Board changes at Suffolk Bancorp

Suffolk Bancorp, the Riverhead parent of the Suffolk County National Bank, said its shareholders had elected veteran banker and business consultant Steven M. Cohen to its board of directors and that director Joseph A. Gaviola had been elected chairman of the board.

Cohen, 64, is the principal of the Baywood Consulting Group of Stuart, Fla. He served as the Suffolk Bancorp’s acting chief information officer for 18 months, from May 2010 through December of last year.

Gaviola, 56, is the principal of Gaviola’s Montauk Market and an East End real estate company, Chris-Nic Properties.

Cohen succeeds Thomas S. Kohlmann, a former chief executive of the bank who is retiring as a director. Gaviola succeeds Edgar F. Goodale as chairman. Goodale will continue to serve as a director.

Suffolk County National Bank has 30 branches, all in Suffolk. The actions announced Wednesday were taken at the bank’s annual meeting of shareholders Tuesday.

The company has struggled with problems stemming from inadequate provisions on its books for bad loans: its stock was almost delisted from the Nasdaq last year after it was late in filing certain quarterly reports and had to restate two. In an SEC filing, it said management and its then accounting firm concluded that Suffolk had not maintained effective internal control over financial reporting in 2010.

With a new chief executive and chief financial officer replacing men who resigned, Suffolk said it earned $1.2 million or 12 cents a share in this year’s first quarter compared with a lost of $7.6 million or 78 cents a share a year earlier.