F.N.B. president Roberts announces retirement

By Don Shilling

The next president of First National Bank will be announced Tuesday.

HERMITAGE, Pa. — Gary Roberts announced Friday that he is retiring as president and chief executive of First National Bank of Pennsylvania on July 1.

A replacement will be announced Tuesday, said Jennifer Reel, a spokeswoman for the bank’s parent company, F.N.B. Corp.

Roberts, 58, was named to the bank’s top posts in 2005. He is the 12th person to serve as president of the bank, which was founded in Greenville in 1864.

Roberts has been with F.N.B. since 1997 when he was named president and chief executive of Metropolitan National Bank in Youngstown, which was a subsidiary of F.N.B. When Metropolitan and First National merged in 2002, Roberts became senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of the combined operations.

“Gary Roberts was the right person at the right time for First National Bank,” commented Stephen Gurgovits, F.N.B. chairman.

Gurgovits called Roberts a significant contributor in the decision to move the corporate headquarters back to Hermitage in 2003. The company had relocated its headquarters to Florida for a while. It later spun off its Florida branches into a separate company, which was acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp.

Gurgovits noted that he and Roberts have worked to complete six acquisitions as F.N.B. has continued to expand. First National has 215 branches in Pennsylvania and Ohio and has loan production offices in Tennessee and Florida.

Roberts said he thinks this is the right time to retire because First National recently completed its merger with Omega Financial Corp., a banking company based in State College, Pa.

“I feel I have achieved my objectives and look forward to a new phase in my life, which includes travel and time with my wife, children and grandchildren,” Roberts said.

Roberts and his wife, Beth, live in Hermitage, where he has been active in United Way and other community agencies.

shilling@vindy.com