Rick Shrum For The Intelligencer
Pat McCune, literally, rode into retirement 13 months ago, relocating to Sheridan, Wyoming, with his wife and sons. It’s horse country and they had their own quadrupeds.
So it was appropriate, in a figurative sense, that he said Thursday afternoon: “I’m back in the saddle at Community Bank.”
McCune, who has been associated with the bank for 30-plus years, is back in his native Washington County, and back with his longtime employer. He has been appointed interim president and chief executive officer of the publicly traded bank and its holding company, CB Financial Services Inc.
The change was precipitated by the voluntary resignation of Pat O’Brien as president and CEO of the company and bank, which was announced Wednesday evening. The two Pats have been friends for three decades, and colleagues and professional rivals during their financial careers.
This transition is something of a role reversal, as O’Brien — then president of both entities — assumed the CEO roles when McCune resigned in June 2018.
McCune remained with CB Financial and the bank as a director and executive consultant until December 2018.
O’Brien could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday, but said in a statement: “I wish Community Bank and my many friends there the best of everything in the future. I am pleased that my old friend and mentor, Pat McCune, will be available to take over the leadership of Community Bank.”
McCune said of O’Brien: “Pat has worked tirelessly for the last 30 years. I think he wanted to do something else. He still wants to be active in the community and may start his career again.”
A Washington native, McCune is the son and namesake of Barron McCune Sr., the late U.S. District Court judge for Western Pennsylvania. Pat Jr. said he will split duties between the company’s North Franklin Township headquarters and his personal residence in Wyoming.
Although he was 1,600 miles from his roots, McCune said CB’s board contacted him in Wyoming a few weeks ago, saying O’Brien “was considering his options. Over the holidays, the board asked if I would be willing to work on an interim basis. I said, ‘Yes.’”
McCune pledged to stay on until a successor is selected.
Until 2014, each was president/CEO of a rival Mon Valley bank. McCune was at CB Financial (then based in Carmichaels), and O’Brien led FedFirst Financial Corp., holding company for Monessen-based First Federal Savings Bank. They agreed to merge their firms into CB that April 15, a $54.5 million transaction of cash and stocks that closed six months later.
A few years after that, Pat and Pat led a merger with First West Virginia Bancorp Inc., the Wheeling-based holding company for Progressive Bank NA.
The deal closed in the spring of 2018. There are branches in Bellaire, Bethlehem, Moundsville, New Martinsville, Warwood, Wellsburg and Woodsdale in the Ohio Valley.
CB Financial, in its 119th year of operation, has 24 branches in three states. Sixteen are in five Southwestern Pennsylvania counties: Washington, Greene, Allegheny, Fayette and Westmoreland.
Back in the saddle at Community Bank, McCune doesn’t anticipate a rocky ride.
“The bank is doing well,” he said. “It’s not a problem that has to be fixed.”