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Leave a lucrative consulting gig to take over a bank with $80 million in troubled loans, and you don't get a lot of congratulatory calls.
Just ask Howard Bluver, who signed on as CEO of embattled Suffolk Bancorp last year.
"A lot of people asked me, 'Are you crazy?'" Bluver said. "'Why do you want to do this?'"
A year later, Bluver is getting plenty of slaps on the back. Once again profitable, the $1.6 billion company, the parent of Suffolk County National Bank, has cleaned up its balance sheet with an aggressive bulk sale of troubled assets and raised $25 million from institutional investors.
Led by a new team of veteran executives, the bank has pumped up its East End lending, opened a Melville loan office and is prepping for a western expansion.
One bank analyst now calls Suffolk "a gorgeous franchise." American Banker has dubbed Bluver "Mr. Fix It." Even Wall Street has taken notice, elevating Suffolk Bancorp's share price from below $8 to a steady $14 and upgrading the bank from "sell" to "hold."
All told, an unlikely turnaround for an unlikely chief executive.
A 56-year-old Jericho native who now lives in Port Washington, Bluver set out to be an attorney, earning his bachelor's and law degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
"Back when I became a lawyer, I knew I wanted to be involved in some aspect of business," he said. "I happened through good fortune to get involved in financial institutions early in my career."
In 1982, the Securities and Exchange Commission hired Bluver as an...