial real estate clients and deposits from institutions weakened by the banking turmoil, deploying senior talent with proven client relationships and portfolio management discipline to capture relationship migration in the New York-New Jersey corridor.
