RKL LLP named Michael De Stefano as chief operating officer.
Michael De Stefano is new chief operating officer for RKL. PHOTO/PROVIDED
The CPA and advisory firm said De Stefano was promoted from CFO and joined the firm’s partnership April 1.
In the new COO role, De Stefano will oversee the firm’s finance, IT, HR, administrative support and building and asset management functions, the company said.
CEO Ed Monborne will remain focused on executing RKL’s strategic objectives and shaping the firm’s future through new service development, innovation, M&A opportunities and leadership pipeline.
“As we continue to help our clients get future-ready, we must do the same here at RKL,” said Monborne.
“Mike is a well-respected leader at RKL whose attention to detail, pursuit of efficiency and commitment to excellence make him a perfect fit for our new COO role,” he said.
De Stefano served RKL as an audit manager when he joined the company in 1995. He left to join a Central PA-based transportation and logistics company in 2009 as controller and eventually CFO and vice president of finance.
De Stefano, who rejoined RKL in 2019, will continue to oversee RKL’s finance function as a COO and the firm’s current corporate controller and financial controller will assume day-to-day management of the Finance Department.
De Stefano is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bloomsburg University.
De Stefano and his family reside in Elizabethtown.
Community First Fund Federal Credit Union will have grand opening June 7. Photo by Ioannis Pashakis
Community First Fund launched its first Community First Fund Federal Credit Union in Lancaster to serve the community who may not have access to banking needs.
The nonprofit lender launched with a soft opening at 51 S. Duke St. in January and plans a grand opening June 7.
Vanessa Neri, vice president of marketing and communications, said the credit union is the first new financial institution in Central Pennsylvania since the formation of Camp Hill-based LinkBank in 2018.
Community First Fund Federal Credit Union has traditionally focused on lending to entrepreneurs and small business owners who lack access to conventional lending sources.
“This is our first venture into the personal banking side,” she said.
This credit union is geared toward bringing banking services to underbanked and unbanked individuals, Neri said.
She explained that underbanked or unbanked individuals are not able to get full service from a bank due to financial issues. “We will offer loans and accounts with no minimum amounts,” she said.
There will be an educational component. Neri said the plan is to be multilingual with a mobile app that is bilingual. The programs, she said, are still in the planning stages but will be focused on financial education.
Currently, Community Fund is running a capital campaign to raise $15 million over the next five years to grow its operation. The campaign, she said, has raised more than $5.5 million to date including a $500,000 commitment from Santander bank.
Other contributors are the Lancaster County Community Foundation, the High Foundation and Ferree Foundation, she said.
The total also includes part of a $10 million gift from MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos. Community First will use part of that money to create a policy center and a fund for business loans, the organization’s main business, she said.
“We are a non-profit so we can raise funds to run the credit union,” Neri said.
U.S. renters and homeowners took a record hit in the pocketbook this past year, Redfin reported.
The technology-powered real estate company said that the average monthly asking rent from February 2021 to February 2022 increased 15% to $1,901, which is an all-time high.
At the same time, the national median monthly mortgage payment skyrocketed a record 31% year over year to $1,716. From January to February alone the jump was 7.5%.
Redfin added that February mortgage payment increases exceeded rent increases in 44 of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas.
A spokeswoman said Redfin doesn’t offer a more detailed breakdown – by ZIP code, for example – but hopes to in the near future.
“The cost of housing is going up for homebuyers and renters, but it’s going up more quickly for homebuyers,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “That’s because mortgage rates have increased sharply and will likely continue to do so. When the cost of homeownership increases, many potential homebuyers opt to rent instead, which drives up rental prices.
“Americans should brace themselves for continued inflation across the board and try to find ways to cut costs. That might mean driving less to save on gas, or moving to a more affordable, walkable city like Albuquerque or Buffalo, where you can save on both housing and gas. The job market is great for workers right now, so it is a good time to move even if you can’t work remotely.”
Rent.com’s March Rent Report noted that it continues to be a blazing rental market for apartments and houses.
Nationally, the average rent for a one-bedroom unit rose 24.4% year over year, to $1,694, while the average rent for a two-bedroom was up 21.8%, to $1,997.
Meanwhile, the average cost to rent a single-family home climbed 7.8% across the country.
Rent.com also provided breakdowns by state. In Pennsylvania, the average rent grew 26.19% in the past year, from $1,330 to $1,679.
