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Northwest Bank

Dear Editor,

I sincerely appreciate the wonderful coverage that the Warren Times Observer provided on my retirement from Northwest Bank after 34 years. However, I believe much more needs to be told about the Northwest story and the individuals who were instrumental in the success of our company over the past four decades.

John Hanna was Chief Executive Officer of Northwest from 1977 to 2003, an extremely lengthy period for CEO tenure. It is solely because of John’s efforts that Northwest’s headquarters were moved from Bradford to Warren in the 1970s. John hired me in 1984 to fill the role of Vice President of Finance. I came to Northwest primarily because of John’s vision of growing the company and the related opportunities that growth would provide. My wife Amy and I also welcomed the opportunity to raise our children in a small town, with Warren becoming a community that we grew to love. In 1992, John gave me the title of Executive Vice President and appointed me to the Board of Directors, and in 1998 he promoted me to President and Chief Operating Officer. Upon John’s retirement in 2003, he recommended that I be chosen as his successor in the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. I will be forever grateful to John for the opportunities he has provided me.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the banking industry experienced significant consolidation as smaller banks succumbed to competitive pressures and larger banks exited rural markets. Northwest capitalized on this opportunity as a means to address the goals for growth and geographic expansion envisioned by Chief Executive Officer John Hanna. We completed approximately 30 bank and bank branch acquisitions during that time. With each successive acquisition, our integration expertise grew, and we developed a reputation for being a competent and compassionate acquiror.

This strong reputation leads to more increasingly more opportunities that provided significant growth.

The unsung heroes of this chapter in our history were the members of our Executive and Senior Management teams and their staffs. These individuals worked extremely long hours and logged millions of miles to ensure that the integration process exceeded everyone’s expectations.

It is important to note that this process was always a total team effort and that almost all of the individuals responsible for this success were members of our Warren-based staff.

Following the turn of the century, acquisition opportunities began to fade and the industry began an era of significant change. While we recognized we had to continue to grow, albeit most likely at a slower pace, we knew we also had to make aggressive changes to our business model if we were going to remain competitive.

Given that challenge, the primary goal in my early years as President and then CEO was to strengthen our capabilities, thereby ensuring our long-term survival and preserving our Warren-based headquarters. Again, our staff embraced the challenge, and our product and service offerings are now as robust as those of the largest banks in our country. It took a tremendous effort to make this happen.

Despite our primary focus being on improvement since the year 2000, in recent years we renewed our quest for growth and geographic expansion, and in 2015 and 2016 completed the two largest mergers in our history. In recent months we also announced the pending acquisition of a $500 million bank in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Following this acquisition, our assets will exceed $10 billion, a significant increase from the $270 million we held in 1980.

As a result of the efforts of hundreds of people over a span of four decades, Northwest has grown to be one of the 150 largest banks in the country and has received numerous national awards from J.D. Powers, Forbes and others. Perhaps most importantly, our staff in Warren County during that time has grown from 50 to over 600.

While I am extremely honored to have had my name associated with the Northwest Administration Center, my wish is that the Warren community never forgets the role that was played by John Hanna, Northwest’s entire management team and a staff of hundreds of dedicated employees in making Northwest what it is today.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been a part of this remarkable story.

Sincerely,

Bill Wagner

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