Joseph Ficalora Joseph R. Ficalora

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, New York Community Bancorp, Inc. - Westbury, NY
Pace University, New York, NY
Bachelor of Professional Studies - Business, 1979

Under Joseph Ficalora’s leadership, New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has evolved from a mutual savings bank with seven branches in Queens and Nassau Counties to a publicly traded multi-bank holding company with 278 branch offices serving consumers and businesses throughout Metro New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, and Arizona. New York Community Bancorp is the 22nd largest bank holding company in the nation, with assets of $42.2 billion.

Since 1965, when he joined the Community Bank, Mr. Ficalora has been instrumental in its evolution, holding various positions of increasing responsibility across all lines of operations. Named President and Chief Operating Officer of the Community Bank in 1989, he spearheaded the establishment of New York Community Bancorp four years later, and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company since its inception on July 20, 1993.

Mr. Ficalora provides leadership to several professional banking organizations. Recently elected to the Board of Directors of the American Bankers Association, he serves on its American Bankers Council as well as its Budget Committee. A Director of the New York Bankers Association and Chairman of its Metropolitan Area Division, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, RSI Retirement Trust, and Peter B. Cannell & Co., Inc., an investment advisory firm. Mr. Ficalora is a former member of both the Thrift Institutions Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Thrift Institutions Advisory Panel.

He also is an active participant in community affairs. A member of the Board of Directors of the Queens Chamber of Commerce since 1990, Mr. Ficalora has served on its Executive Committee since April 1992. In addition, Mr. Ficalora is President of the Queens Library Foundation Board and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Queens Borough Public Library, the New York Hall of Science, Flushing Cemetery, and the Advisory Council of the Queens Museum of Art.