For the third time in about three weeks, a long-time midstate community bank CEO has announced his retirement.
PeoplesBank CEO Larry Miller became the third late Tuesday when he announced he would retire March 8 after 35 years as the bank’s president and CEO.
Once Miller steps down, A. Dwight Utz, who joined the bank as COO in 2015, will take over as CEO, president and a member of the board of directors of PeoplesBank.
Miller, however, will maintain a strong presence with the bank and its holding company, Codorus Valley Bancorp Inc. He’ll remain the chairman, president and CEO of Codorus Valley, responsible for strategic initiatives and corporate governance.
Miller also will be executive chairman of the PeoplesBank board of directors, responsible for the bank’s philanthropic efforts and certain business lines.
Those positions will keep him employed full-time for at least a year, while he finishes projects he had been working on related to the future of the bank.
“After that, I’m not sure yet,” he said. “But I will be here until I retire in full capacity, but that’s somewhere down the road.”
Other banking retirements
Former Union Community Bank President and CEO Mark Gainerretired at the end of the year. William Snell, president and CEO of Chambersburg-based F&M Trust Co., announced plans to retire in mid-2016.
Together, the trio had 73 years of experience as bank chiefs.
Miller said he’s not worried about the readiness of the next generation of bankers to take the reins, adding that he thinks there will be more retirements.
“We’re all old,” he joked.
But one thing he said he worries about is the future of banks’ philanthropic efforts if new leaders lack local connections.
The three incoming leaders all have midstate connections to varying degrees.
“When folks come in, and they’re not from this region, they don’t know the (philanthropic) history,” Miller said. “That’s one of the primary functions of a community bank, to both get money and give money.”
