Community Bank CEO receives award
Jim McCune started picking on his little brother again.
“When I told Pat I would be introducing him, he said, ‘That means you’ll say only nice things about me.’ Well … not necessarily. I can tell some stories.”
He was poised to do so, but pulled back for the well-being of all.
“Bank board members are here, and I don’t want to give them indigestion. They’ll be looking at one another, ‘He did what?!'”
Pat McCune was spared the verbal brotherly shove. The long, angular president and chief executive officer of Community Bank stood even taller Thursday night, receiving the Southpointe CEO Association’s annual World Class CEO award at a dinner at Hilton Garden Inn in Southpointe.
He was the 13th honoree, before a crowd of about 140 that included his wife, Ann, a dermatologist; their sons, Sam and Joe; and a number of Community Bank employees and Washington County business figures.
The award, said Stephanie Urchick, executive director of the CEO group, celebrates an individual who had an impact on business in the region.
This wasn’t the only award bestowed Thursday.
Two recently graduated high school students each received a $2,500 academic scholarship from the CEO association: Eric Cox of Peters Township, who will attend the University of Pittsburgh, and Taylor Timmons of South Fayette, who is bound for John Carroll University.
His brother’s impact goes well beyond business, Jim McCune said as the introduction segued from hilarity to sincerity. He reflected back to 1987, when Pat returned to Washington County following years of education and a career launch.
“Pat quickly became a guy people went to for anything. Pat is so much like our father (the late Barron P. McCune Sr., an esteemed local judge). Pat is my best friend, my personal adviser. When something comes up, I ask myself, ‘What would Pat do in this situation?'”
It also was pats on the back for Pat from another Pat.
“Pat McCune not only is a world-class CEO, he is a world-class friend, husband, father and man of integrity,” said Pat O’Brien, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer at Community Bank, based in Carmichaels.
The Pats have known one another for years while leading competing banks. O’Brien was president and CEO of Monessen-based First Federal Savings Bank until it was absorbed by Community last year. McCune was a major force behind the merger, a $54.5 million transaction of cash and stocks that has resulted in 17 branches in five Southwestern Pennsylvania counties.
Community Bank is among the top 200 banks nationally in return of equity and has a five-star Bauer rating. O’Brien said his former – but friendly – rival has been the linchpin in that success.
“Being in the banking business hasn’t been the best place to be in the last six or seven years,” O’Brien said. “Through Pat’s leadership, Community Bank has weathered that storm.”
McCune’s journey, pre- and post-storm, has been lengthy yet interesting. He was born in Washington, grew up in East Washington and graduated from Washington High School. He secured a bachelor’s in economics from Duke University, a law degree from Denver University and a master’s from Georgetown University’s ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking, with which he served for several years as a Capstone Adviser.
McCune became legal counsel to Community Bank in the late 1980s; joined its board in 1992; left the legal profession seven years later to become Community’s president; then in 2005, was named president, CEO and vice chairman of the bank and its parent, CB Financial Services Inc.
Now he is the Southpointe CEO Association’s top choice. Stepping to the dais as the closing speaker, McCune said he developed “a personal philosophy about 10 years ago” that guides him personally and professionally. He called them “four simple values I follow.”
They are: Respect yourself by being very true to your values; do the right thing; be honest, brave and confident; and “experience the joy of life every day, including the challenges. Life is not perfect and never will be. You have to find what’s good in life and embrace it.”
He closed by acknowledging a group that is special to him, and asked them to stand.
“I accept this honor,” he said, “in recognition of the employees of Community Bank.”
Another display of brotherly love.