Hear from Our CEO

David: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us today, Vincent. Hey, thank you. Take us back to where this all began. So what was it like, I guess, first and foremost, growing up in inner city Pittsburgh? What kind of career path did that put you on and how has that then shaped your leadership approach? 

Vincent: Well, I, I grew up in a time in Pittsburgh when it was going through some, some hard times, right?

I mean, I grew up in the seventies, in the eighties. The steel industry was collapsing. I grew up in the inner city in a pretty large family. You know, grew up with five kids, and my parents, one bathroom. So, you know, very modest house in a blue-collar neighborhood. I grew up in an Italian, blue collar family.

So, you know, I think work ethic, strong work ethic, toughness, but kindness kind of guided me. Pittsburgh in general was a rough — it was a rough time for [00:01:00] Pittsburgh. The unemployment rate in 1983 peaked at 18%. To give you some perspective, during the Great Depression, you know, the country peaked at 25%, so pretty, pretty bad time in Pittsburgh growing up.

So I think that kind of shapes how you think about things. You know, it, it builds a resilience. You, you find ways to get things done and, and to get things accomplished even though you may have limited resources. So I think, you know, a lot of that growing up helped form at least the decision making that I apply today in my, in my business.

So I think it was actually, you know, while it was tough, I think it was a, a positive experience for me because it created resiliency and toughness and there was always kindness as well. You can be tough and mean, or you can be tough and kind. And I think Pittsburghers in general are, you know, they're tough 'cause they've had to deal with a lot, but they're kind people, they're big-hearted people.

So, I think those two traits go together and they work pretty [00:02:00] well when you're trying to develop a culture to win in inside of a company. 

David: Mm, completely. And what was your relationship like with your, your siblings in particular?  

Vincent: At first, we were all very close. You know, as I've said, it's a, it was an Italian family, so we got together every Sunday.

My grandmother made pasta. It was your, it was your traditional family? Italian family. Italian. My grandfather was an immigrant. You know, so I, you know, I, I think it was a great, a great environment for me. I had loving parents. You know, they worked very hard. My mom worked two jobs. In fact, she still works to this day.

She's 84 years old. She's a nurse. She worked all through the pandemic. So, you know, I, I would say, you know, that's pretty inspiring, and it, it makes you really reflect on, on your own work ethic. And, you know, you try to achieve, you try to push yourself to achieve more because you've seen people in your life that you look up to really stretching to get [00:03:00] things done and, and to do what they can with the resources that they have.

So I think that all helps shape how you, how you lead a company and, and you know, how you manage expenses at the company and how you're, you push people to generate revenue within that company. You know, I think again, it, it's toughness and, and kindness as well. You know, you want people to succeed.

So I think those, those attributes come out of that relationship with the family. 

David: So what happened when you, when you finished school and left home? Just give us a brief insight into your sort of career path to us. Yeah. Where we're today.

Vincent: I never did exceptionally well in school. You know, when I was in first grade, I had dyslexia, so I don't think people knew what it was back then.

In fact, I didn't even know until later in life when my mom told me — she waited until I was well into my career to tell me this, but you know, I struggled reading when I was young in first and second grade. So that kind of put me back a little bit. Again, I think having to deal with [00:04:00] that and learning how to adjust mentally to, to be able to perform within the environment, the learning environment that existed at that time, that that also pushes you to do more.

And, you know, I, I think there are a lot of very successful people that were dyslexic. So I, you know, I can look to a lot of people and, and not, not feel badly about what had happened to me. And, you know, I, I think that it creates kind of a super ability, for you to, you know, it proves your memorization skills.

There's certain things that I do that are, that are a little different in terms of, uh, understanding details or seeing details. I, you know, I'm, I consider myself to be left and right brained, which is unusual. You know, I, I, I like art and I, you know, I. I do artsy things, and then I'm still analytical. So, you know, I, I think that comes out of those struggles early on to adapt to our society and, and you know, how [00:05:00] people learn, you know, how people were taught to learn back then.

So, you know, I view all those things as, as positive. And even though they were difficult, I think they're positive because they lead to a better outcome later in your life if you develop resiliency. So, I, I, you know, I reflect on that and I think that's really helped me throughout my career and, you know, as I graduated from college, yeah, I had to make career choices.

We didn't have a lot of money. Uh, you know, I, I looked to the military at one point, you know, to see if I could at least secure funds for college. My mom guilted me out of that. So basically, you know, ended up working and, and working my way through college and I ended up in finance. I, I think the economic environment that I grew up in, because of the, the way Pittsburgh was back in the 1980s, I was always fascinated by finance and economics and, you know, that kind of drove me to the financial services [00:06:00] industry.

And then banking was the perfect fit for me because you, you get to deploy those skills, you can still use your creative skills to structure deals and, and get things done. And I think it was the perfect match for me, and I'm very fortunate that, that I found my perfect match. I was passionate about it.

David: Fantastic. And the, just to go back there, the, the dyslexia that you, you're diagnosed with, I mean, you, you, you talked about the work ethic that was being put into you by your parents, but I guess also with that, having to face that as a kid, you're probably having to do, you are having to do more work than the other children just to stay afloat, I presume.

Vincent: And that's also all the way through college. I mean, I, I can tell you there, there are people that I went to school with who were brilliant. You know, I, you know, one of my friends, a fraternity brother of mine, he graduated from Harvard. Uh, he would read 50 times faster than me. So we would study together.

So I would literally have to read every chapter, outline every chapter, rewrite [00:07:00] things just so that I made sure that I comprehended, you know, what I was reading. And I, I did that all through school. So while I didn't have straight A's, you know, I did pretty well and given the situation, I, I think it really helped me learn.

And, you know, memorization is a big part of, of overcoming some of the obstacles. So I've always had a very, very strong memory recall. You know, I've been able to, to regurgitate information fairly quickly. So that helped me throughout my career, particularly when I started out, you know, I was trading bonds and there's, there's quite a bit of memorization required in that space. 

So I, I think that that all helps build your character. It helps build who you are. And if you, if you can get to a point where you can deploy those skills to, to make things better for everybody else, then it's all worked out. So, you know, it really didn't hold me back, so I can't complain about it.

