Vincent Delie Jr., CEO of First National Bank of Pennsylvania, managed to lead his bank through a time when business-as-usual was anything but usual. Not only did Delie and FNB survive the worst of the recession, but he found ways to grow the bank, especially in its biggest region, Pittsburgh.
“There were quite a few obstacles,” Delie says. “It seemed like every line item on our balance sheet was being challenged one way or another. There was quite a bit of concern not just with our institution but across the country in regard to how we would fund ourselves moving forward.”
Growth during a downturn is a rigorous task and one that takes time and persistence. Delie looked to the talents of the bank’s 2,300 employees to tap into opportunities in the marketplace to take the company into unchartered waters. Those initiatives helped the bank see revenue of $369.9 million in 2010.
“In this market, you can see that the companies in western Pennsylvania seemed to have fared better through the recession, because they’ve had a lot of practice over the years,” he says. “We’ve had some very difficult times here where we’ve been hit harder than the rest of the country during more mild cyclical declines.”
The good fortune he has seen was no accident; it took hard work and strategic planning by Delie and his employees to push through. Here’s how Delie took advantage of new opportunities to get FNB through the downturn.
