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**BEACON      FEDERAL BANCORP, INC.**

**Certification        of Chief Executive Officer **

**Pursuant        to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002**

| I,                  Ross J. Prossner, certify that: |
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| 1.                                                  | I                  have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Beacon Federal                  Bancorp, Inc.; |
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| 2.                                                  | Based                  on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue                  statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary                  to                  make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which                  such                  statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period                  covered by                  this quarterly report; |
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| 3.                                                  | Based                  on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial                  information                  included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material                  respects                  the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of                  the                  registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly                  report; |
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| 4.                                                  | The                  registrant’s other certifying officers and I are responsible for                  establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures                  (as                  defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the                  registrant                  and have: |
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|                                                | (a) | designed                  such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure                  controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to                  ensure                  that material information relating to the registrant, including                  its                  consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within                  those                  entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly                  report is                  being prepared; |
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|                                                | (b) | evaluated                  the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures                  and presented in this quarterly report our conclusions about the                  effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of                  the end of                  the period covered by this quarterly report based on such evaluation;                  and |
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|                                                | (c) | disclosed                  in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over                  financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent                  fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in case of an                  annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely                  to                  materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial                  reporting; and |
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| 5.                                                  | The                  registrant’s other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our                  most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,                  to                  the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s                  board of directors: |
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|                                                | (a) | all                  significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design                  or                  operation of internal control over financial reporting which are                  reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record,                  process, summarize and report financial information; and |
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|                                                | (b) | any                  fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other                  employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control                  over financial reporting. |

| Date:                  September 24, 2007 |                                                                    |
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|                                      | /s/                Ross J.                Prossner                      |
|                                      | Ross                  J. Prossner                                       |
|                                      | President                  and Chief Executive                  Officer |