I was watching, I, I won't mention the name, but I was [00:08:00] watching a celebrity who was talking about their issues when they were a kid, and they described my scenario exactly. Thank God my mom — you know, I went to a Catholic school and I don't think the nuns really understood what was wrong with me, so, just said, this kid just can't read.

Uh, but, but my mother got involved and she was actually able to, to find a special program back then. Yes. They didn't even call it dyslexia. And I, I went through a program that was described literally by this other person in a documentary. And I, I said, that is exactly what I had to deal with. And circled back to my mom later in life and said, did I have dyslexia?

I didn't even know. And she said, yes. And I said, when were you gonna tell me? You know, I'm, I'm well into my career. I was 50 years old at the time. And she said, uh, you've, you've done okay. So I really, we, we didn't have to dwell on that. So I kinda laugh and, and think about it, but she was right. You know, I [00:09:00] was able to overcome it with special training and going to these classes and learning how to deal with it and, you know, that, that worked out for me.

So this, you know, great opportunity to again, learn from something that you were facing that potentially could have held you back if you let it. Right. So I. I think, you know, resiliency and, and drive and passion and enjoying what you wanna do, that all leads to success no matter what you do. 

David: So you view, you view that experience now as something that's been kind of character building and has been ultimately helpful in your later life. Back then, just going back to the scenario you gave when you were studying with your classmate in college and he was able to read those chapters so much quicker. Were you as stoic about it then, or were you, how, how did you feel about it then? Were you, were you jealous? Were you upset or?

Vincent: No, I, I think I, I reflect back to my north side upbringing, the north side Pittsburgh tough neighborhood.

I was [00:10:00] very competitive, so I would just work harder and harder to try to achieve the same result. And, you know, I wouldn't always get there, particularly with this person because he's super, super bright and done exceptionally well in his life. But I would compete, I wouldn't quit. So, I think people who are placed in that situation, particularly Pittsburghers, who have grit — I say they have grit — you know, they, they work really hard to get things done and will go to great lengths to achieve whatever goal they've set out to achieve. 

And, you know, I think that, you know, those lessons are lessons that were learned that I, I think, again, were applied to, to the, to the way I run the company. I mean that those attributes come out in how we, we strive to achieve results.

And I, I think that that's an important part of the DNA of, of, not just me, but other people [00:11:00] around me that grew up in the same environment. 

David: Joining FNB when you did could probably be seen as a bit of a, it was a bit of a, perhaps a career risk at that point in time. What, what drew you to join First National Bank?

Vincent: Well, it was interesting because it, it wasn't like I was failing at my prior employer — it was one of the largest banks in the country. I had risen fairly quickly through the ranks. There were several acquisitions that, you know — the bank that I initially worked for was acquired and then acquired again, and we were rolled up into a large bank, which was pretty typical for the industry.

But, you know, I had achieved great success early and, you know, was one of the younger EVPs in the company. Ran a very large portfolio in a large corporate middle market in Pennsylvania. And, I saw this move as an opportunity to actually build something in the city that I love. 

So, you [00:12:00] know, I, we had great success and the teams that I managed were very successful. But it seemed like the benefit was always transferred to another city, to the headquarters city, to, to another place. And, you know, I wasn't really making the impact that I wanted to make in my career in Pittsburgh. So, you know, that really drove my decision to leave at that point in time. I, you know, I, could have stayed. Had I stayed, you know, given what's happened with the financial crisis, who knows where I would've been, right?

But, you know, I made that decision. I left, I went to a very small bank, rural bank in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, that had just gone through a split, did not have capital, was devoid of liquidity, did not have a granular deposit base, lots of time deposits, did not have sophisticated treasury management systems or capital markets, or even online banking and mobile to speak of.

So, you know, I left a, a pretty sophisticated environment [00:13:00] and went to work for a very small bank that really had just gone through a transformation and was trying to rebuild itself. So it was a challenge, and again I think I draw on that, that Pittsburgh toughness and competitiveness. I was gonna make it happen.

I was gonna make it work. I had to, I had no choice. I, I jumped in and said, we're gonna do this. And we started working and I surrounded myself with very good people who, you know — I was very fortunate that some of the, some of my colleagues followed me, right? They came over time and said, we're gonna join up with you and try to make something happen here.

And, and we were able to do it. Today, you know, we're, we have nearly 12 billion in deposits in Pittsburgh. We're the second largest retail bank in Pittsburgh, which I never would've thought could've happened. We were 29th in market share when, when I started, you know, we had less than a billion dollars in deposits and, you know, and the loan [00:14:00] portfolio's grown dramatically.

So I, I think, you know, what we set out to do, worked. It worked in Pittsburgh and we were able to use that as a platform to try to grow.

David: Congratulations on all those things. It's been an amazing, amazing journey. When, um, as a young, as a reasonably young executive, when you, when you made that jump, you, you said there, and you've alluded to multiple times already, the importance of getting the right people as a young executive. How did you, how did you know who are the right people are? How did you go through that process? 

Vincent: Well, I mean, you know, I've been in the industry for a while. You know, it was almost 20 years by the time I had moved over. So I, I had a good handle on who I thought were great bankers. And, you know, believe it or not, three of my former bosses throughout my career ended up coming and working for me — which was a shock — but who, you know, were three people that I looked up to.

So I think, you know, [00:15:00] having that as well was pretty reassuring. I, I had people that, that helped train me and who I looked up to agreeing to come over and run divisions or departments or take over certain areas of the organization that, that needed help. And, you know, that gave me a great deal of confidence that, that we were gonna be successful.

And, you know, I, looked there first, I, I looked at the relationships that I had built throughout my career and, and tried to tap into those areas to bring people over that I knew worked hard, were very smart, would get the job done without a lot of noise. And, you know, I, I think we've done a pretty spectacular job of bringing people into the organization who are from larger companies generally.

All of these people were from large banks, believe it or not, you know, came into that environment and we were able to create something that is very rarely done in the industry. And, you know, I, again, I have to attribute [00:16:00] it to all those people that came over. So that, that to me was the turning point when I realized I could attract that kind of talent.

People would be willing to work together and work collaboratively to get things done. I mean, that, that was just huge.

