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Hierro sticks with roots, moves to Home Savings
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Frank Hierro has always wanted to stick with his roots.
The Youngstown-born Woodrow Wilson High School and Youngstown State University alumnus also always wanted to have a job in business.
With his recent appointment as the Mahoning Valley regional president of Home Savings and Loan Co., a subsidiary of United Community Financial Corp., he can continue playing his part in both.
“I think the people here are great,” he said. “The community has a lot to offer. There wasn’t a great deal of surprise when I joined Home Savings.”
Hierro has been in the business since the late 1970s and was most recently in an executive position at Huntington Bank. His retirement from Huntington was announced in November.
“It was an opportunity to join a Youngstown-headquartered bank,” he said. “Having all of the decisions made here locally was very attractive.”
His goal with Home Savings is to focus on work with commercial and business customers, which he says is an area that has been undersized at the bank. Home Savings has been known for its mortgage-lending business, he said.
“It is our intention to grow a [commercial and business] customer base quite substantially over the next few years,” Hierro said.
Hierro will work with the branch managers to reach those customers.
Working with customers seems to be one of Hierro’s favorite duties through the years.
He began his banking career at Mahoning National Bank of Youngstown. He started to work in servicing customers. In 1985, he started in the commercial-loan business. In the late 1980s, he started to manage other officers, and by the early 1990s, he led multiple loan departments. Sky Bank acquired Mahoning in 1999, and he became regional president for the Valley, which included Ashtabula at the time.
“It was a terrific opportunity,” he said. “We enjoyed a great deal of success at Sky.”
In 2007, Huntington acquired Sky, and his area of responsibility grew to six counties: Mercer, Lawrence and Erie in Pennsylvania and Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana.
“Banking is a very rewarding career,” Hierro said. “You get to help people achieve their goals and dreams financially.”
He remembers assisting a number of people and businesses he watched grow and succeed.
One person who sticks out in his mind as a leader in banking and his mentor is Parker McHenry. McHenry and Hierro worked together at Mahoning National Bank.
“I learned more about banking and business from him than from any book,” Hierro said. “He had a great deal of experience in lending and a tremendous ability to relate and interact with people.”
McHenry has been retired from banking for 15 years after working in the business for more than 30 years. One of his former titles includes executive vice president at Mahoning National. He also taught banking at YSU.
“Frank is an excellent, excellent man,” McHenry said. “He is an intelligent person. He is a very hard worker and a very good banker.”
McHenry said Hierro would follow what he did in banking and lending.
“It is very important that you work with the people and you treat them right,” McHenry said. “[Bankers] have to be aggressive in selling and calling on customers. Treat your customers right and they will stay with you.”
Outside of his commitment to the bank, Hierro also serves on many community boards including the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., the Youngstown Business Incubator, Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. and the YSU Foundation. He lives in Poland with his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Francesca. His son, Zachary, lives in Columbus.
“[Today], I am more energized and optimistic about the future of the bank and our community,” he said. “The outlook is very bright, and it is very bright for our bank here.”