McCune hands Community Bank's reins to his friend, O'Brien
June 21, 2018
Rick Shrum
Observer Reporter
CB Financial had its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday in Waynesburg – and an event that is a lot less common.
A changing of the guard.
Pat McCune officially retired as chief executive officer of CB Financial, the holding company for Community Bank. Pat O’Brien, his longtime friend, four-year colleague and CB’s president, has added CEO to his portfolio.
Born Barron McCune Jr., the son of a Washington County judge, the departing CEO helped nurture a bank that continues to grow. He and his wife, Ann – a longtime Peters Township dermatologist – have purchased a home near Sheridan, Wyo., where she now resides and where Pat will soon relocate. They have two adult sons.
These were the first events in what is proving to be a milestone week for the Washington-based company. Its new corporate facility, a former restaurant/banquet hall on North Franklin Drive in North Franklin Township, has been named Barron P. (“Pat”) McCune Jr. Corporate Center.
This is a two-story, 22,000-square-foot structure where Exchange Underwriters, a bank subsidiary and insurance agency, operates on the first floor. By the end of July, CB’s executive officers, lenders, and retail management, human resources, collection and audit employees will occupy the second.
CB’s corporate offices have been at 90 W. Chestnut St., Washington.
Then Friday, CB Financial will appear on the prestigious Russell 2000 Index for the first time. Its merger with First West Virginia Bancorp Inc., the Wheeling-based holding company for Progressive Bank NA – a deal that closed this spring – pushed CB’s assets to about $1.2 billion and hoisted its market capitalization to about $190 million.
Community Bank now has 24 offices in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
“We’ll trade more actively, and buy and sell shares with greater visibility,” O’Brien said. “The Russell Index 3,000 is made up of the largest companies in the nation based on market capitalization. This means Community Bank is among them.”
The two Pats have more in common than a truncated first name. Both are Washington County natives, family men, veteran bankers, devoted community leaders, North Bethlehem Township farm owners and former rec league basketball teammates.
“We’ve known each other since Pat moved back to Washington in 1992,” said O’Brien, parent of three adult children – two sons and a daughter – with his wife Chris.
Until 2014, they were president/CEO of rival Mon Valley institutions – McCune with CB Financial, O’Brien with FedFirst Financial Corp., holding company for Monessen-based First Federal Savings Bank. The Pats did not stand pat, agreeing to merge their firms into CB that April, a $54.5 million transaction of cash and stocks that closed six months later.
Together, they’ve steered a company that will turn 117 years young in 2018.