Franczyk named CEO
Centra Financial Holdings Inc. has announced it has named longtime area banker Edward Franczyk as the new president and chief executive officer of its Fayette County company. Centra Financial, which operates West Virginia-based Centra Bank, has merged with Smithfield State Bank, based in Smithfield. Following final regulatory approvals, Smithfield Bank will become Centra Bank.
Douglas J. Leech, chairman and CEO of Centra Financial Holdings and Centra Bank, announced that Franczyk, a 34-year Fayette County banking executive, will immediately join Smithfield State Bank as president and CEO of the organization.
Franczyk will assume the duties of current Smithfield Bank CEO Ryan Glista, who announced this week that he will step down as president in mid-August and leave the bank to pursue other career opportunities following the bank’s accounting and data processing conversions in February.
Franczyk, a native of Uniontown, began his banking career at Gallatin National Bank in 1972. While there he held progressively responsible customer service positions, rising to the position of regional vice president of retail banking for Integra Bank, successor to Gallatin Bank.
Since 1996, Franczyk has been vice president of the Private Financial Group of National City Bank, where he manages a large portfolio of customers in the Fayette County area.
Leech said he is “very pleased’ that Franczyk is joining Centra.
“We feel very fortunate to have hired such an established and experienced banker as Ed Franczyk. Ed has a long and distinguished banking career in Fayette County. He knows the people, he knows the market and he knows Fayette County banking. We look forward to working with him and to his leadership in implementing the extensive plans we have for this area.”
Leech explained that since the process began to acquire Smithfield State Bank, he has met with “more than 100 people. One of the questions I have been asking is who is the top banker in Uniontown or Fayette County.
“I heard a lot of good names, but no name came as close to the answer as Ed Franczyk,” Leech said. “As I went around Uniontown talking to folks, he was the one that came up and was most like us. He believes in customer service.
“He will be the president and CEO of the new Centra Bank here in Fayette County. We are in the process of forming the corporation into which the existing bank will be merged. He will be president and CEO and manage all aspects of the market here,’ said Leech.
Franczyk is a graduate of Waynesburg College, The PBA School of Banking at Bucknell University and the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia. He serves on the board of Goodwill Industries of Fayette County and the Catholic Foundation Diocese of Greensburg board of trustees. He has been a recipient of the Herman M. Buck community service award, which is presented annually by the Fayette Chamber of Commerce.
On Monday, Leech announced that nearly all of Smithfield State Bank’s shareholders approved the merger with Centra.
He said the actual vote was 97.6 percent of the shareholders in favor; 0.3 percent against; and the rest of the shareholders did not vote.
“We have already notified the FDIC of the outcome of the vote and we expect their final approval by Aug. 15,’ Leech said in a telephone interview. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is one of the regulatory agencies that must approve the merger.
“Smithfield Bank’s board of directors, its employees and its management is in favor of the merger,’ Leech, a Smithfield native, said.
He added that following the FDIC approval, Centra will begin selecting people to serve on the Fayette County bank’s board of directors.