President and CEO, Centric Bank
Patricia "Patti" Husic doesn't give up once she sets her mind to something.
Last year Husic, the president and chief executive of Centric Bank in Harrisburg, Pa., was determined to raise money for her $420 million-asset bank. She wanted the capital for a few reasons, including a chance to bring in top talent from rival banks that were merging with larger, out-of-market players.
However, the investment bank she wanted to work with, Boenning & Scattergood, was initially reluctant to take on the capital raise. Mainly the two sides disagreed over valuations. But Husic persisted, convincing the investment bank and investors that Centric was worth betting on.
Her dynamic personality and deep understanding of Centric's markets went a long way toward convincing investors to open their checkbooks, said Charles Hull, head of investment banking at Boenning & Scattergood. "She has a ton of energy and truly has a passion for banking," he said. "That's not her putting on a persona. It is really evident in everything she does and showed through during the capital raise."
Centric ended up raising $18 million — $12 million through a private placement of common stock and the remaining amount in subordinated debt. The stock offering was twice oversubscribed and brought institutional investors into the bank for the first time.
Among other things, Centric used the proceeds to expand in suburban Philadelphia by hiring a new five-person commercial lending team.
Investors are already being rewarded for their faith in Husic; the bank reported a record profit last year and is on its way to setting another record this year.
Husic has long worked to create more opportunities for women in banking and lately she has been focused on bringing more millennials into the field. She created a Millennial Advisory Council that meets quarterly to help management understand what drives that demographic. "If we don't engage the college grads, the young professionals and the digital natives then we have no future in banking," she said. "We need to attract them, hire them, learn from them and set them loose in our institutions to do innovative things."
