Mirror photo by Walt Frank
Vice President, Retail Banking Sales Manager Jessica Kitt (from left), President/CEO Greg Hayes and Branch Manager Emily Sollenberger chat at Kish Bank’s new office at 615 Pleasant Valley Blvd., Altoona.
Belleville-based Kish Bank recently opened its first Blair County branch at 615 Pleasant Valley Blvd.
“Kish is thrilled to be joining the Altoona community,” said Greg Hayes, Kish president and CEO. “We saw an opportunity … the bigger banks have been closing branches, service to clients was diminishing; we felt we could close that gap.”
Kish Bank is a $1.4 billion regional community bank that operates 18 offices and financial centers serving Centre, Mifflin, Huntingdon, Blair and Juniata counties and northeastern Ohio. Other business units of Kish Bank include: Kish Insurance, Kish Financial Solutions, Kish Benefits Consulting and Kish Travel. Kish Bank is a subsidiary of Kish Bancorp Inc.
Hayes’ family has been involved with the bank since the Farmers National Bank of Belleville and the Belleville National Bank merged in 1935.
“My great-grandfather (Abner Reed Hayes Sr.) organized the merger. He put up his own capital with others in the valley to form Kishacoquillas Valley National Bank. We will always be headquartered in Belleville. We just built an innovation center to support staff and technology staff in Reedsville off Route 322,” Hayes said.
His grandfather, Abner Reed Hayes Jr., and his father, William P. Hayes, also were part of the Kish Bank family.
The firm started using the name Kish Bank in the mid-1990s, but the official name change did not happen until 2013 when the bank switched from a national charter to a state charter.
“The state banking system more closely aligned with what we were trying to do,” Hayes said.
“We partner with people through products and services to help them with their financial betterment. If our communities don’t grow, we don’t grow,” Hayes said.
American Eagle Paper Mills and S.P. McCarl & Co. are among Kish’s satisfied customers.
“Kish Bank provided the funding for us to build our warehouse and install our gas-fired boiler. Without the gas-fired boiler, we would probably be out of business,” said AEPM Vice President of Finance and Administration Clark Adelman.
“Our team is extremely pleased that Kish opened a branch in Altoona. The level of personal customer service our accounting team has experienced with account setup and troubleshooting is unmatched. Whether it has been business or personal banking, or mortgages, Kish has consistently delivered,” said McCarl President/CEO Liz Burke.
Kish Bank has experienced growth.
“In 2018, we had assets of $700 million, today we are at $1.4 billion. We have over 240 employees. We have added four branches in the last two years — Altoona, Juniata County, Pine Grove Mills and the regional financial center,” Hayes said. “We have had tremendous shareholder success. We have had increased dividends in nine of the last 10 years. Our goal is to be the top community bank in every market we serve.”
Hayes attributes Kish’ success to its employees.
“The key is hiring the people that build great relationships. People see the names of our people and know they are community bankers and relationship people,” Hayes said.
Kish employees are active in the community.
“We write a lot of checks, but we have the Kish CATS — Community Action Teams — who go out into the community. … Every employee gets three paid days off to be out volunteering in the community,” Hayes said.
Kish plans further local expansion.
“We are looking for a location in the Hollidaysburg area. We are also looking for a full financial center to provide experts in wealth management, business banking in the Altoona area. We may open more branches in rural markets, small branches with a live person and machine, a banker with technology support. We are looking at expanding with our human technology model,” Hayes said.
Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.