Victor M. Richel has been Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Statewide Savings Bank since February 1995. Mr. Richel became Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Statewide Financial Corp. upon its formation as the holding company for the bank. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Bank since 1985 and its predecessor institutions since 1974.

Before becoming Chairman and CEO of Statewide, Mr. Richel was an executive with an investor-owned utility, Elizabethtown Gas Company, and its parent organization, NUI Corporation. Since joining Elizabethtown in 1963, Mr. Richel has served as Group Vice President, Consumer Service, and as Vice President for Marketing Rates & Supply; Customer Service & Administration and the Northwest Division. He was also a Vice President of NUI Corporation.

Mr. Richel currently serves on the Banking Advisory Board of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. He was appointed to the board in 1996 after being nominated by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the New Jersey League of Community and Savings Bankers.

Mr. Richel has served on the Board of the New Jersey Gas Association and on the Boards of several American Gas Association committees. He served a four-year term as Chairman of the Managing Committee of the International Gas Association Fuel Cell Users Group. In 1982, the American Gas Association named him Marketing Executive of the Year.

In the civic area, Mr. Richel serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Union County College, and is also a member of the Board of Governors at the College. Mr. Richel is a member of the Board of Regents at St. Peter's College in Jersey City. He is also a Director of All-State International and Elizabeth General Medical Center, a Trustee of the Garden State Cancer Center Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Alexian Health Care System, Elk Grove, IL. In 1998, Mr. Richel was named a member of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Society.

Mr. Richel has received the Union County Association for Retarded Citizens Humanitarian Award and the Alexian Brothers New Jersey Man of the Year Award.

A graduate of Villanova University, Mr. Richel furthered his education by attending marketing and executive development programs at Columbia University and the Harvard Business School.