- After almost 10 years in the position
- Thanks for Mansfield
- Carol Houle and Joe Reilly taking over temporarily
- Mansfield kept it short and said 37 words
(exechange) — Amesbury, Massachusetts, December 23, 2022 — Dave Mansfield, chief executive of Provident, leaves — by “mutual decision.” As announced by Provident Bancorp Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Friday, December 23, 2022, David P. (Dave) Mansfield, chief executive officer, has left the holding company for BankProv, after almost 10 years in the role, effective December 20, 2022.
The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.2 years. This is according to data collected by CEO-exit research firm exechange.
exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.
Dave Mansfield’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by Carol L. Houle and Joseph B. (Joe) Reilly, most recently Chief Financial Officer (Houle); and Board Chair (Reilly) at Provident Bancorp Inc., as interim Co-Chief Executive Officers.
No reason given
In the announcement, Provident did not explicitly explain the reason for the move.
The top three reasons cited in corporate announcements for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (26.7% of cases), implementation of a planned succession (16.2%) and the statement that the time was right for a change (8.4%), according to exechange data. Other motives given for leadership changes included the outgoing CEO’s wish to pursue other opportunities (6.3% of cases), personal reasons (3%) and conduct issues (2.4%). Rather rarely stated reasons are health problems (2.1% of cases), career change (2.1%), the desire for more time with family (0.9%), disagreement (0.6%) and death (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 30.6% of cases, no reason was given.
Precise information regarding Dave Mansfield’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Separated/resigned”
Provident said: “In a mutual decision by the Board and Dave Mansfield – CEO and Board Member – Mr. Mansfield separated from both Provident Bancorp, Inc. and BankProv effective December 20th, 2022.”
Provident further said: “David P. Mansfield, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Bank, resigned from his employment with the Company and the Bank, and as a director of the Company and the Bank, effective December 20, 2022.”
Generally, resignations are seen as formally voluntary departures. Still, CEOs may also be pressured to resign. In fact, 78% of the time “resign” was used in the past 12 months, the CEO departure received a Push-out Score above the critical threshold of 5, indicating elevated pressure.
Share price decline since December 2021
The announcement follows a decline in Provident Bancorp Inc.’s share price of 59% since December 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2013
Dave Mansfield became CEO of the Company in 2013.
David P. Mansfield has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Provident Bancorp, Inc., Chief Executive Officer of The Provident Bank since 2013 and President of The Provident Bank since 2021, having joined The Provident Bank as Chief Financial Officer in 2001.
Mansfield served as Interim Chairman of the Board of Provident Bancorp, Inc. and The Provident Bank from April 2018 to April 2019.
Mansfield previously worked as a bank examiner for both the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
37 words by Dave Mansfield
In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Provident Bancorp Inc., Dave Mansfield received thanks.
In the announcement of the leadership change, Dave Mansfield kept it short and said 37 words.
“I leave knowing the bank is in capable hands”
Dave Mansfield stated: “Over the past 21 years, I have been fortunate to work with an amazing team at BankProv and I look forward to watching the bank continue to grow. I leave knowing the bank is in capable hands.”
Over the past 12 months, 26% of all outgoing CEOs remained silent in the departure announcement, according to data compiled by exechange. Departing CEOs who did make a statement said an average of 108 words. The longest statement was 382 words. The shortest statement was 23 words. Leadership transitions in which departing CEOs provide conspicuously short, excessively long or no explanations for their move are statistically associated with elevated pressure and show an increased incidence of Push-out Scores above the critical threshold of 5.
33% of CEOs are forced out or fired
When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.
Of the 333 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (December 23, 2021, to December 22, 2022), the average Push-out Score was 5.6, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When time with family, performance issues or other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 33% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.
In other words, in the past 12 months, three in 10 departing CEOs were forced out or fired.
Pressure in the financials sector substantially below the critical threshold
Some industries are under generally higher pressure than others, and CEOs are feeling the strain. In the past 12 months, the communication, consumer staples and health care sectors showed the highest average Push-out Scores. By contrast, pressure on CEOs was lowest in the real estate, financials and industrials sectors, as measured by average Push-out Scores.
In the financials sector, which includes Provident Bancorp Inc., the average Push-out Score over the past 12 months was 4.3, which is substantially below the critical threshold of 5.
Nevertheless, even in this sector, some CEOs were compelled to leave their posts under what appeared to be severe stress. In the financials sector, 12 exiting CEOs received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher over the past 12 months, indicating that they were most likely forced out or faced strong pressure to step down.
Push-out Score for Dave Mansfield’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Dave Mansfield’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Provident and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 1.2023 ($).