Peter Bakkala

Peter Bakkala is the Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Needham Bank. Peter has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry.

Bakkala began their career at Citizens Financial Group, Inc., where they held various positions over nine years, including President of Government & Professionals Banking, Head of Commercial Deposits, Executive Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, and Executive Vice President & Audit Director.

In their role as President of Government & Professionals Banking, Bakkala was responsible for setting and driving strategies to grow the commercial deposit base. Peter led teams across divisions, engaged and coached bankers, built product capabilities, and strengthened sales practices to achieve financial goals. Peter also leveraged vendors to optimize efficiency and effectiveness. During their tenure, they grew the commercial deposit base by 26% and reduced deposit costs by 2%.

As Head of Commercial Deposits, Bakkala was responsible for delivering customized financial services to public officials and policy makers in state, city, and local municipalities; universities; and public agencies. Peter grew customer funds by 40%.

In their role as Executive Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, Bakkala led the restructuring and rebuilding of the enterprise-wide compliance functions and business practices to strengthen regulatory compliance. Peter directed a team of 200 and collaborated with colleagues across complex, interrelated businesses. Peter also managed relationships with numerous regulatory agencies. Under their leadership, the compliance function was successfully able to address heightened regulatory expectations, build specialized teams for Fair Banking, Fair Lending, Customer Privacy, AML, and Ethics. Peter also partnered with business leaders to improve compliance culture, strengthen business processes, and resolve numerous regulatory issues across the company.

As Executive Vice President & Audit Director, Bakkala directed internal audit activities for Consumer, Commercial, Operations, Technology, and Wealth Management. Their responsibilities were expanded to include directing global reviews of corporate governance and regional exams of cash management activities. Peter successfully led the Audit function while building collaborative partnerships with executives, management, and regulators. Peter assisted with strategies and priorities to more effectively manage and resolve risk and control issues. Peter also improved the quality and efficiency of the 75-member team by advancing integrated technology audits, data mining, and innovative continuous monitoring programs.

Bakkala has been with Needham Bank for five years and nine months. In their current role as EVP & CRO, they is responsible for leading and developing enterprise-wide risk management activities across the Bank. This includes integrating all types of risk into a comprehensive risk management function in line with strong governance, best practices, and regulatory expectations for the industry.

Peter Bakkala has a PhD in Business Administration from Northcentral University. Their research was in nonprofit organizational management, and their dissertation was entitled "Examining Relationships Between Board Effectiveness and Organizational Performance at Special Olympics." Peter also has a degree in Economics/Finance from Trinity College-Hartford and a degree in Economics from Connecticut College.