Boston Private Financial Holdings has named Mark Thompson as chief executive of the BPFH private banking group and James Dawson as managing director, West Coast private banking.

Thompson will be responsible for the overall performance of the company's private banks, a segment that includes Boston Private Bank & Trust in Boston, First Private Bank & Trust in Los Angeles, Borel Private Bank & Trust Company in San Francisco and Charter Private Bank in Seattle.

Thompson will also become a member of BPFH's senior policy group and will retain his current role as CEO and president of Boston Private Bank & Trust. He has been with Boston Private Bank & Trust since 1994.

Dawson will relocate to San Francisco, where he will be directly responsible for the activities of the company's three West Coast private banks. He will also continue to serve as a member of BPFH's senior policy group. He began his career with the company in 1996 at Boston Private Bank, where he was president and chief operating officer, and joined the holding company in 2008.

"Private banking is core to our strategy and critical to our long term performance. Accelerating the adoption of our ideal private bank model across all of our markets is key to achieving our growth and return objectives," said Clayton Deutsch, BPFH's CEO.

BPFH offers private banking, wealth advisory and investment management services to the high net worth marketplace, businesses and institutions.