The Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank announced Wednesday that president and chief executive officer Christopher Wells has resigned.

Bank trustees announced the resignation in a brief press release, saying only that Mr. Wells had resigned effective immediately for personal reasons.

“We thank Chris for his service to the bank and wish him well in his future endeavors,” said board chairman Philip J. Norton Jr.

Thomas J. Sharkey, chief financial officer at the bank, has been appointed interim president and chief executive officer.

A respected community leader with a long career in community banking, Mr. Wells has been at the helm of the bank since 2004, when he was named president of the Dukes County Savings Bank. In 2007 he presided over the merger of the savings bank and the Martha’s Vineyard Cooperative Bank, becoming president and chief executive officer of the newly-named Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank.

At the end of 2011 the bank had total assets of $525 million.

Bank trustees said in the press release that an executive search firm will be used to find a replacement for Mr. Wells.

Reached at the bank home office in Edgartown yesterday, Mr. Sharkey said he had little to add to the news of Mr. Wells’s sudden departure. “Chris reported directly to the board; he did give his resignation to them and they accepted it. The board is holding that pretty strictly confidential . . . and I am respecting it,” Mr. Sharkey said. He added that the financial position of the bank remains strong. “I can adamantly say that this is unrelated to the financial condition of the bank. It’s something between Chris and the board, and if I can allay anyone’s concerns that it’s a financial thing — it is not,” he said.