Berkshire Bank Names James A. Sherbo Head of Retail Lending.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: BHLB), the holding company for Berkshire Bank (the "Bank"), announced that the Bank has appointed James A. Sherbo as its First Vice President of Retail Lending, effective today. He oversees all retail lending activities for the Bank, including auto and other consumer loans, mortgage lending, loan processing, and collections.

Mr. Sherbo has 20 years of banking and financial industry experience. Prior to joining the Bank, he was Senior Vice President at TD Banknorth, N.A. where he was responsible for all residential lending in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He earned both his M.B.A. in finance and bachelor's in business management at Western New England College.

Commenting on this appointment, John J. Howard, the Bank's Executive Vice President of Retail Banking stated, "We are very excited to have Jim Sherbo leading our retail lending teams. He is an outstanding banker with a strong background in all aspects of lending and has a proven record of facilitating organizational growth. His expertise and professionalism will be major factors in our expanding our retail lending business and offering new products to our retail loan customers for their homes, automobiles, trucks, recreational vehicles and other purposes."

Mr. Sherbo has served on the Boards of Directors of the Hampden-Hampshire Housing Partnership and Springfield Neighborhood Housing Service, is a former adjunct faculty member at Western New England College, and is a member of various regional realtor and home builder associations.

BACKGROUND

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Berkshire Bank. Established in 1846, Berkshire Bank is one of Massachusetts' oldest and largest independent banks and the largest banking institution based in Western Massachusetts. The Bank is headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts with branches serving communities throughout Western Massachusetts and Northeastern New York. The Bank is transitioning into a regional bank and is positioning itself as the financial institution of choice in its retail and commercial markets, delivering exceptional customer service and a broad array of competitively priced deposit, loan, insurance, wealth management and trust services, and investment products.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 

Statements contained in this news release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of management, as well as the assumptions made using information currently available to management. Since these statements reflect the views of management concerning future events, these statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These risks and uncertainties include among others: changes in market interest rates and general and regional economic conditions; changes in government regulations; changes in accounting principles; the quality or composition of the loan and investment portfolios; and the achievement of anticipated future earnings benefits from recent acquisitions. Additionally, other risks and uncertainties may be described in the Company's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and September 30 and in its annual report on Form 10-K, each filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at the Securities and Exchange Commission's internet website (www.sec.gov) and to which reference is hereby made. Therefore, actual future results may differ significantly from results discussed in these forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.