Steve’s breakdown: The new guy will handle “agency partners tasked with implementing traditional and interactive advertising, marketing and promotions.”

BUFFALO, NY: First Niagara Financial Group Inc. Thursday said it has promoted Avi Patel to serve as chief marketing officer.

Buffalo-based First Niagara (Nasdaq:FNFG) is among the largest banks serving Pittsburgh.

Patel is responsible for First Niagara’s branding and marketing strategies, as well as management of departments and agency partners tasked with implementing those strategies through traditional and interactive advertising, marketing and promotions. Patel joined First Niagara from Wilmington Trust Co. in January 2011 as senior vice president and director of its retail product development and management group, a role he will continue.

“Avi empowers his teams to collaborate and succeed, providing leadership that is at once visionary and practical,” Mark Rendulic, executive vice president, retail banking, said in a prepared statement. Rendulic had been one of National City Corp.’s top officers in Pittsburgh prior to joining First Niagara in 2009.

Patel earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

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