September 17, 2003

People's Thomas Beirne Named Chairman of New Haven Rotary Club's Charitable Trust

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. - The New Haven Rotary Club has named Thomas Beirne III, People's Bank vice president, Wealth Management & Trust, to serve as the chairman of the organization's Charitable Trust, People's Bank officials announced today.

Beirne has been a member of the New Haven Rotary Club for four years. He served on the New Haven Rotary Club's board of directors from 2000 to 2003 and was elected to its board of trustees in 2002. He also serves as membership chairman for the New Haven Rotary Club.

The New Haven Rotary Club's Charitable Trust has been involved in funding many local efforts, including providing over $10,000 annually in scholarships for college bound New Haven high school students. Rotary is the largest provider of scholarship funds in the United States. It is also involved in many international programs, including a house-building project in Haiti sponsored by the Haitian Health Foundation founded by Dr. Jeremiah J. Lowney, Jr. a member of People's Bank Board of Directors.

"We distribute the funds in the Charitable Trust to help others locally and globally," said Beirne. "People's Bank supports my service with Rotary as a reflection of the bank's commitment to its communities and youth development throughout the state."

Rotary International is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are more than 1,200,000 Rotarians worldwide belong to more than 30,000 clubs in 160 countries.

The New Haven Rotary Club was founded in December 1917. Since then the Club has sponsored the formation of Rotary Clubs in Bridgeport, Wallingford, Milford, Ansonia, Derby/Shelton, Madison, Norwalk, Branford, West Haven, Hamden, East Haven, Cheshire and Woodbridge.

People's (peoples.com) is a diversified financial services company providing consumer, commercial, insurance and investment services. Founded in 1842, it is the largest state-chartered bank in Connecticut with assets of $12 billion;156 branches, including more than 60 convenient Super Stop & Shop locations;and more than 230 ATMs. People's is a leader in consumer and commercial banking, residential lending, insurance sales, supermarket banking and is the nation's 19th-largest issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards. People's subsidiaries offer brokerage services, asset management, equipment financing and leasing, and insurance services.