Gulas to become Farmers CEO
By GRACE WYLER
canfield
Farmers National Banc Corp., the holding company of Farmers National Bank, has appointed John Gulas, chief operating officer, as its new chief executive and president, the company announced.
Gulas, 51, replaces current president Frank Paden on July 1, the final step in a two-year corporate-succession strategy that began when Gulas joined the company in July 2008.
“We have been building this for the last two years,” Gulas said Thursday. “It has been very organized, very deliberate.”
Paden will remain with Farmers as chairman of the boards of directors for the company and the bank.
“Frank will be a big part of the strategy going forward,” Gulas said. “We will work to continue the transition.”
Gulas was brought on as chief operating officer to engineer the company’s growth strategy and eventually take the role of chief executive as Paden neared retirement, said Amber Wallace, the bank’s marketing director.
In the two years since Gulas joined Farmers, the bank’s assets have grown to more than $1 billion for the first time in its history. The company acquired Butler Wick Trust, now Farmers Trust Company, in 2009, and it recently added an insurance agency to its wealth-management division.
Under the new leadership, the company will continue to pursue “managed growth” by broadening its product line and increasing deposits and loans, Gulas said.
Farmers’ growth strategy will continue to focus primarily on the Mahoning Valley, but the company also will look at expansion opportunities and potential acquisitions, he said.
“We’re a community bank, first and foremost,” Gulas said. “But we know that there are communities within the region that could use the services we provide.”
The company is in the process of deciding whether it will appoint a new chief operating officer to replace Gulas or return to a more traditional bank- management structure, with senior management reporting directly to the company president, Gulas added.