In some neighboring states, the increases were 26.36% in New Jersey; 15.7% in Delaware; and 15.54% in Maryland.
Millersburg-based Mid Penn Bank closed 16 of its five dozen or so branches this month, according to a March 15 filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities.
In December, Mid Penn Bancorp Inc., the bank’s parent company, had announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that some branches would be shuttered as part of a “retail network optimization plan” following its acquisition of Riverview Financial Corp.
Five of the closed branches are in central Pennsylvania:
Lancaster County – 689 W. Main St., New Holland.
Dauphin County – 311 S. Market St., Millersburg; 34 S. Market St., Elizabethville; and Market and Third streets, Halifax.
Perry County – 55 S. Main St., Duncannon.
The other 11 locations are in Northumberland, Schuylkill, Westmoreland, Berks, Lycoming, Lehigh, Clearfield, Centre and Huntingdon counties.
Riverview’s banking subsidiary, Riverview Bank, was merged with Mid Penn Bank in the all-stock, $124.7 million transaction, expanding Mid Penn’s footprint in Pennsylvania.
Rory G. Ritrievi, Mid Penn president and CEO, said at the time, “As we introduce the Mid Penn brand of community banking throughout the Riverview footprint, we are committed to making this combination a positive one for all involved.”
The trucking industry is vital to the supply chain across the nation.
As diesel prices rise, and they have been rising fast, the cost of moving goods is also increasing.
The supply chain could be interrupted if diesel prices continue to rise – PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
That increased cost is being passed along from shipper to hauler to receiver, and ultimately, to the consumer.
Rebecca Oyler, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, said last week, diesel prices jumped 75 cents to the highest level ever. The price in Pennsylvania Wednesday averaged $5.43 a gallon.
“Fuel prices affect everything throughout the supply chain,” she said. “It contributes to inflation.”
Oyler said trucking companies are very competitive and vital to the economy, so instability leads to problems. She explained that companies charge a surcharge to shippers based on the price of fuel from the week before. “That creates a gap between real prices and surcharges,” she said.
Those surcharges, which Oyler said, are not keeping up with inflation, are passed on to the consumer, which is being felt at the store.
Brian Wanner, general manager of Peters Brothers Trucking Inc., Lenhartsville, Berks County, said his company buys a million gallons of fuel a year. “If the price goes up $1, that’s a $1 million a year. A lot of that goes to the customer, but not all of it,” he said.
Last week, Wanner said his company filled its on-site tank for $4.70 a gallon wholesale. “If we would have waited a day, the price would have been $5.73.”
Fueling at the yard saves the company money, but Wanner said half of the fueling is done on the road and prices are sky-high. “This is crazy unnecessary; it doesn’t need to go up that fast. The volatility is hard to adjust to that quickly.”
The 65 trucks the company operates deliver across the country and Wanner said the increase in costs ultimately lands on the consumer.
Dave Billing, president of Billing Trucking Inc., Allentown, said it is hard to keep his trucks moving. At last fill up, Billing said the price was $5.93 per gallon. “We cut our delivery in half so we could afford to pay for it.
“We have to pass it on to the shipper or we couldn’t operate,” he said.
“This is a big added expense and we are dealing with it. We either pass it along or absorb the cost,” he said.
The company, which is down to seven trucks from 30, has steady customers, so Billing said they must work with them or lose them to other carriers. “The little guys are hurting because we can’t compete with the big guys,” he said.
While the company has reliable drivers in this environment of a driver shortage, he said his other trucks are idled due to a lack of drivers, which is another major issue companies are facing.
Ahmed Rahman, research felllow at the Institute of Labor Economics at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, said the price of diesel is definitely skyrocketing, but the prices were artificially low because the economy ground to a halt during the pandemic.
“Part of the rise is from this,” he said. “We are looking at reflation, which is getting back to the normal trend.”
Recently though, he said, the alarming rise in prices is leading to inflation which may lead to stagflation, or a slowdown in movement of goods. “That trend is not good.”
Rahman said the country relies on trucks to move all goods and unless the Federal Reserve does something more dramatic than it is talking about now, the country could see double-digit inflation very soon.
“Products might not be available if prices keep rising,” he said.
The Fed is widely expected to raise rates by a quarter-point this week, the first hike since 2018, according to CNBC. Watchers are also expecting the central bank to offer a new quarterly forecast that could indicate five or six more hikes this year, the network said.
