TowneBank has named Ernest Piccioli, a former executive at Truist Financial Corp. as its new chief risk officer and senior executive vice president. Piccioli started his role in May and is now based at TowneBank's headquarters in Suffolk, Virginia.

He was a Charlotte-based banker for decades. Piccioli is responsible for the effective governance of risk programs for TowneBank and oversees the risk management, vendor management, credit review and appraisal services He has more than three decades of risk management experience, including most recently serving as a business-unit chief risk officer for retail and small business banking at Charlotte-based Truist. Piccioli had also previously worked at Winston-Salem-based BB&T, which merged with Atlanta-based SunTrust in late 2019 to form Truist.

Piccioli replaces John Wallace, who was formerly promoted as TowneBank's chief risk officer in October of last year. Piccioli earned his bachelor's degree in business management and economics from N.C. State and an MBA at Wake Forest University. He has remained active in the community throughout his career by serving as a member of the Risk Management Association's Lending and Credit Risk Professionals group and the Consumer Bankers Association Risk Committee.