Officer says Centra Bank definitely coming to Fayette County
Doug Leech was relieved when the first customer walked into the newly opened Centra Bank office in Morgantown on Feb. 14, 2000. A half dozen years and $560 million in assets later, he has set his sights on branching into Pennsylvania by acquiring Fayette County’s last locally owned bank.
Leech is CEO of Centra Financial Holdings Inc., of Morgantown, W.Va., which operates eight Centra Bank offices in Morgantown and Martinsburg, W.Va. Centra has been negotiating with Smithfield State Bank shareholders to acquire the four-office Fayette County bank.
It will be Centra’s first acquisition since its founding.
“We are coming to Fayette County,’ Leech proclaimed.
This week, Centra stepped closer to making that happened when Leech announced that more than 81 percent of the shareholders of Smithfield State Bank want to sell their stock to Centra. According to Leech, it’s just a matter now for regulatory approvals, which, he added, should come in about 60 days.
Quick to explain this is not a hostile takeover, Leech said some of Smithfield State Bank’s shareholders asked him to start negotiations to buy their stock.
“They approached me,’ he said in a recent interview.
But it suited Centra’s purposes, he added, “because we have been interested in coming to Fayette County for some time.’
Centra Bank, Leech said, plans to use its already successful model in shaping its Fayette operations.
Although the name of the 80-year-old Smithfield State Bank will disappear, Centra will continue to run it as a “locally owned and operated bank.
“All the decisions will be made locally. All the decisions will be made right here in Fayette County,’ Leech, a Smithfield native, said.
“We will form a bank holding company with its own board whose members will be from this area. Loans here will be approved by Fayette County people, not someone in another state. Our product prices and offerings will be tailored to Fayette County. All hiring decisions will be made here in Fayette County,’ Leech said.
“We will bring all the latest technological advances to our customers,’ including Internet banking and bill paying through Centra’s Web site, long-term fixed rate mortgages, a first-time home buyer program and other products.
Part of Centra’s banking model and its philosophy, Leech said, is “placing a great deal of weight on the character (of its customers) as opposed to a score sheet. We will be a local bank with local management that will keep its decision-making close to our customers.’
Leech explained that model has helped make Centra one of the nation’s most successful new banks.
“We have had a lot of fun with it and our shareholders are pleased with the way it has worked out. We don’t lose customers and we have no employee turnover,’ he said.
West Virginia Banking Commissioner Larry Stark said Centra is his state’s fastest growing bank. Centra is ranked fourth for growth and success of all 680 new banks started in 2000, according to Danielson & Associates, a Rockville, Md., investment banking firm.
Centra also ranks first in mortgage lending in Monongalia County, W.Va. and exceeded its first year growth forecast of $28 million in its first two weeks of operation, Leech said.
Some 700 local shareholders own Centra Financial Holdings. There is a long waiting list for others who would like to buy Centra stock, Leech added.
Centra’s total assets are about $560 million. Total deposits are about $501 million and total loans are about $485 million. Centra’s net income for 2005 reached more than $3.9 million, after taxes.
Leech, who has more than 25 years in banking, said Centra is also focused on the community, making donations of more than $128,000 in 2005 to a variety of groups. Centra employees are involved in more than 60 charities and non-profit organizations.
Centra employs about 170 people.
Leech is proud of his staff as well as the members of the Centra boards of directors. There are separate boards for the Morgantown and Martinsburg operations.
“Our board members are all entrepreneurs,’ and include Arthur Gabriel, president of Gabriel Brothers Inc., and Milan Puskar, chairman of Mylan Labs.
“That’s the kind of corporation we want for Fayette County, a board that is a who’s who of local business and civic leaders,’ he said.
Leech, who is also Centra Financial Holdings’ founder, was formerly president and CEO of Huntingdon Banks West Virginia. He also served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of One Valley Bank’s Northern Division. Leech began his career as a certified public accountant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co. in Pittsburgh in 1976 prior to entering the West Virginia banking industry in 1980. He is an honors graduate of Penn State University.
He is involved in a number of different organizations and serves as chairman of the board of governors of West Virginia University, a board member of Mylan Labs and a member of the board of Schreyer Honors College at Penn State.
Leech’s parents, Joe and Doris Leech, live in Smithfield R.D. 3. “My great-grandfather, Jesse Leech, was a cashier at First National Bank,’ which preceded Smithfield State Bank in its present headquarters in Smithfield.
Leech explained his great-great-grandfather was one of First National Bank’s founders.
However, the Great Depression forced many banks to close, although Smithfield State Bank survived thanks in part to its investments being in real estate rather than the stock market.
Leech explained that banks sold off much of those real estate holdings “for pennies on the dollar’ to buyers who still had cash. The proceeds from those sales kept the banks in business.
Smithfield, Leech added, “Is my hometown. For 51 years, I have been a member of Mount Moriah Baptist Church. I have taught Sunday school there. It’s like a homecoming for me.
“The potential that I may sit in the same office that my great-grandfather sat in and in the bank my great-great-grandfather built is there,’ he said, his voice trailing.
Leech and his wife, Dana, have six children: Christy Leech Burns of Charlotte, N.C., who works in sales for Staples office supply’s national business and is a part-time model; his son, Douglas M. Leech, who works for Ernst and Young, the international CPA firm in Pittsburgh; and Josh, Aaron, Meghan and Jacob Zerkel, at home.