Robert Cozzone was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2019 for Rockland Trust and its parent bank holding company, Independent Bank Corp. As such, he is responsible for consumer and business banking, which includes the retail bank, customer information center, residential mortgage, consumer lending, and credit card and business banking sales. In addition, he continues to provide oversight of the finance division. Previously he was Chief Financial Officer of Independent Bank Corp., to which he was appointed in 2013.
From 2013 to 2015, concurrent with his Chief Financial Officer role, Mr. Cozzone was also Treasurer of Independent Bank Corp. Prior to serving as the Company’s CFO, he was Treasurer of both Independent Bank Corp. and Rockland Trust from April 2008 to September 2013. He became Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Rockland Trust in 2002. Mr. Cozzone joined Rockland Trust in October 1998 as a banking officer.
Prior to joining the Company, he held financial positions at Bank Boston. Mr. Cozzone is a member of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable Board of Directors, the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center Advisory Board, the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra Board of Directors, the Bridgewater State University Ricciardi College of Business Advisory Board, and the Plimoth Patuxet Finance Committee. He is a graduate of Bridgewater State University and received a Master of Science from Boston College. He lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts with his wife and children and is also a part-time resident of Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard.
Mark Ruggiero was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2019 for Rockland Trust and its holding company, Independent Bank Corp. With 20 years of experience in financial services, Mark was previously the Bank’s Principal accounting Officer and Controller. Prior to joining Rockland Trust, he was a manager at Vitale, Caturano & Co. A Certified Public Accountant.
Mark is a member of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs. He is also a trustee of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Bentley University.
Maria Harris serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer. She joined the Bank in 2003 as a recruiter and later was promoted to Director of Recruitment and Colleague Relations. Previously, Maria served as Recruiter for Zurich Scudder Investments and Recruitment Manager for the May Institute. She was the recipient of the Boston Business Journal's Wellness Champion Award and the 2010 Brockton's Women of the Year Award. Maria earned the distinction of SPHR and a Bachelor of Arts from Bridgewater State College (Bridgewater State University). During her tenure at Rockland Trust, the Bank has been ranked for 14 straight years by The Boston Globe as one of the Top Places to Work in Massachusetts and recognized by the Human Rights Campaign as one of the Best Places to Work for the LGBTQ community for 7 straight years. Also, Maria introduced Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) focused on supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace and launched RockFIT, an employee wellness program that promotes a culture of physical, emotional, and financial well-being through activities and events, information, and other resources. Recently, Maria has co-led our diversity committee and developed action plans to support racial equality and social justice.
Ed Seksay is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Rockland Trust Company and its parent bank holding company Independent Bank Corp. Ed oversees the Company’s legal, compliance, and enterprise risk management functions, working closely with the Board of Directors’ Risk Committee. Ed also oversees Rockland Trust’s affiliated charitable foundations. Prior to joining Rockland Trust, Ed was with the Boston law firm of Heller, Levin & Seksay, P.C. from 1991 to 2000 and with the Boston law firm Choate, Hall & Stewart from 1984 to 1991. Ed is a Trustee of the Boston Bar Foundation and was the Founding Chairman of the American Bankers Association Regional Banks General Counsels Group. Ed graduated from Suffolk University Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, and the College of the Holy Cross.
David Smith is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer and has been with Rockland Trust since 2003. David oversees and manages the Investment Management Group. In this capacity, he is involved in performing research and setting investment policy, as well as managing client portfolios. During his tenure at Rockland Trust, Mr. Smith has overseen the growth of the Bank’s Investment Management Group to one of the largest independent investment advisors in Massachusetts with over $5 billion in assets.
David has worked in the financial services industry since 1990. Prior to joining Rockland Trust, David was a founding partner, Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at Mellon Growth Advisors (MGA), a subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation. He also held positions at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) and the Tuckerman Group in real estate securities, a real estate subsidiary of SSGA. David holds a BA in Economics from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and a MS in Finance from the Sawyer School of Management at Suffolk University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and a member of the CFA Institute and the Boston Security Analysts Society.
