DELMAR — Kinderhook Bank clients can expect a change next month — that’s when the Delaware Plaza branch moves across the street to its own building.
“This is a big move for us,” said Jeff Stone, senior vice president for Kinderhook Bank.
Kinderhook Bank’s Delmar branch has called Delaware Plaza home for six years, but it saw the opportunity to move once the former First Niagara Bank closed following an acquisition by Key Corp last October. By March, Kinderhook Bank announced it was moving in.

Just a few weeks later, Kinderhook Bank announced it was hiring on a familiar face with ties to its new building.
Shoham Piorentino was named assistant vice president and branch manager at the Kinderhook Bank in Delmar in April. The Delmar resident worked at 197 Delaware Ave. for 21 years, going back to the former Cohoes Savings Bank, which opened in 1994.
“I started my career in that building with a small community bank and was able to stay there for over 20 years, so that building feels like a second home to me,”
Piorentino said. “When I had the opportunity to join Kinderhook Bank and go back to community banking, I jumped at it. Having the chance to return to work in that same building is a bonus – I feel like I have come back home.”
Piorentino is an active member of the community and is a board member of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Bethlehem Microenterprise Grant Review Committee and the Bethlehem Area YMCA. She was honored by the Albany Business Review’s 40 Under 40 Award in 2011.
Joining Piorentino to staff the new Kinderhook Bank location is Elizabeth Bukowski, Tanyah Simmons and Laura Kennedy.
“This team has been together for many years and brings with them some

very strong customer service and business development skills, as well as long term community relationships,” said Jeff Stone, senior vice president. “Everybody in Delmar knows Shoham and her team.”
Bukowski will hold the position of senior personal banker and will be responsible for the oversight of all operations and customer service for the branch. She advanced her career to branch supervisor during her tenure with First Niagara, and to lead teller at KeyBank.
Simmons and Kennedy will hold the position of personal bankers at the new Delmar Banking Center and will be responsible for customer service and business development.
Both Simmons and Kennedy advanced their financial services careers at Cohoes Savings Bank, Hudson River Bank & Trust, and First Niagara and are a foundation of the Delmar community.
Piorentino will head a team that will take advantage of the expansive, 4,500-square foot building, allowing the Delmar branch to adopt Kinderhook Bank customer service practices — from extended branch hours to drive thru services, safe deposit boxes, and in-lobby amenities.
“The larger Delmar location gives us an opportunity to enhance our services with a state-of-the art facility after our significant renovations,” said Stone. “It will have our signature high-end open floor plan which encourages customer interaction with their banker, which Kinderhook Bank pioneered in the Capital Region in 2007 for our East Greenbush branch.”
Soon, patrons will walk into a beautiful, comfortable building, and instead of teller lines, customers will conduct transactions together with their personal banker.
“There will be a relaxed lobby atmosphere where the staff builds one-on-one relationships with our customers, and offers conveniences such as iPads and Wi-Fi, free coffee/water and cookies for customers, and treats for their pets,” said Stone.
The new branch will also feature a coin counter and a 24/7 drive-up full-function ATM which will dispense multiple note denominations, accept envelope-free cash and check deposits, and produce smart receipts.
Kinderhook Bank, established in 1853, offers a full line of individual and business-banking and lending services, including commercial loan services with Frank Trosset, Vice President, Commercial Lending.