David: This might be a slightly uncomfortable question to answer, but, um, what do you think it was about you that attracted those people to follow you into this? 

Vincent: I, I think it was my, I think it was my sense of humor.

I don't know. I, I don't know. I, I would say that they knew that I wasn't going to let us fail. Okay. Because no matter what circumstance I had been placed in throughout my career, I somehow ended up succeeding. So it took a lot of hard work and drive, but, you know, I've been in some pretty ugly situations over time.

I mean, if you look back, you know, from the beginning of my career, the stock [00:17:00] market crashed. You know, we had The Gulf War, you know, Y2K, which everyone forgets about, you know — they thought planes were gonna be falling from the sky. You know, I, there's quite a bit that we had gone through and despite all of that, you know, I somehow, some way, you know, we were always able to, to not just get through it, but succeed.

And, you know, I always tried to become one of the best performers and I think people realized that and, and they realized that they were gonna be treated with respect. And, you know, there's, there's really not the same level of arrogance that existed in my prior life. Like, I think about CEOs that run banks, they were unapproachable, uh, very rigid.

Were not very creative, I hate to say that, but, you know, they were very dry, right? Yeah. I, I think the personality or the culture at our company is a lot different than, you know — some of those attributes come from [00:18:00] the leadership. For me as well. I'm part of the leadership. So I think that's why they were comfortable and they came over and they knew that  we were gonna be successful.

David: And you, you mentioned before, I want to go into some detail about culture and building culture with you. Just before we do that, you, you mentioned before you felt like you, you know, or you could identify what a good banker looks like. So for you, what is a, what makes an excellent banker an excellent banker?

Vincent: An excellent banker is somebody that always wants to learn, that approaches their clients with the attitude that I'm gonna make you successful. Instead of worrying about their own success, right? Their own production. They think about the client first. They put the client first, and then everything falls into place.

So, you know, that's the perfect banker. The perfect banker is able to assess the situation, figure out how to solve a problem, or provide a service or a need, fulfill [00:19:00] a need for a client, and create a win-win outcome where the organization wins and that client wins. That's the perfect banker. That requires understanding, you know, how to structure deals, understanding the customer or client's capital structure, recognizing what products and services work best for that client, making sure that they're, they're priced appropriately.

And, you know, you, you always win in the long run. When you take care of your clients and other people and, you know, the great bankers apply those principles to their day-to-day job. That's, that's what a great banker is. So they have knowledge and they have confidence. You know, those two things are important.

And, you know, I, I was talking to my daughter, and this is gonna sound a little corny, but. I mean, she was asking me questions about her career and she, she said, what do you think is important? She asked the same question. And, you know, without even [00:20:00] thinking about it, I, I belted out this quote, so I'm gonna read it to you.

Knowledge without confidence leads to nothing. Confidence without knowledge leads to arrogance. Confidence with knowledge leads to success. So, I don't know how I said that to her, where that came from, but she wrote it down and texted it back to me and said, my God, dad, that was like the greatest quote. So, you know, basically the lesson is you, you have to learn too.

You have to understand what is important to the client. You have to learn about the products and services, and you have to have this desire to learn. I think that's what leads to great success. And then you have to be confident when you're approaching the client and you're discussing these options with the client.

You have to believe in yourself too. So, you know, confidence and knowledge leads to success. You can't have, you know, one and be successful. You have to have both. So, and again, you have to try not to come across as being arrogant or, or telling the [00:21:00] client what's best for them, right? You're not, you're not trying to do that.

And that, that's pretty much true  for consumer and commercial clients. 

David: Let's, let's go back to the culture discussion. Um, you were bringing in people from much larger, I guess, more established organizations. How, how did you go about building the culture that, that you wanted? 

Vincent: Well, we, we laid out principles, you know, that we wanted to live up to.

You know, one of the guiding, it's not necessarily a — one of our principles specifically — but, you know, we always said, Hey, you've gotta do, you've always gotta do the right thing. That was one thing we talked about. So how do we get a culture that embodies doing the right thing, right? And then we looked at these core principles that we wanted to lay out, and collaboration was really important.

Innovation's important, right? Honor, [00:22:00] integrity, that's really important. So doing the right thing. So we, we kind of, we, we created what we thought institutionally would foster that behavior. You know, collaboration, the way you get collaboration to work across the organization is to design incentive compensation plans and to track performance in ways that that instills collaboration and not competition within the bank itself.

So that was, you know, we, we methodically took each one of those pillars and, you know, we designed the business model that we were gonna run for the bank, which was easy because I had very little to start with. So, you know, we could create something from scratch. We embedded that into our model. You know, recognition, engagement, you know, being passionate, knowledge, training.

You know, we, we looked at all that and said, Hey, you know, we're gonna create an environment where the employees feel confident that they can get the job done, [00:23:00] and we're giving them the ability to learn. And we're creating situations where we recognize their wins and the success that they have individually.

We celebrate it. You know, we put awards programs together. We put mentoring programs together. We, we, you know, made sure that we went out and created, you know, a very diverse workforce where we recruited across, you know, from different schools. You know, we, we have a very inclusive environment within the company.

And, you know, we highlight people who have achieved great things within the company on our website. So all of that leads to, to better engagement. Engagement of the employees leads to better results for the shareholders, right? Because an engaged employee is gonna go out, feel confident, go out and meet with that customer, and they're gonna be able to deliver what I said earlier, which is to do what's best for them, and they're gonna be confident about it and they're gonna get it done.

And that's why I think our [00:24:00] performance has always been very strong as well. We've had solid financial performance. You know, EPS has grown dramatically. The market capitalization of the company has grown, the revenue and net income has grown. So, you know, returns have always been upper quartile.

So the performance of the company has always been very, very strong. And, you know, that really is a direct result of the culture. So it all ties together. And then how we engage the community, what we do for the community. You know, we, we constantly focus on trying to make the environments that we operate in better.

And, you know, I think as a bank, you know, some of the larger banks maybe have lost sight of that, maybe not. I mean, some of them are, are pretty good at it, but it's a mixed bag. But we stayed very focused on making sure the employees were, were happy and felt good about where they worked, and made sure that [00:25:00] the communities that we operated in, that we were gonna do things that others wouldn't do, that kind of are long term in nature.

