COVER STORY | LOCAL PROFILE
Wes Gillespie (at right), Ohio regional president for ERIEBANK, discusses the bank’s expansion into the Greater Cleveland market with ERIEBANK President David Zimmer. ERIEBANK has forecast growth within its expanded footprint in 2021 and beyond.
Branching Out to Assist Employers in Northwest PA, Northeast Ohio ERIEBANK is banking on brighter days ahead. Today, the COVID-19 pandemic tests the resilience of the economy and the financial markets, but ERIEBANK, a division of CNB Bank and full-service community bank, is branching out to assist employers and the community through its regional growth and services, as well as stability. David Zimmer, president of ERIEBANK, credits his team with helping local businesses keep their doors open and preserving jobs throughout the region amid the health crisis. In fact, in northwest Pennsylvania alone, ERIEBANK assisted with the application of 852 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans representing more than $83 million, nearly half of the 2,065 PPP loan applications processed through parent company CNB overall. “PPP was really a strange, dynamic process, but we were very aggressive in helping our clients through it,” states Zimmer. “Our stance from the beginning was, we need to find a way to get our customers through this pandemic no matter how long it lasts.”
4
DECEMBER 2020 • mbabizmag.com
Banking Solutions With a Regional Reach
Since its founding in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2005, ERIEBANK has focused on providing full-service business banking, personal banking, loan and private client services to assist its customers in reaching their financial goals. Now, the bank is taking this business approach one step further, by extending its reach to employers and other customers throughout northwest Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio. Once the new kid of the banking industry in the area, ERIEBANK has grown as a regional powerhouse as it expands into the Cleveland market. At the helm of this expansion is ERIEBANK’s Ohio Regional President Wes Gillespie, who heads up the Cleveland Loan Production Office. Gillespie, a veteran banker with 28 years of experience who joined the ERIEBANK team in 2018, says the Ohio market
ERIEBANK President David Zimmer is forward thinking when it comes to the bank’s strategic growth and responsiveness. ERIEBANK’s expertise and experience have been vital to helping employers keep their operations up and running and preserving jobs by assisting with Paycheck Protection Program loan applications, in addition to its flexibility with local lending decisions.