Meridian Bank appointed Christopher E. McDermott to senior vice president, commercial lending. He will join other members of the Meridian commercial lending team in serving business customers in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

McDermott began his long banking career right out of high school. He started as a clerk at Girard Bank and advanced through that organization while he simultaneously earned his degree in finance from LaSalle College. Moving from branch manager into commercial lending, he was a lender for both large and small institutions during the extended period of mergers and acquisitions in the Philadelphia region. He brings his breadth of expertise in establishing, building and leading commercial lending teams to his position at Meridian.

Chris Annas, CEO and founder of Meridian, said he met McDermott 10 years ago, “and we’ve been trying to get him to join us ever since. I’ve always felt Meridian’s culture of partnership and customer loyalty was the perfect fit for his experience across the broad spectrum of commercial and industrial lending. He’ll be a great complement to our team and our ‘continuum of lending’ approach to helping our customers succeed.”

McDermott resides in the Lansdale area and will work out of Meridian’s Blue Bell, PA office.