The slowdown of merchandise movement is something shippers don’t want to talk about. C&S Wholesale Grocers, one of the largest distributors in the Northeast, had no comment.
A few truckers, however, who asked to remain anonymous, said they are seeing less business at wholesale distribution centers. While the wait to get into a door is usually long, they said there are definitely fewer trucks waiting to load and unload.
Rahman, who said the country could be more fuel self-sufficient, said “we can’t turn on a dime.
“It takes time to establish the supply chain,” he said. In fact, it takes years to refigure when supply and demand change. There was no incentive to increase drilling over the past two years because of the slowdown.
“The prices will definitely be passed on (to the consumer), but I think we will also see a rationing of deliveries. We are seeing signs of that now.”
An enterprise that started as a date night ritual is now a business ready to expand into a major production.
And it all started with $15,000 from credit cards.
“It was a leap of faith,” said Doug Taylor, co-owner of Taylor Chip Cookie Co.
Taylor and his then new bride, Sara, decided to venture into the cookie business after creating their own recipes while dating.
“Sara is a healthy eater and didn’t want Crisco used in the cookies. So we created our own recipes,” he said.
When they married in May 2017, they gave their guests cookies as wedding favors and a seed was planted.
The couple started out small, making cookies to sell at a stand in Lancaster in 2018. They then found space in Intercourse to produce the cookies, and a new location in Lancaster from which to sell them.
This spring, they will be opening a shop at Hershey Town Square and, by the end of summer 2023, they will have a full production facility on Columbia Avenue in Lancaster to not only make cookies, but ice cream as well.
Taylor Chip Cookie Co. employs about 60 people, and Taylor said he sees that expanding as the production facility comes to fruition.
The facility, a much bigger investment, according to Taylor, is being funded by a Pennsylvania Dairy Investment Program grant of $480,000. The grant will be used to construct the facility and automate production.
“That [the grant] gave us confidence,” he said.
The growth of the company came from word of mouth and Facebook and Instagram.
The Taylors’ first break came when a Lancaster business reached out to them to offer a stand at Lancaster Market Place in Hawthorne Centre along Fruitville Pike.
“The rent was $400 a month with a one-year lease,” Taylor said. “It was a great opportunity.”
While the market, according to Taylor, wasn’t always full of customers, his company’s social media presence led to growth.
“I had a Facebook page at the time and customers found us,” said Taylor, who had used Facebook ads as a tool in his other job as co-owner of a recording studio.
With kitchen equipment and licenses in hand, the couple opened a shop in Intercourse that was large enough to do the baking, packaging and distribution. They also opened a 1,400-square-foot shop at 1573 Manheim Pike, a strip mall on the outskirts of Granite Run, to stay close to their first location.
“We’ve already outgrown it,” Taylor said, who noted that it gets crowded baking in a kitchen with eight people.
Even with the pandemic raging while the couple was starting up, their business has continued to grow. Taylor said it has grown 150% this month over the same month last year and, “Year over year, we’ve seen 300% growth and this year we’re on track to do better than that.”
The Taylor’s make their cookie dough from scratch and plan to do the same with their ice cream.
“We know all the ingredients that go into our products, so we know they are good,” he said.
Taylor said the growth of the company has been slowed by vendors having trouble finding workers and, therefore, being backed up.
“It was especially slow during the shutdown,” he said.
That, he said, was a good thing because it allowed them to grow the company more slowly.
The long-range plan is to wholesale the dough and ice cream, but right now, because direct customer sales are so strong, “we don’t want to do wholesale.”
That could change by the end of 2023, when the automated production facility is up and running. Just like the company does now, the dough is made on site and shipped to the shops where it is baked.
Taylor said the Columbia Avenue facility will be full-on retail as well.
“We would like to have a drive-through and retail store as well as the production facility,” he said.
Taylor said he and his wife quit their jobs two weeks before opening the first stand to get things in order and get the word out.
“My dream has always been to have ice cream and cookies,” he said. “This kind of blows me away. I mean, who knew. We have something people love, and they share it all the time. The cookies sell themselves and by word of mouth.”
Lawrenceville, Georgia-based Lendmark Financial Services, a provider of household credit and consumer loans, has opened a branch in York at 2180 White St.
This is the company’s 29th location in Pennsylvania. Overall, it operates more than 430 branches in 19 states. Lendmark also numbers more than 11,000 retailers and independent auto dealerships among its clients.