Not quarter to quarter. We're worried about, you know, expenses quarter to quarter — we do, but we try to look at things a little more longer term. And, and the more we do for our communities, the better off we are as an organization because we rely on successful communities to, to provide us with loan growth and deposits and economic success.

So it all ties together. Sorry for the long answer, but that No, 

David: No, no, that’s a great point actually. I, I'd never thought, it's almost like the, the. Are you providing those services into the community? If you can help that community economically grow, that then means more business for you. And it's a, it's a circle.

Vincent: Absolutely, we, we are the, the grease of capitalism. We, we lubricate the system, we provide capital. We, we are out there doing things. We, we're not supposed to take extreme risks because we do have depositors and we're trying to protect our [00:26:00] depositors as well. But we take measured risks and, you know, we redeploy capital to help grow the economies that we operate at.

And, you know, that's how we approach things. You know, I, we could go on and on about all the projects we've done, but it's pretty evident even in our headquarters building in Pittsburgh, you know. We, we went into downtown Baltimore when we expanded in Baltimore. Many companies were leaving Baltimore.

The mayor called me and said, why are you going into downtown Baltimore? It's because it's the right thing to do. We want to create opportunities for people centrally, we don't wanna be in suburban Baltimore and not create opportunities equally. So I, I think because, you know, transportation leads you to the center of the city, you know, other companies may have been able to leave and go out into the suburbs and maybe they felt that was okay or what they needed at the time, but our view was different.

And, you know, we've made that commitment in Cleveland and, and [00:27:00] Baltimore, and Charlotte and Raleigh, and Greensboro and Pittsburgh, you know, Charleston, South Carolina. So I, you know, I think when you actually do what you say you're gonna do, you build a lot of credibility. So I, you know, that's part of it too.

David: When you, you talked about wanting to create collaboration. I think, you know, lots of the executives and business leaders listening to this will think, yeah, I, we also would love to have collaboration across our teams. And building incentive structures is not always easy. It's very difficult to predict kind of human behavior, especially when you can game it out as much as you want but until it's rolled out into the company, you're never quite sure. What have been some of the incentives that you've set that have surprised you, perhaps in terms of how effective they were at driving collaboration? 

Vincent: Yeah, I think, you know, one thing we did that kind of defies logic is we overlapped, payouts.

So, you know, in, in, in the old days, you know, my prior life [00:28:00] at my other company, you know, we would compete with the consumer bank. I, I was in the wholesale bank. We'd compete for deposits. They would constantly move deposits over into the retail bank that we would bring in so that they could get it paid, you know, so, you know, we made the decision we were gonna overlap payouts.

We were gonna figure out a way to incent the consumer and the wholesale people to work together to bring in deposits, for example. So we went to great lengths designing these incentive compensation plans. We have 180 plans in the company. Uh, you know, they're all built pretty similarly. You know, the payout schematic is pretty similar.

The metrics are different, right, because the businesses are different. But we went to an outcome-based performance plan where, you know, we don't measure widgets or try to change behavior with actions that leads to bad behavior. We look and measure outcomes. So, you know, philosophically there's a difference.

You know, [00:29:00] you actually have to produce something to get paid. And we incent people to do things that are in the, the best interest of the clients, and that's built into those scorecards. Then we automated the scorecards. We, you know — wholesale, consumer, the wealth platform. They all have digitized scorecards and you know, the consumer bank gets daily reports on their key performance indicators and their key risk indicators.

And each, each branch has their own set of metrics that they, they benchmark to, so they know daily how they're performing. We did that very early on, which wasn't done in my prior life, which I thought was critically important. That way people understand exactly what you're asking them to do. They can measure it daily, and you're asking 'em to produce a result.

You're not incenting them to, to go on calls or to open accounts without any balances, right. You know, they're, they're being asked to do something that's tangible and then [00:30:00] it shows up in the balance sheet as footings or, you know, closed business, let's say. I, I think those, that's a much better way to approach things.

You know, we, we have very little discretionary payout. Within our system, it's based upon what you actually do. And it varies from, you know, department to department. But, you know, those are the types of things, you know, being very careful about how you design those plans and how you measure those plans and what you're asking people to do, you know, can lead to, to collaboration and better outcomes 'cause you're not competing internally. 

You know, again, at the forefront of this is making sure that whatever we do is in the best interest of the client. I think with the advent, with, with AI coming into play, you know, we're a very data oriented business. You know, we, you we're much more innovative than [00:31:00] people give us credit for.

I, I think that having a data hub, managing trillions, that we have 71 trillion fields of data that we manage internally. We pull it from disparate systems. Banks are very complex in terms of how they're operate 'cause they have a lot of disparate systems that are, that are working behind the scenes to provide those products and services.

They, they don't talk to each other. You have to create a means to share information. We built this data hub. We have 71 trillion fields of data. We hired data scientists and programmers to, to extract the data, learn from the data, gain insights from that data, and then present it back to the clients or to the employee.

And, you know, that has become increasingly important in our industry. And that leads to better outcomes for the clients and better collaboration and better execution within the organization as well. So, I'm glad that we are way out ahead of it, but AI is gonna sit over top of [00:32:00] all of this eventually, and, you know, you'll be, instead of human beings looking at a certain scenario for a client, you're gonna have software that's able to, to do it, you know, intuitively, right?

Machine learning software that will look at the situation and make adjustments or make product recommendations based upon behaviors or data that they're, that is being gained. And I, I think, I think that's the big change that's coming.

And we, we have to make sure that our programming also follows our culture, right? That we're doing what's best for the client and, you know, not necessarily what's best for, for us financially, but what's best for the client. Because in the long run, we win financially. So all — there's a lot of things happening that I think will lead to better, better collaboration.

The sharing of information, the way we structure the company. One thing I learned from a [00:33:00] CEO that was at our company that I worked for early on who was there — and he came and left. He was, he was only there for a short period of time, but he, he wrote a book on organizational alignment, and he said, you have to look at this.

You have to understand how important organizational alignment is in terms of, of generating collaboration across business lines. He was absolutely right. So I, I looked at the things that he gave me. I read it again, I tried to gain as much knowledge about it as possible. I was president of what was called the banking group, the Chief Revenue Officer at the time, and I wanted to impress him.

