Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Berkshire Hills Bancorp Q4 earnings release conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to David Gonsi, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining this discussion of fourth quarter results. Our news release is available on the Investor Relations section of our website, BerkshireBank.com, and it will be furnished to the SEC. Supplemental investor information is provided in an information presentation at our website at ir.berkshirebank.com, and we may refer to this in our remarks. Our remarks will include forward-looking statements, and actual results could differ materially from those statements. For detail on related factors, please see our earnings released, and most recent SEC reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. In addition, certain non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed on this conference call. References to non-GAAP measures are only provided to assist you in understanding our results and performance trends and should not be relied on as financial measures of actual results or future projections. A comparison and reconciliation to gap measures is included in our news release. As you know, we also released an announcement yesterday about our CEO. Our board chair, Bill Dunleavy, is joining us for the first part of the call to comment on this announcement. And so, at this time, I'll turn the call over to Bill. Thanks.

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone. As David said, I am Bill Dunleavy, and it's my privilege to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Berkshire Hills Bank Corp. Before Sean and Jamie cover our financial results, I want to share a few words with you on our announcement yesterday that Nitin Matre has been named Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hills Bank Corp. and Berkshire Bank, a decision our board made after a thorough planning process and a comprehensive national search. Nitin is the ideal choice to lead the bank into the future and propel Berkshire to long-term success, fulfilling our promise to meet changing customer expectations and the demands of 21st century banking. Nitin's track record of leadership and accomplishment at Webster Bank and Citigroup is exemplary. He has a national reputation as an innovative banking executive who can deliver results, grow market share, and improve profitability. He has broad experience working at global banks like Citi and shares Berkshire's passion for community banking and our pledge to serve the unique needs of all of our customers across our entire footprint. At Webster, Nitin was instrumental in helping the bank evolve from a mainstream mass market bank to the specialized bank it is today. serving multiple segments with tailored product offerings. He oversaw operational improvements in the branches through automation around a universal banker model, streamlining the systems and improving customer service. He is a true pioneer in the application of data analytics and the use of digital automation to lower costs, streamline processes, and improve the customer experience. Importantly, Nitin fully embraces Berkshire's be-first values and principle-driven culture. He strongly believes in empowering employees to respect individual dignity, earn trust through ethical behavior, and give back to communities. I also want to take a moment to commend Sean Gray. Sean took on the acting CEO role during a challenging period for the bank and guided us through this CEO transition with a steady hand, steering the bank and maintaining the executive team's focus on our strategic priorities. Under his leadership, the entire management team was outstanding during this period, maintaining a high level of performance and showing their commitment under demanding circumstances. That concludes my remarks. I am now going to excuse myself from this call and turn it back over to Sean and our management team. Thank you for your time this morning.