In addition to its digital and online banking offerings, Lendmark expects to serve more than 500 customers in the new branch during the first year while following social distancing and other Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 guidelines.
The manager of the branch is Chalana Southerland, who was promoted from within Lendmark.
“Planned and unplanned life events still happen, causing many consumers to look for financial resources to meet these needs,” Bobby Aiken, CEO of Lendmark, said in a release. “Our team will be laser-focused on serving the York community, delivering personalized and convenient household credit solutions that meet their respective financial needs.”
Harrisburg-based PNC Bank promoted Raji Nair to senior vice president and area manager for PNC’s retail branch network in Central Pennsylvania.
Raji Nair, PNC senior vice president and area manager for Central Pennsylvania PHOTO/PROVIDED
Based in Lancaster, Nair is responsible for leading a team in the region to deliver PNC’s retail banking capabilities and solutions to help clients reach their financial goals, the bank said.
Nair joined PNC in 2006 as a branch manager, and most recently served as sales and client experience market manager for PNC in the Philadelphia market. She brings to her role extensive experience in retail branch management, customer experience strategy execution and operations.
She and her team will help to ensure that customers have secure and convenient access to personal financial expertise and advice, coupled with relevant resources and products and services, the bank said.
PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC specializes in services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending, wealth management and asset management.
E. Philip Wenger, Fulton Financial Corp.’s president and CEO. PHOTO/PROVIDED
Lancaster-based Fulton Financial Corp., with offices in Lehigh Valley, has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger to acquire Prudential Bancorp Inc., Philadelphia.
Under the terms of the agreement, Prudential shareholders will receive Fulton common stock based on a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7974 Fulton shares and $3.65 in cash for each Prudential share they own, according to a Fulton Financial statement.
The implied value of the transaction, based on the 10-day volume weighted average stock price of $18.01 for Fulton’s common stock for the period ending March 1, 2022, is approximately $142.1 million in the aggregate, or $18.01 per Prudential common share, Fulton said.
Fulton Financial Corporation, the bank holding company for Fulton Bank, N.A., with consolidated assets of approximately $26 billion, provides financial services through 200 financial centers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.
Prudential is the holding company of Prudential Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered savings bank with assets of approximately $1.1 billion. Prudential conducts business from its headquarters and main office in Philadelphia, as well as seven additional full-service financial centers in Philadelphia, and one each in Drexel Hill, Delaware County and Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County.
The transaction is expected to qualify as a tax-free exchange with respect to the stock consideration received by Prudential shareholders. In aggregate, approximately 80% of the transaction consideration to Prudential common shareholders will consist of Fulton common stock, with the remaining 20% payable in cash.
The merger transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of each company, and the announcement of the transaction was made Wednesday by E. Philip Wenger, Fulton’s chairman, president and CEO, and Dennis Pollack, Prudential’s president and CEO.
“I have shared with investors Fulton’s desire to be more active in mergers and acquisitions of companies that are a good fit for us – strategically, culturally and geographically,” said Wenger.
The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, after satisfaction of closing conditions described in the agreement, including the receipt of customary regulatory approvals and the approval by Prudential’s shareholders. Prudential’s bank subsidiary, Prudential Bank, will be merged into Fulton’s bank subsidiary, Fulton Bank, N.A.
As part of this acquisition, Fulton Financial Corporation will make a $2 million contribution to the Fulton Forward Foundation, designated to be used to provide impact gifts in support of nonprofit community organizations in Philadelphia that are focused on advancing economic empowerment, particularly in underserved communities, Fulton said.
“We look forward to working with the Prudential team to bring our mutual community-oriented style of banking, our comprehensive range of products and services, and our talented teams together,” Wenger said.
“As we do this, we are pleased to increase our financial support, through the Fulton Forward Foundation, of community organizations that are focused on enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion, building vibrant communities, fostering affordable housing, driving economic development and increasing financial literacy in and around Philadelphia,” he said.
“We are very pleased to join with a partner like Fulton that shares our commitment to community banking, said Pollack. “We both have a history of placing the customer first and working to improve the lives of persons in the communities we serve.”
Stephens Inc. served as financial advisor to Fulton, and Barley Snyder LLP served as legal counsel to Fulton. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. served as financial advisor to Prudential, and Silver, Freedman, Taff & Tiernan LLP served as its legal counsel.
Armstrong World Industries Inc. reported Tuesday that its fourth-quarter net sales rose 18.3% from the year before and its operating income jumped 25.9%.
