Nye takes over at National Grand Bank

MARBLEHEAD-The National Grand Bank has begun its 178th year with a change in leadership.On Monday James Nye, the bank’s vice president in charge of real estate lending, will officially become the Marblehead institution’s 13th president. He was elected by the trustees Nov. 10.Barry Weed, who has been with the bank for 46 years, eight of them as president, will be retiring. His last day was Wednesday.Nye is a Marblehead native and one of those who can claim the Mary Alley Hospital as his birthplace. He is a 1979 graduate of Marblehead High and a 1985 graduate of Bentley College, and is familiar to many local residents for his service on the Board of Selectmen for the past three years.He lives on Rockaway Avenue with his wife, Tonya, and three daughters, Abigail, 13, Alyssa, 10, and Ashley, 8.Nye will be talking the reins of a financial institution that opened its doors Nov. 18, 1831.Nationally many large financial institutions are enduring troubled times, mostly due to bad loans, but the National Grand Bank has maintained prudent loan policies and is in a stronger position than many larger lenders.”The mortgage department has been very well run,” Nye said. “We have a great staff here. We haven’t had a foreclosure since 1991.”According to its website the National Grand Bank makes a concerted effort to give people mortgages they can afford. “For awhile people said we were very conservative,” Nye observed, “but it’s (regulation enforcement) come around.”Nye was formerly associated with Chase Manhattan Mortgage and worked in sales for the Bristol Meyers Squibb Pharmaceutical Co. In 2005, a chance meeting with Eliot Rothwell, the founder of the National Grand Bank’s mortgage company and a sailing friend of Nye’s father, led to Nye taking on a new challenge.In a public statement, Weed and Nye both stressed their bank’s commitment to personal service.”It’s a tremendous honor to take over this great institution,” Nye said. “The only reason we’re here is to help this community.”