So I read everything that he put down, and I went back and, and then tried to deploy some of the strategies that I learned from him in the organizational structure. And organizational alignment's important. So data management, having information and insights, making sure that incentives are, you know, designed to create collaboration and not competition [00:34:00] within the company, and then aligning the organization.

To drive results and to drive collaboration. That those are the key elements to getting what you want. 

David: What are some signs in your experience that perhaps an organization isn't aligned? What are some of the warning signs that executives should be looking after?

Vincent: I think it's pretty, pretty clear. I think most people, if they are listening, if anybody is listening to this podcast, I will, I will tell you, they'll know this right away.

When you start to see departments who are creating fiefdoms or bureaucracy, if you start to sense that there's bureaucracy or there's infighting over territory or clients, that's when you know, you've, you've started to go wrong. So I, I think, you know, you gotta take a step back and say, how can we get people to work better together?

Right? How can we deploy products more consistently across departments so that at the end of the [00:35:00] day, the customer's the winner. Not just one person sitting in one department. So, you know, that's the telltale sign. So, and I, you know, when we, when we interview people or we promote people within our company, one of the things we look for is their ability — or I look for specifically — is their ability to work collaboratively with the other departments.

So, and you know, again, I'm gonna reflect back. I, learned this from somebody years ago, that I worked for president of a different bank years ago. He said, you'll be successful if you're able to get people from other departments to help you do your job. So I thought about that and I thought, wow, you know, that means I have to be able to tap into these other departments and somehow motivate them to help me achieve success.

What that means is we have to collaborate, right? So he was spot on and, you know, I learned from that as well and [00:36:00] deployed that strategy throughout my career.

David: Isn't that interesting? When you say that, that sounds ridiculously obvious, right? But to hear it said, it's like, wow, actually, there's a lot that goes into that.

Vincent: It, I think our advantage over some of the largest banks in the country, you know, we've done some things that large banks have wanted to do. We've done it already, and we're small and we don't spend, we spend a fraction of what they spend on tech. You know, we've been able to do it because we don't have bureaucracies, because we don't have departments that operate in a, in a silo, and they spend, you know, independently hundreds of millions of dollars on technology that can't be integrated or shared.

And then they, when you do find a solution that could bring them into the fold, the leaders of those segments typically say, I can't take an impairment on this technology investment that I've made, therefore, I'm out. So, you know, you know you have a [00:37:00] problem when, you know you've got different silos within your organization going down different strategic paths from a tech perspective, and you can't provide a whole solution to your client or your customer base.

You know, we, that's our clicks to brick strategy. What we've done with tech, we looked over 10, 10 years ago, we started this process. We said we're only gonna put applications in place that actually — where we can share data and we can fulfill our strategy of providing the customer with an omnichannel solution that lets them purchase multiple products and services with one application.

Right? That's the common app that we develop. That took a decade of, of discipline and understanding and collaboration to get done. So it's not easily replicated because of that. I, I don't think the street or I don't think other [00:38:00] people understand that in banking. I, I think we're fortunate that we were able to push through them.

David: Clearly, you've put so much time and thought and energy into building, building the business model, building the culture. Can you, can you take us back to maybe one or two, perhaps incidences that you perhaps saw, you just saw, perhaps saw an interaction within the business, or you saw and you looked at that and you thought, yes, this, this, this culture, this, this is working. Some examples you can give. 

Vincent: Yeah, literally hundreds of examples. Hundreds, because like I said, we celebrate certain wins and one of the, you know — we have this, this program that we developed, it's called the Five Star program. You know, basically we give people awards for sales, service, collaboration, and there are literally hundreds of nominations over the last 15 years that I could point to.

It showed departments working together to do what was best for [00:39:00] the client. And you know, they, we encourage people to do that and then submit applications to get this award. And then the employees are recognized in front of the entire company and they get what's called a Star Power Award. And they, they basically get the recognition and everybody gets to see how collaboration works to benefit the shareholders, right?

Because there are many instances where we win a deal, not only did we win the deal, the commercial deal, the corporate opportunity, we won treasury management business, we got the wealth business or the owners. We end up with the employees of the company banking with the retail bank through our workplace banking platform.

That takes collaboration, that, that takes departments working together and sharing information. And the way we've structured our organization, we were very methodical. About how we were gonna design the expansion of FNB. We came up with a template. We have 10 distinct [00:40:00] markets. We have separate decision making in every market.

Uh, we have a regional president in every market who basically is running the, the wholesale side of the bank in that market. You know, we have product specialists assigned to those markets, so we have a template that we use. And, you know, our incentive compensation systems, as I mentioned, are used across the company so that it's very consistent.

You know, we've done many acquisitions. I think they're nearly, you know, we're, if you just look at bank acquisitions, since I've been at the company, we've done 18, as CEO, I think 16 or 15 for me. I don't know the exact number, but it's, it's a lot. We were able to use those templates to basically bring people in, create new markets, and not miss a beat from a cultural perspective.

And that's why we've won, you know, 80 best place to work awards from various publications, right? That's, those are surveys that are done from the employees. It's because we've created [00:41:00] consistent culture within the company. And organizational alignment goes back to what I said before. We, we made sure that no matter how quickly we grew or how we grew geographically, no matter where you're dropped off in our company, you feel the same culture.

So that's a very difficult thing to do when you're spread across seven states and, you know, you, you grew from this very small bank, but we were able to do that. And it shows the proof point is in the results in those surveys. We've also won numerous Greenwich awards. You know, we've won awards for customer satisfaction in the commercial bank and the wholesale bank.

And, you know, that is also an indication that what we're doing is working because, you know, clients are very satisfied. You know, if you look at it end to end, you know, those are the metrics that I look at. And then, you know, we look at financial performance obviously, and, you know, [00:42:00] that's been very solid over a long period of time.

Those things tend to lead you to believe that your model's working. Then look at deposit share growth. You know, we just looked at last year's FDIC data. You know, we've grown in most of the markets we're in. In Pittsburgh, you know, we grew, you know, we have one of the largest banks in the country headquartered there.