For the full year 2021, net sales grew 18.1% — from $936.9 million to $1.107 billion — for the Lancaster-based designer and manufacturer of commercial and residential ceiling, wall and suspension system solutions.
Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) climbed 12.6% from 2020 to 2021.
Operating income posted a smaller, 2% increase, going from $254.8 million to $260 million.
“We delivered strong results in the fourth quarter that contributed to double-digit growth in full year net sales and EBITDA,” Vic Grizzle, Armstrong World Industries’ president and CEO, said in a release. “These results were driven by effective execution through an uneven market recovery and the continued strength of our total value proposition. These hallmarks of our company support our ability to more than offset inflationary pressures with our pricing strategies while maintaining investments in longer-term growth opportunities.”
The company’s chief financial officer, Brian MacNeal, said in the release that Armstrong World Industries projects net sales growth of 10% to 13% and adjusted EBITDA growth of 10% to 16% in 2022.
Jack Hess, new chairman of the Board of Directors PHOTO/PROVIDED
Donegal Mutual Insurance Company announced the appointment of Jack Hess as chairman of its Board of Directors Monday after the recent death of former longtime Donegal Mutual President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board Donald Nikolaus.
A certified public accountant for more than four decades, Hess has served on the boards of Donegal Mutual since 2009, Donegal Group Inc. since 2011 and Conestoga Title Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Donegal Mutual, since 2006.
He retired as a partner of public accounting firm Bertz, Hess & Co., LLP, in 2015, and remains a managing partner of Hempland Associates, a Lancaster County-based real estate investment partnership, the company said in a written statement.
Over the course of his 37-year tenure at the helm, Nikolaus was instrumental in the success and growth of Donegal Insurance Group, serving as president and CEO of Donegal Mutual from 1981 to 2018 and in the same role for Donegal Group Inc. from 1986 to 2016, the company said.
He continued to serve as chairman of the Donegal Mutual Board of Directors until his death earlier this month. Under Nikolaus’s leadership, Donegal greatly expanded its geographic footprint, from writing insurance in only Pennsylvania in the early 1980s, to presently doing business in 24 states in the Mid-Atlantic, New England, Midwest, Southern and Southwestern regions.
“Don’s near-four decades of leadership and service to Donegal are unparalleled, and his leadership, guidance and support will be sorely missed,” said Kevin Burke, president and CEO of Donegal Insurance Group. “We’re confident, however, that Jack’s strong financial background and business management acumen will serve Donegal well as he takes over as chairman of the Donegal Mutual Board of Directors.”
George Rudolph, PSECU’s president and CEO – Submitted
Harrisburg-based PSECU, Pennsylvania’s largest credit union is removing Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) fees for all members, effective March 1.
The credit union is also reducing the fee for using the credit union’s Courtesy Pay service by 50%. These changes complement the credit union’s existing commitment to no- or low-fee services, such as its no-fee Overdraft Protection Transfer Service.
“We’re constantly working to identify ways to reduce financial pain points and offer the best value possible for our members,” said George Rudolph, PSECU president & CEO. “Reworking our fee structure for Non-Sufficient Funds and Courtesy Pay is just one example of that. Continuing to offer our no-fee Overdraft Protection Transfer Service is another.”
“The first line of defense our members have to avoid overdraft-related fees is our no-fee Overdraft Protection Transfer Service,” said Barb Bowker, PSECU chief member experience officer. “This has been a no-fee service since its inception and provides all members the ability to link another share or Visa credit card to their checking share (excluding specialty account types.) If there are not sufficient available funds in their checking share when a qualifying transaction is processed, funds are transferred from the linked account at no cost to the member.”
This no-fee Overdraft Protection Transfer Service from PSECU saves members money by providing them with the no-fee service from the credit union and by helping them avoid potential returned check or service fees charged by payees.
In instances where members have a checking share without Overdraft Protection Transfer Service or a designated account does not have sufficient available funds, the credit union offers a discretionary service known as Courtesy Pay. Eligible members are automatically enrolled in this service, which provides a $500 Courtesy Pay limit on eligible transactions. Previously, the credit union charged a $30 fee for this service. Now, however, that fee is being reduced by 50% to $15 per transaction, PSECU said.
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U.S. renters and homeowners took a record hit in the pocketbook this past year, Redfin reported.
And it all started with $15,000 from credit cards.
