Banking on
presidential wisdom

Alongside his studies in law and economics, Rory Ritrievi describes himself as a student of the presidents of the United States. And, of the 46 individuals who have served as president, he has gained valuable lessons from four of them, fusing aspects of their leadership styles into his own.

“I think about George Washington and the way that he would never ask his troops to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself,” Ritrievi, the President and CEO of community bank Mid Penn Bank, tells The CEO Magazine.

“So that has become an important part of my leadership style – I would never ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do myself.”

Then there’s Abraham Lincoln. “His leadership philosophy was to lead by walking around and spending time with all of your people,” he adds.

“If you were to ask the people at Mid Penn, they would tell you that no-one goes out to see their people more than I do. I guarantee no CEO in this country spends time with their other associates as much as I do.”

Ritrievi says he took a ‘great bit of guidance’ from Ronald Reagan. “He was, I think, a great visionary, someone who could articulate a great vision, but then he was also known for being the person that empowered the people around him.”

From Franklin D Roosevelt, Ritrievi learned the planning process.

“He took office right in the middle of the Great Depression and his first 100 days in office are legendary,” he says. “Instead of coming in and making sweeping changes, I spent 100 days just using my eyes and ears and learning as much about this company as I could. After that, I built a game plan.”

The first 100 days

Those 100 days, back in 2009, proved eye-opening. Fresh to Mid Penn Bank as its seventh CEO in 141 years, after serving as Market President and Chief Lending Officer of Commerce Bank, Ritrievi found both the good and the bad in the business.

“I thought the bank was a sleepy bank at the time, with US$550 million in assets and 14 branches in Central Pennsylvania that weren’t growing areas,” he says.

“I believe the reason the board solicited me to come over – and the reason I ultimately accepted – was because they and I felt that we could really accelerate the growth of the company.”

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But before that, Ritrievi had to get the company back on track.

“There had been some poor lending that was done over the previous nine-or-so years,” he says.  “We spent the rest of the year trying to get our hands around the portfolio.”

At the end of 2009, Mid Penn Bank announced a loss, its first in over a century. But Ritrievi had ensured that the company had furrowed “a ton” of money into the reserve to counterbalance the inevitable loan losses. From there he started rebuilding the business.

“In the last 15-and-a-half years, we’ve grown the bank to what it is today, which is right around US$5.6 billion in assets, with 45 retail locations in 19 different counties throughout Pennsylvania and central New Jersey,” he says.

The secret sauce

Back in 2010, when the rebuild started, Ritrievi had presented a budget to the board that had everything possible cut back – save one area where he wanted to double the funds: training.

“I wanted to build a university so we could continuously educate all of our employees,” he explains.

“Because when we hire people, we’re hiring for attitude, aptitude and work ethic. We want people who have a very positive attitude, who have an ability to learn concepts. And people who are willing to work the amount of hours and with the intensity that they need to get the job done.”

That profile continues to be what the bank is looking for.

“We hire out of high school and out of college. We don’t tend to try to take employees from other banks because it’s tough to acclimate them into this very distinct culture,” Ritrievi says.

It’s also these people that allow Mid Penn Bank to stand out in the market.

“Everyone we compete with, we all have the same green money and all of our interest rates are within a few basic points of each other,” he says.

“We don’t do newspaper ads, we don’t do television ads, we don’t do radio ads, we don’t sponsor baseball parks or anything like that. We hire the people that we feel will represent the company as best as possible and we give them the tools to excel.

“That’s our secret sauce.”

Mid Penn Cares

A professional development program for each individual employee, which is reviewed annually, is among a rewards structure that drives long-term employee engagement. Similarly, a vendor management process ensures Mid Penn Bank’s supplier relationships are in robust health. Among its core suppliers is financial technology services provider Fiserv, a relationship that predates Ritrievi in the business.

“We’re really tough on our partners,” Ritrievi says. “But they understand the expectations and we understand the expectations, and that’s been a really good formula for us over time.”

What has also proven the winning formula for its clients is community banking, a model that came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular.

“A lot of businesses found out what the value of a community bank is, because when the President signed the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act on Friday, 27 March 2020, on Saturday morning, 28 March, I had 10 people in a room here at 8 o’clock in the morning,” he says.

“We were building our game plan to do as much as we possibly could, not because we were thinking about what was in it for us. We were thinking about what was in it for the community.”

Which is why Ritrievi advises anyone in the market looking for a banking partner to consider a community bank.

“Don’t pick a bank because you like their colors or you like their name or they have the location that’s right around the corner from your house,” he says.

“Pick a bank that you know is invested in you and your community, and is trying to do the best to strengthen everyone as they can.”