You know, we grew market share. That tells me that our business model is working. And, and the tech investment, you know, look at the, the eStore, the common app, the volume of applications that we're bringing in online. The fact that we've been able to streamline the onboarding process for consumers and, you know, we're, we're able to offer them up to 30 products with one application.

I mean, that's, that's an amazing efficiency for clients. They can upload information into the system digitally. Uh, the authentication system that we've developed, you know, it's a pretty sophisticated authentication system without a band technology and all kinds of stuff. Biometric [00:43:00] technology, IP address tracking is all embedded into that system.

So, you know, the customers can feel secure operating in our environment. And then making sure that that digital environment, the same environment that exists online and on the mobile app exists in the branches so that you have a consistent experience across delivery channels. All of that is very unique and, you know, I, that's why I'm here.

That's, that's why I'm talking. I think it's worthy of talking about and letting people know that we were able to do all of this and do it very successfully.

David: Given your focus on the client and wanting to sort of track, I guess, client success, client happiness. Talk to us about how you go about doing that.

I presume it's quite a broad range of anything from surveys to how many times they're on the system. How, how do you build those metrics out? 

Vincent: Yeah, I [00:44:00] mean, the, the digital stuff's easy because they're, they're already channels to capture, you know, satisfaction and comments, right? Usually, people that have a bad experience are the ones that comment.

So we take that, we look at it, try to figure out is this real? Is this something happening on our end? Is this an issue with their own device? And, you know, we, we constantly look at that feedback. So there's a feedback loop built into the digital, you know, in the Apple store and other places. So we, we look at that.

We, we survey our customers frequently. We, you know, we engage in, we have third party surveying the customers. We do our own, believe it or not. We believe that there's a correlation between our ability to serve each other within the company and how we treat clients. So in addition to doing external client surveys, we started surveying our own departments internally.

So we have an internal system where we, every quarter, every employee has the ability to [00:45:00] review or, or critique or, or measure the performance of the, the operating areas that they interact with. And then they provide feedback as well. And we have a feedback loop that we analyze and look at and say, okay, we're having issues over here.

We need to — and showing up online. And it's showing up internally. Then, you know, you have a problem that needs to be dealt with, to elevate the level of service. So we've spent a great deal of time and energy focusing on that. Again, banks are big, complex animals. We have a million customers. You know, we're gonna have people that are unhappy periodically.

It's, it's how we treat them, you know, we try to understand what's going on and try to fix the problem. And, you know, the other thing, you know, I constantly talk about when I'm out with the branches, I spend a lot of time, even though I grew up as a corporate banker, I spent a lot of time in the branches. For a brief period of time, retail banking [00:46:00] reported directly to me.

And I thought, as an arrogant commercial banker, this has to be the easiest thing. You know, I, I worked on large, complex transactions, you know, syndications, I worked, you know, worked on bond deals, I'd done all kinds of things. So this is gonna be easy. It was the hardest job I've ever had.

Okay. So I have a new respect for consumer bankers. They deal with quite a bit, you know, they, they, they're the frontline for the company, and, you know, they're gonna engage a customer 10 times more frequently than I would as a commercial banker. So it's really important that they understand how to deal with issues, that they understand how to apply empathy.

To, to engage a customer who's upset and solve a problem for them. Right. That's their job. I, I tell them all the time, you know, there are policies and procedures and there are things that we have to do, you know, from a regulatory perspective, but we have to take care of the customers. You know, we, we have to spend the time [00:47:00] to understand what's going on, what's happening, what went wrong, explain it to them and help them and express empathy.

You know, don't just say, I can't help you. I'm sorry. That doesn't work. So, you know, I think, again, in the culture, you know, that's, that's something that we work on. We created a program because I didn't feel it was good enough, you know, was going on naturally. We created this program where we bring all of the branch managers into our headquarters city.

They spend four days with us. I go and present to them as frequently as I can. We brought every single manager through this program, and we basically train them on how to engage customers. How to use the digital tools because we, we were migrating to a more digital in-store experience. You know, and, and basically how to, I trained them on basic credit and, and how we underwrite so that they could better deal with customer issues in the field.

You know, [00:48:00] so that program was launched, it's called Foundations and we, I think we brought just about every branch manager. All the new hires go through it automatically, but we systematically pick people out from across the geography and bring a group together and have group discussions and training for four days.

We do it repeatedly every year, try to get, you know, people through that program. That's helped immensely. So that helps sustain that culture as well. 

David: And you, you mentioned that awards have played quite a big role in the way you recognize staff internally. Of course, you, yourself, you were named the CEO magazine's, CEO of the year last year.

So that was an individual award for you. What, what did that recognition mean to you personally? 

Vincent: Well, it, it meant a lot to me. It was a great honor. It, what it meant to me was that the people that I've been talking about this whole time actually did what they, what they were, set out, what they set out to do.

So it [00:49:00] takes a team effort, it's an honor to represent them. You know, it, it, it's, it's humbling to get that award, but it really represents something broader. It represents the hard work of 5,000 people. Right. So I, I think, you know, uh, there's a little bit of hesitation initially, but, you know, I thought to myself, I, I think it's time for us to step up and, you know, promote the people.

I mean, I'm, I'm representing them, so I, I receive the award, but it really represents all the hard work that everybody's done. Yeah, everybody has done this for, you know, the last 15 years while I've been leading the company. I've been there for 20 in leadership positions, but CEO for 15, you know, I, I think, I think they deserved that award too.

David: It's kinda the ultimate in alignment, company alignment, really, like you said, there's, you said 5,000 individuals all working together to kind of produce these results, and that's ultimately culminates in those types of recognitions, I guess. 

Vincent: Yeah, I, I think [00:50:00] they, well, they take great pride in it. I, you know, they know that, you know, sure I was recognized, but really what's being recognized as the hard work of everyone at FNB, right?

So I can't get an award if, if they're not doing what they need to do. So I think people take great pride in that as well. They're very proud. 

David: Fantastic. And you'll be joining our judging panel this year. What qualities do you look for in a, in a high impact executive? 

Vincent: Well, you know, the high impact executive, I'm gonna circle back to what I said earlier.

