America's Community Bankers Names Peyton R. Patterson to ACB Board.

WASHINGTON -- Peyton R. Patterson, Chairman, President and CEO, NewAlliance Bank and its holding company, NewAlliance Bancshares (NYSE:NAL), New Haven, Connecticut, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of America's Community Bankers, the national trade group for community banks. ACB is shaping the future of community banking by promoting the commitment community banks have to their customers and communities.

Ms. Patterson joined New Haven Savings Bank, the predecessor to NewAlliance Bank, in January 2002 as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. From May 1996 to December 2001, she was an Executive Vice President of Dime Bancorp in New York. Ms. Patterson has over twenty years of commercial and thrift banking experience with New Haven Savings Bank, Dime Bancorp, Chemical Bank/Chase Manhattan and Corestates Financial Corporation of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Patterson has extensive experience in the areas of retail and business lending, retail banking, wealth management, marketing and mergers and acquisitions. She was named the 2nd of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking in both 2004 and 2005. In addition to serving on the ACB board, Ms. Patterson serves on the boards of the Consumer Bankers Association, The March of Dimes, Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.

ACB's board of directors is the trade association's governing body. The board also sets ACB's legislative and regulatory policy agenda, and board members play a critical role in carrying ACB's government relations message to Capitol Hill and the federal regulatory agencies.

Board members play important roles in serving as spokespersons for the banking industry, assisting in recruiting community banks to become members of ACB and raising political contributions for use in supporting federal candidates for Congress.

Each board member represents the interests of community banks located in his or her state and region. Since ACB is a member driven organization, ACB board members are integral to representing the views of their fellow community bankers on public policy issues and on products and services to help them better compete.

America's Community Bankers is the member driven national trade association representing community banks that pursue progressive, entrepreneurial and service-oriented strategies to benefit their customers and communities. To learn more about ACB, visit www.AmericasCommunityBankers.com.

NewAlliance Bank was formed in April 2004 as a result of the conversion of New Haven Savings Bank to public ownership and the simultaneous purchase of two Connecticut banks, Savings Bank of Manchester and Tolland Bank. The IPO raised over $1 billion and was the largest in U.S. banking history. As the 3rd largest independent bank in Connecticut and the 6th largest bank in New England, NewAlliance has $6.6 billion in assets and 65 branches within 5 counties.