President and CEO, Centric Financial
Making it to the C-suite requires ambition, intelligence and confidence, among other attributes. But for women, it requires grit most of all, according to Patricia “Patti” Husic.
It’s a lesson Husic learned firsthand in 2007 when she formed Centric while she was a single mother, putting together a deal to buy a troubled bank and putting her retirement savings at risk. Husic went on to lead Centric Financial through the financial crisis. More recently, she took the bank into new directions by carving out commercial niches in the Pennsylvania markets Centric serves.
Husic said she aims to serve as a model of grit for younger employees — showing, for instance, how to stick with a job when “every fiber of your being is unnerved,” or how to hold your own as a community banker in investment banking circles, she said.
“It’s a trait I have learned to cultivate, and it’s a trait I hope to model for other team members in our bank,” Husic said. “You can’t buy it, you can’t get a degree in it, and it’s difficult to describe, but success for women in banking demands an outrageous amount of grit.”
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Over the past year, Husic has made several big hires for Centric, appointing a chief information officer to oversee cybersecurity and technology, as well as a social media manager to boost the company’s digital presence.
Centric also added a 25,000-square-foot corporate office that houses roughly 60 employees. The addition comes during a period of strong growth for Centric. Net loans in 2017 rose 16% from a year earlier, to $491 million. Total assets increased 15%, to $556 million.
