NORWICH – NBT Bancorp President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Dietrich recently announced that Sheldon Prentice, corporate senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, has been promoted to executive vice president.

A member of the NBT Bancorp Executive Management Team, Prentice coordinates the company’s legal activities, managing external legal counsel, overseeing relations with regulatory agencies and serving as corporate secretary. He is based at the company’s headquarters in Norwich.

Prentice has 35 years of corporate law experience. Before joining NBT Bancorp, he was senior vice president and general counsel at Merchants Bancshares in South Burlington, Vt. Previously, he was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Burlington, Vt.-based Chittenden Corporation. Prior to entering the banking industry, he served as legal counsel at National Life Insurance Company, Davis Polk and Wardwell and as adjunct professor at the Vermont Law School.