January 18, 2017 at 3:23 p.m.
PSB Holdings, Inc. announces Knitt retirement
PSB Holdings, Inc. announces Knitt retirement
Knitt, 58, who joined the bank as vice president of PSB's northern Wisconsin market in 2003, has served as chief executive officer since June 2006.
"We are thankful for Pete's exceptional leadership during the past 11 years. He is a major reason PSB has experienced record profits and growth while maintaining a community bank focus," PSB Chairman William Fish said in a press release announcing Knitt's decision. "When Pete informed the board about his retirement plans and expressed his enthusiasm to follow our transition process, we were able to put our succession plan into motion very effectively."
"Mr. Knitt will remain in his current position until the search committee has selected a successor and will continue on the board of directors for a period of time to ensure a smooth transition," stated Fish.
The board has formed a search committee and has retained Korn Ferry, a preeminent talent acquisition firm specializing in community banks. Fish added, "We wish to assure shareholders, customers, and employees that the board will conduct a thorough search and vetting of qualified candidates for an individual who will carry forward the bank's tradition of strong executive leadership and continue our strategy to build shareholder value as an independent bank."
"We expect to have the new CEO on board near the end of 2017, with the transition complete prior to the April 2018 annual shareholder meeting," Fish said. "The bank will be looking at internal as well as external candidates."
During Knitt's tenure the bank increased its assets from $500 million to over $800 million. Recognizing consistently higher than peer return on average shareholder equity performance, American Banker Magazine recognized PSB during 2016 as one of the Top 200 Community Banks in the United States, an award PSB has received for seven consecutive years.
PSB Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of Peoples State Bank.
Peoples is a community bank with $828 million of total assets headquartered in Wausau, Wisconsin, serving north central Wisconsin from nine full service banking locations in Marathon, Oneida, and Vilas Counties and a Milwaukee loan production office opened April 2016 serving southeastern Wisconsin.
Comments:
You must login to comment.