They, it, it's one thing to drive results, right? I mean, you can be brutal and just drive results. Um, I think it's another thing to be able to take a step back and say, I drove results, built a culture, did great things for the communities that we serve, right? Gave back, you know, gave back [00:51:00] time, gave back intellectual capability, gave back resources.

I mean, that's what I would look for. I would look for somebody that can achieve results and is committed to giving back. And I, I, you know, that's pretty easy to see because there are certain decisions that are made by leaders that, you know, will drive either one outcome or another. And, you know, I, I think the actions of those individuals speak volumes about their true character and the integrity and, you know, what their, what their legacy will be about. And I, I think that I look for those traits. I, you know, my cousin who was an executive at Costco, he, he lectured me during the pandemic. He said to me, you know, he's like, we were on the phone talking.

I'm like, how are you dealing with this? Because you've got, you know, many more employees than us, and you're out there — he reported directly to the CEO at the time. And he said to [00:52:00] me, just focus on your employees. And I, I think, I think that says it all. So I, I think an executive that can — he said performance is important. It's really important, right? 

Because I mean, they had Charlie Munger on their board, right, looking for performance, right? A phenomenal person who's very focused on good results. But, you know, he said, you know, you need results. But you also, when you're going through an issue like we're going through — a pandemic, global pandemic —you know, make sure you're taking care of your employees, make sure you're taking care of your customers.

And you know, that struck me. And I, I think that the things that I mentioned earlier are gonna play out in your selection of the next person. Right. They should show all those attributes. They should be able to drive results, take care of their employees, take care of the communities that they serve, or their clients, and, you know, do that in a [00:53:00] way that is beneficial for all, all the interested parties.

David: Yeah. Completely. That's what makes performance sustainable, right? If it's shared properly. 

Vincent: Well, I mean, people will, they wanna believe in the organization that they work for, right? Yeah. They, they wanna know that they work for a good organization. Nobody signs up for, for work and says, Hey, I wanna work for a company that just cares about the bottom line. They don't care about anything else. 

Nobody goes to a company and says, I'm gonna give my all for that. Right? Sure. They wanna succeed, they wanna perform. We're competitive, we wanna win, but we also want to do it in a way that's honorable. And, I think that's an easy, you know, easy thing to see you, you can, you can see what is actually happening and, you know, draw your conclusions from, from actions and, things that were done historically by those leaders.

David: You've mentioned, again, right from the top, [00:54:00] innovation was a key part of what you wanted to, to do. And financial services industry, like most others, is sort of being challenged now with, you know, lots of, lots of change coming. Financial services, obviously AI, you've already talked about digital currencies. Different regulations, different geopolitical issues happening.

What, what do you, how do you plan for that and what, what do you think the financial services industry looks like broadly in the next sort of five to 10 years? 

Vincent: First, first of all, I love the challenge of change, so I love that. I, I know that sounds crazy.

I, I think maybe it's because I've been through stock market crashes, the great pandemic, you know, wars, you name it, right? Liquidity crisis that just came up. So I, I think, you know, I, I have always feel prepared when I move into change and try [00:55:00] to look for opportunities to advance the company, right.

In those periods of change, you know, people always say there's opportunity and, and change and, and challenges and, and, and I think, and upheaval. I, I think that's true. So you, you have to be able to guide the company through the change, get people on board with change because they resist change, and have a clear direction path.

And you need to make, you need to be decisive. I mean, there, you know, you can't be over analytical. You can't analyze things forever. Eventually you have to get to a point where you have to make a decision to move the company forward and live with that decision. And, you know, I think, uh, you know, we've been blessed with a management team that, like me, have been through quite a bit, right?

I mean, I, I think that prepares us for a lot of change that could potentially be coming, the regulatory environment, it's been, you know — I've been in this business [00:56:00] for over 30 years. I can tell you it's a yo-yo, we're going up and down. It's okay. It's not okay. Mergers are heading. No, they're not.

Okay. I mean, it depends on the administration. So it changes. So frequently it's, it's a little challenging to manage, but we're gonna manage through it. You know, we have managed through it, you know, we've seen some pretty extreme changes. You know, we're gonna get through that. So I'm not worried about that.

And I, I think, I do think, you know, despite bankers complaining about regulators all the time, there are some very good regulators who want to do the right thing, who care about the industry, who care about making sure consumers are taken care of. So, I'm not slighting them. It's the, it's the leadership that changes the ideas or ideology within the regulatory bodies that, that probably needs to be fixed.

It needs to be more steady, right? The people in the field are great people. They care, they're smart, they, they [00:57:00] wanna do the right things. So, you know, maybe setting that aside, from a tech perspective, you know, I think we're entering one of the most exciting times in banking. So I think we're gonna see — we've seen the emergence of FinTech competitors, we've seen cryptocurrency evolve.

We've seen payment systems speed up dramatically. There's some pitfalls with that, with fraud and, you know, consumers not really being able to deal with real-time payments, right? They, they get sometimes, get lulled into believing that they can retrieve funds once it's gone. You know, it's not, it's like doing a wire today with some of these payment systems that are out there, that are real time.

But, you know, I, I think, I think it's an exciting time. And I think AI, I think data, and I've said this repeatedly on earnings calls for at least 10 years, 'cause we started our clicks to brick strategy [00:58:00] 10 years ago. That data and data management and insights and the ability to use data, to be able to provide clients with better solutions, better outcomes is very exciting.

And that's the future of banking. So, you know, creating an environment where we're able to manage large quantities of data, we run our own, we run a lot of our critical applications on prem, so, you know, we don't outsource it everywhere. That, that helps us a little bit because we, we maintained a little bit of expertise in it and, you know, engineering to, to enable us to do some things programming internally, which has helped us.

But we're, we're truly focusing on transforming into a more digitally oriented organization. And it's pretty evident in everything we've done. And I, I think as we move forward and, you know, technology [00:59:00] continues to advance, you know, payments are faster. Customers are able to secure financing faster.

There's, there's digital portals, as I mentioned, authentication. And, you know, all those things are happening, you know, in real time, like rapidly changing how we evaluate customers and, and prevent fraud and, and all that stuff, you know, that, that's exciting to me. And the, the pace of change is accelerated.