David serves on the Advisory Board for the Finance Programs at the Sawyer School of Management at Suffolk University, the South Shore Chamber Investment Committee, and the Finance Committee of the Archdiocese of Fall River. He resides in Falmouth with his family.
As the Director of Banking Operations, Digital Operations, and Enterprise Project Management at Rockland Trust, Debra Smith numerous lines of business including: Deposit Operations (Electronic Banking, Wire Operations, Item and
Account Processing), Branch Operations, Digital Operations, BSA/Fraud Financial Crimes Unit, the Business Analyst Team (Deposit and Loans) and the Enterprise Project Management Office. She joined Rockland trust in 2012 as the Director of Deposit Operations and Contact Center Operations. Before joining Rockland Trust, Deb served as Executive Vice President and BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) Officer for First National Bank of Texas, a $1.5 billion institution headquartered in Killeen, Texas. Previously she held various senior leadership roles at Sovereign Bank and BankBoston. Deb holds an Associate degree in Management from Newbury College in Brookline, MA, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, MA. She supports our community through participation in United Way, and other non-profit organizations.
Alastair Ironside serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for Rockland Trust. Alastair is responsible for continuing to build a strong and distinct brand for the company while developing marketing strategies to earn new customer relationships and strengthen existing customer relationships. Prior to joining Rockland Trust, Alastair co-led the global internal strategy consulting group at Liberty Mutual Insurance, focusing on corporate strategy and research. In addition to this, he has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry previously working at Bank of America, Citizens Financial Group, FleetBoston Financial, Signet Banking Corporation and Barclays Bank. Alastair received his B.A. in Law and Modern Languages from Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge in England. He is a board member of Rockland Trust’s affiliated charitable foundations.
Dawn Mugford is the Chief Risk Officer of Rockland Trust Company and its parent bank holding company Independent Bank Corp. Dawn is responsible for the enterprise-wide monitoring, controls, measurement, and reporting of all major risk types as well as expanding on the Bank’s existing Enterprise Risk Management infrastructure to help the organization continue to maintain colleague, customer, community, and shareholder confidence. Before joining Rockland Trust, Dawn was the Senior Vice President and Director of Operational Risk Management, Corporate Security, and Investigations at Eastern Bank for nearly four years. Prior to that, she worked at UNUM Insurance as the Director of Policies, Procedures and Quality Review. Previously, Dawn also served as SVP and Director of Credit Risk Management for TD Bank after working with TD Bank’s parent company, TD Bank Group, in Canada for over 18 years in the areas of risk, audit, credit, portfolio review, and finance as well as assisting with the due diligence of US acquisitions. Dawn earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. Over the years, Dawn has volunteered with a number of organizations including the United Way, Junior Achievement, and the Maine Cancer Society.
Kathryn O’Malley is the Senior Vice President, Chief Credit Officer at Rockland Trust. Kathryn oversees credit risk management, loan structuring, approval, work out, appraisal, and environmental risk mitigation for the organization. Kathryn joined the Bank in September of 2009. Prior to that, she spent nine years as an independent consultant completing commercial loan structuring and analysis for regional banks. Additionally, she worked for over a decade in the commercial banking division of BankBoston, and subsequently U.S. Trust. Kathryn received her Masters of Finance from Boston College and B.A in Mathematics and Economics from Wheaton College.
James Rizzo is Rockland Trust’s Chief Commercial Banking Officer. He is responsible for leading the Company's commercial loan generation strategies. Before being appointed to the Bank’s Executive Leadership Team, James was Senior Vice President, Regional Commercial Banking Manager managing the lending and sales activities for a large group of commercial lenders covering south and north of Boston, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. He joined Rockland Trust after it acquired Slade’s Ferry Bank, where he served as Chief Lending Officer in 2008. Prior to that, James worked as a Senior Vice President of Bank of America for over 17 years. He earned his B.A. in Finance from Rhode Island College.
