S&T Bank Work Values

Daily Duties at S&T Bank:

S & T BANK RESPONSIBILITIES The bank president at the time created an EVP position for me and I was initially hired to take ownership of all “bank related” insurance products. Those being credit life and disability insurance, mortgage life and disability insurance, commercial title insurance, mortgage title insurance, and the Bank Owned Life Insurance (BOLI) program. However, the primary focus going forward was to get the bank into the independent insurance agency business as a result of the passage of the Graham Leach Bliley Act permitting banks to do so. After conducting a lot of research, and knowing I only had one chance to be successful at this since it was a totally new venture outside the traditional banking operations, I decided to engage a reputable M&A firm by the name of Reagan Consulting based in Atlanta, Ga. Since they had assisted other banks, and felt it necessary to start to develop a relationship with them because I was determined I would find the right agency and would need them at the ready. In addition, I new the principal I was working with from my previous days at the Reschini Group. I had many conversations, more than I can remember, with a lot of independent agencies throughout the banks 10 county footprint in Western Pa. I quickly recognized the key was to find the right agency that was not only profitable, but just as important fit the banks culture, something banks are very particular about. I was the only insurance related employee at the bank at this time out of approx. 800 employees. After many conversations over many months with the majority shareholder of a second generation agency, I decided to conduct the comprehensive due diligence process with the assistance of Reagan Consulting as I felt this was a match. It turned out to be exactly what I was looking for with the proper mix of business, and on August 1st, 2002, I help facilitate S&T Bank’s purchase of the Evergreen Insurance Agency. Immediately after the closing, I recognized the need to find additional talent to assist me with the post acquisition implementation strategy and integration of the agency into the bank platform. At that time, the agency had 17 employees and two locations. I successfully recruited an individual who at the time was one of seven regional managers for a very large regional brokerage operation known at the time as CBIZ. I hired her as the Sr. VP of the agency and kept the previous majority owner an s President to keep things stable. I in turn was promoted to President of S&T Insurance Group, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank in addition to my continuing role as an Executive Vice President of the bank. All bank related insurance products and the agency now feel under this affiliate company. I was adamant that we took a very managed, well thought out and controlled approach as far as how to integrate the agency. The two opportunities were to use the banks capital to but additional agencies and capitalize on the opportunity to refer existing bank customers to the agency for their insurance needs. It was a must that the agency producers first gained the trust and confidence of the bank’s relationship managers if they expected to be introduced to their customers. At the beginning of 2003, I created and implemented all necessary reports to track all insurance related activity while setting annual goals and objectives for all lines of business, with emphasis on the production staff of the agency. In turn, I achieved or exceeded the individual goals set for me every year as both an EVP and President of the Insurance Group In 2005, the ABIA (American Bankers Insurance Association) recognized S&T Bank/Evergreen Insurance as one of two Top Bank Agency partnerships in the country. The full article is available through either the ABIA or Reagan Consulting. By this time we had successfully integrated the agency into the bank platform; however, doing so in key select markets due to the fact we were much smaller and had no where near the manpower to service the entire bank territory. We focused on where the agency had a physical presence and where employees were part of the communities. In 2005 and 2006 we acquired two smaller additional agencies to add to the Evergreen foundation a in further expanding our presence in the marketplace. By now we had about 30 employees, 5 locations and significant revenue growth and I was ultimately responsible for the oversight of all aspects of the agencies operations in addition to my EVP responsibilities (i.e. compliance, audit, risk management, marketing, accounting etc.) applicable to both the bank related products and the insurance agency. In addition I supervised the agency President, Sr Vice President and all production staff and always reported to the bank president. Recent legislation and major regulatory environmental changes for financial institutions made the above task very cumbersome but necessary and it seemed there was always something we were required to comply with or change. Due to almost all banks now struggling financially to grow earnings, it became more difficult to justify the purchase of additional agencies as the best use of capital expenditure. As the result of always being part of a sales organization for the majority of my career, my belief has always been to control what you can control. In this case, keep writing new business and retain what you have on the books today. We had a record new business production year in 2010 with $1 Million of new production which is extremely large for an agency our size, let alone any agency, and our retention rate was historically 93+ % which is at the top of peer comparisons.

What they like about S&T Bank:

You highly value a work environment built on a formal structure, rules, and regulations. You do not enjoy the unpredictability of shifting priorities and deadlines that upset your routine. You require and enjoy direction, input and accountability as part of your work environment. You have a strong need to participate in making key decisions and feel left out if your superiors or co-workers do not seek your input when making decisions. You thrive on providing good customer service to both internal or external customers, and doing so makes you feel good.

Tags

Senior Management, Sales Management, Supervisor, Insurance , Vice President, President, Executive Management, Sales, Visionary, Strategic Planning and Budgeting, Organizational Management, Mergers and Acquisitions

Skills

P&L responsibilities, Technology Solutions, Sales Support, Requirements Analysis & Specification, Leadership , Strong oral, written and interpersonal communication skills, Independently driven and motivated , Outgoing personality

These are some of the questions we asked our climbers about their experiences with S&T Bank: