Evans Bancorp, Inc. Names Lee C. Wortham as Board Chairman and Oliver H. Sommer as Vice Chairman

Evans Bancorp, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE American: EVBN), a community financial services company serving Western New York since 1920, announced that Lee C. Wortham has been elected to serve as its next Chairman, effective April 1, 2018, and Oliver H. Sommer was selected to serve as Vice Chair.

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Lee C. Wortham (Photo: Business Wire)

Mr. Wortham has been a director of the Company since 2011 and has held the position of Vice Chairman since April 2012. He is a Partner in Barrantys LLC, where he manages key client relationships focused on developing and implementing investment, estate and tax planning strategies. He has more than three decades of financial services experience, including holding key positions such as Executive Vice President of First Niagara Financial Group, where his responsibilities included wealth management, risk management, and corporate marketing; Managing Director of the Global Private Bank at JP Morgan Chase; and Executive Vice President of Global Private Client Services at The Bank of New York. He began his career at M&T Bank in retail banking in 1980.

"Lee’s extensive experience in the financial services industry makes him an invaluable member of our Board and its Audit, Enterprise Risk and Human Resource and Compensation committees,” said David J. Nasca, President and CEO of Evans Bancorp, Inc. "His expertise has been critical in helping the Board analyze and direct the Company’s strategies and negotiate a changing financial services landscape to assist Evans in expanding its business, product offerings, and revenue stream as a high performing and competitive financial institution.”

Mr. Wortham replaces current Board Chairman, John R. O’Brien, who previously announced his retirement effective March 31, 2018. Mr. O’Brien has served as Chair since April 2012.

Oliver H. Sommer was elected to the Board of Directors in April 2017 and will be replacing Mr. Wortham as Vice Chairman. Mr. Sommer is a partner with The River Group, a management consulting firm that assists CEOs and senior executives in achieving strategic intent during times of transformational change, including restructuring, fundamental changes in strategic direction, mergers and acquisitions, and rapid organic growth. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development with First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. and as a financial industry consultant as President of Aston Associates.

"Oliver brings wide-ranging financial institution and banking expertise to our organization,” said Nasca. "His broad experience in strategy, corporate development and business combinations adds unique talents that will help us position Evans as a successful, high-powered community financial institution.”

About Evans Bancorp, Inc.

Evans Bancorp, Inc. is a financial holding company and the parent company of Evans Bank, N.A., a commercial bank with $1.3 billion in assets and $1.1 billion in deposits at December 31, 2017. Evans is a full-service community bank, with 14 financial centers providing comprehensive financial services to consumer, business and municipal customers throughout Western New York. Evans Bancorp's wholly owned insurance subsidiary, The Evans Agency, LLC, provides life insurance, employee benefits, and property and casualty insurance through nine insurance offices in the Western New York region. Evans Investment Services provides non-deposit investment products, such as annuities and mutual funds. Evans Bancorp, Inc. and Evans Bank routinely post news and other important information on their websites, at www.evansbancorp.com and www.evansbank.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning future business, revenue and earnings. These statements are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance, events or results. There are risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of Evans Bancorp to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements include competitive pressures among financial services companies, interest rate trends, general economic conditions, changes in legislation or regulatory requirements, effectiveness at achieving stated goals and strategies, and difficulties in achieving operating efficiencies. These risks and uncertainties are more fully described in Evans Bancorp’s Annual and Quarterly Reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Evans Bancorp undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new, updated information, future events or otherwise.

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