Management of the Summit operations within the new Fleet/Summit will have a decidedly hometown flavor. Altogether, 14 of the top 18 Summit Bancorp management positions will remain in the hands of the people who held them before. In a few cases, Summit managers will actually displace Fleet people who held similar positions in that company's system before the takeover.

"It's a talented team that has been there a long time, and our philosophy has been to keep the top people in place after we acquire a company," according to a FleetBoston spokesperson.

At the top level, Summit chairman/president/CEO Joseph Semrod will become vice chairman of Fleet and will head FleetBoston's Garden State operations. Current vice chairman John Collins will become president of the company's operations in the state. He will replace Fleet's own Lucia DiNapoli, who will now head the company's small business division for New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Specifically on the real estate side, Bill McCahill will stay on as head of Fleet's commercial real estate operations for Metro New York and Northern New Jersey. Also, Christophe Terlizzi will lead Fleet's commercial real estate operations for the region from South Jersey to Northern Virginia, and Patrick Kelly will be in charge of community development for the combined companies in New Jersey.

Other Summit execs who will continue to be part of the combined operations in the Garden State and nearby states include Sabry Mackoul, Summit's senior executive vice president of corporate and business banking, who will consult in the area of middle market lending and large corporate activities. James Lynch will stay on as president and CEO for Fleet in South Jersey and Pennsylvania. Hilton Jervey, Summit's chief investment officer, will lead Fleet's asset management division in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.