James R. Boldt joins board of First Niagara Bank

The parent company of First Niagara Bank, has appointed James R. Boldt, chairman and CEO of Computer Task Group Inc., to the bank’s board of directors.

Boldt is the ninth independent director on the board. Besides his work at the international information technology services and solutions firm in Buffalo, Boldt is a director and the chairman of the audit committee on the board of Sovran Self Storage, Inc., a real estate investment trust in Williamsville, Erie County.

“We’re pleased to have a Western New Yorker with Jim’s decades of public company management and financial expertise joining First Niagara’s board,” said G. Thomas Bowers, chairman of the board of First Niagara Financial Group, in a statement. “Jim’s experience as a CFO, CEO and independent director is invaluable, and we look forward to benefiting from his contributions to the First Niagara Board as the bank executes its strategy for maximizing shareholder value through continued organic growth and enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.”

Before joining CTG in 1996, Boldt spend 20 years as a finance and accounting executive with Pratt & Lambert United Inc. before its merger with the Sherwin-Williams Co.