Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NasdaqGS: NWBI) and Northwest Bank announced today that Ronald J. Seiffert has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of both companies. Mr. Seiffert joined Northwest in November, 2017 as President and Chief Operating Officer. In that capacity he was responsible for overseeing the company's administrative, financial, operational and revenue producing activities. He was also responsible for leading the update of the company's strategic plan. In his expanded role, Mr. Seiffert will be responsible for all of the daily operations of both companies.

Mr. Seiffert succeeds William J. Wagner, who served as President of Northwest Bank from 1998 until 2017 and Northwest Bancshares, Inc. from 2003 until 2017. He has also served as Chairman and CEO of both entities since 2003. Mr. Wagner is a 34 year veteran of Northwest and will continue in the capacity of Executive Chairman until the fourth quarter of this year, at which time he will retire from both the role of Executive Chairman and as a member of the Board of Directors.

Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, Lead Director Philip M. Tredway commented, "During Bill Wagner's tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Northwest has grown significantly in both size and sophistication to become one of the 100 largest banks in the country, while simultaneously providing exceptional value to our shareholders. Perhaps most importantly, Bill has fostered a culture at Northwest that highly values it employees, customers, shareholders and the communities we serve, and promotes loyalty, trust and integrity in everything that we do. We extend our deepest gratitude to Bill for his 34 years of dedicated service to our company." Tredway continued, "With the promotion of Ron Seiffert to CEO, we believe we have chosen a successor who is a proven leader, an accomplished banker and someone who understands the traditions that differentiate our company. We look forward to working with Ron in the years ahead."