New named to head First National Bank

By Don Shilling

The bank holding company named a new executive leadership team.

HERMITAGE, Pa. — Robert New Jr., who recently was named president and chief executive of F.N.B. Corp., will take over the same duties at its largest subsidiary, First National Bank of Pennsylvania.

Gary Roberts announced Friday that he is retiring July 1 as president and chief executive of First National.

As New takes on the additional titles, he also is expanding the senior management team around him. He has named an executive management committee that will run the corporation’s four operational groups.

The goal of the committee is to allow more people to have input into running the company, he said.

“We will have more people in the room making decisions and getting better decisions as a result of that,” said New, who came to F.N.B. in January and took over as top executive of the Hermitage-based holding company April 1.

He replaced Stephen Gurgovits, who resigned from those posts but remains chairman of the board of directors. New had been chief executive of Green Bank in Houston.

New said he thinks the traditional management style of a bank president controlling nearly all decisions isn’t the best way to run a corporation as large as F.N.B. After several acquisitions, the company now has $8 billion in assets.

All of the members of the executive team have been with F.N.B. and are being elevated in rank.

Vincent Delie will be president of the banking group. He joined First National in 2005 as president and chief executive of its Pittsburgh region. He has 21 years of experience in financial services, including banking, investment banking and capital markets.

Louise Lowrey will be technology and support group executive. She is the company’s technology center manager and has a 37-year banking career, mostly with First National.

Gary Guerrieri, who is chief credit officer, also will serve as group executive of lending support and specialized lending. He joined First National in 2002 and has 25 years of banking experience.

Brian Lilly, who has been F.N.B.’s chief financial officer since 2003, also will hold the post of director of corporate services. He has 28 years of financial services experience.

shilling@vindy.com