The top employee at Laconia-based Bank of New Hampshire has stepped down.

Paul Falvey resigned as president and CEO effective immediately on April 11, citing personal reasons. Falvey “will be relocating back to southeastern Massachusetts to be closer with his family,” the bank said in a statement released April 13.

For now, the top job at the $1.7 billion-asset lender will be filled by Michael J. Long, a member of the bank’s board of directors since 2016 and retired president and CEO of Community Guaranty Savings Bank in Plymouth. Bank of New Hampshire agreed to acquire that lender in 2015.

A timeline for selecting Falvey’s replacement is as yet uncertain.

“Based on the current challenges presented by COVID-19, a specific timeline or process has not yet been established. We would expect a search to begin in earnest within the next three- to six-month period,” bank Vice President for Marketing Michael J. Seymour told The Registry Review in an email.

Falvey joined the bank in December 2016 and led it through a period where assets grew by over $326,000.