So I don't think FNB will be developing its own, you know, cryptocurrency. However, I do think, you know, we'll be able to do some things with it in the future to help our customers participate in that space. So we're gonna stay focused on engaging customers and figuring out how to outmaneuver some of the larger, more well-heeled competitors, in terms of, gaining customers and, and growing revenue.

And that, that's the exciting part about it, because I think AI [01:00:00] leads to, it leads to greater efficiency in the back office. It leads to better proficiency in, in revenue generation. It leads to, you know, I think better pricing down the road on, in the asset categories, on the balance sheet because of efficiency that's gained.

You know, today we, we price loans all over the place. I think you'll gain insight in the future and we'll be able to price for the risk that we're taking more effectively. On the flip side, it may put pressure on, you know, on our pricing, on deposits, right? Because people will also be using AI tools to shop for the best, you know, product.

But I already feel like we're, we're one of the most competitive banks out there. We, you know, we're already looking at the marketplace and, and positioning ourselves, and understanding the pricing elasticity within certain categories. We're using that same technology inside of our company. To deal with that already.

So, you know, I think, you know, [01:01:00] that's, that's what's exciting about it. 

David: What do you, what do you think the future of the branch is in this picture?

Vincent: You know, I, I, clicks-to-bricks came about because I was driving down the road and I was listening to, uh, satellite radio business show. They were interviewing an investor who, as was investing in Amazon, and they were lamenting about the fact that Amazon at the time was purely digital and they needed a physical delivery channel to distribute their products more effectively in, in real time, right?

Because consumers wanted products delivered more quickly. You know, so they were having some supply chain delivery issues. And I thought to myself, wait a minute, we're probably exactly the same way. I mean, because people want to deal with people, even in this digital age. So how do we bridge having all these branches?

And we closed over a hundred [01:02:00] branches, you know, through consolidations, through, you know, after mergers. I mean, we've done quite a bit. But those branches are still very important. So I, I think they're important because they represent a commitment to the community. They represent the actual physical presence.

You know, even, even the youngest, even my kids who are, who are much more savvy than me, technically, you know, they're in their twenties. You know, they, they basically want to talk to me or they want to talk to a person about a mortgage, or they're buying a car. They don't want to go online and just fill out an application, send their stuff off.

And when they do that, they say they get called by 5,000 people. Like, what, what's going on? So I think there's a, there's a marriage between the branch and the branch being more about consultation, financial literacy, financial education, right. Engaging customers who are interested in multiple products, that's the future of the branch.

[01:03:00] Not doing routine transactions, routine transactions, cashing checks, originating payments, all that stuff. That's gonna happen digitally. And it has, over time, those branches will evolve. Fewer and fewer transactions are occurring in these branches. More sales are happening there, and we haven't lost that, which is interesting.

If you survey consumers, they still want branches. When you call on small businesses, they want a branch. When you call on middle-size, corporate clients, their employees want a branch. They wanna be able to go see somebody. So while you want to get out of that physical delivery channel, because it may create some legacy costs that, you know, FinTech may not have, the reality is people still want it.

So you have to figure out a way to marry the branch with your digital offering, and that's what we did. We took a step back and said, we're not gonna close all of our branches. We're gonna optimize our delivery channel, and then we're gonna create a digital work stream [01:04:00] that helps us create the same experience for customers, whether they use their mobile phone, go online or walk into a branch.

And, you know, today we've even created a, a platform that enables us to do everything, uh, for a customer. Routine transactions. — they can buy up to 30 consumer products all through a touch screen. They touch a screen, a person comes up, you know, teller comes up. Basically it's a relationship banker, not even a teller.

And they're able to, to help you with products, buy products and services, originate a loan, cash a check down to the penny, make a loan payment. You know, that's the future. So, you know, we have about 150 of those ITMs deployed. Across the company. We've married them with our e-store. Now that's our prototype.

So not only can we do transactions face-to-face, you can now buy products and services through that platform with the person remotely. That's a game changer [01:05:00] that I don't, I don't know of many institutions that are going in that direction or have done that. We've, we already have, the first prototype was deployed in our new headquarters building in Pittsburgh, so we're, we're off and running.

David: And tell us a bit more about that, because I, I read about that recently. And again, like you said, that was, yeah, very interesting to me. 

Vincent: That was also a very challenging, very challenging thing to get done in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately. It's, it's a difficult, it's a difficult city to, to develop in. So, but we, you know, we got it done.

We had good partners in the development team that we had, and, you know, we were able to, to work really hard. It took 10 years for us to build a — we wanted to build a building for a long time. We had grown from 12 non-retail employees to 800 in Pittsburgh. So we were scattered across six or seven buildings.

It was very inefficient. You know, the rents were all over the board. You know, some of the rent was too high, some of it was okay. [01:06:00] So when you look at it in aggregate, for us to move into a building and have other occupants within the building and own the building, it actually was more beneficial to our shareholders.

So that was the first thing we looked at — said, Hey, we gain efficiency and it's actually slightly accretive for us because of us consolidating, exiting space and then getting into this new space and getting revenue, right, from other tenants. So we said we should overbuild so we can grow into it and then get revenue for other tenants, and then it will be accretive to earnings.

And that, you know, that was the first thing we looked at. But, you know, where we went with it was into a community that, you know, is predominantly minority. That has been, you know, blighted for a long time. Neglected in the 1960s, the city of Pittsburgh tore everything down, was an African American and Italian American neighborhood.

I had relatives that lived there. They were eminent domain out of there. They just leveled [01:07:00] everything and they built the civic arena. And, you know, there was a lot of animosity in the community, even within my own family, about that happening because certain cultural elements of that area were destroyed forever.

And the community, rightfully so, wanted to see a thoughtful development go in that benefited that community. They had something taken away, taken away from them, and they wanted something back. And that's where we were able to step in. We looked at the deal, we said we can structure a deal that's creative to the shareholders that benefits the community.

And there were certain elements of that, you know, and the Pittsburgh Penguins were actually developing the site. Because it was part of a deal that they had, development agreement that they signed to keep the team in Pittsburgh. And, you know, Dave Morehouse came and asked me to, to, to work with them and build our building there.

And I knew all the challenges that existed, uh, because we deal with the community groups there. We had branches in the Hill District, so, you know, met with people, [01:08:00] discussed what we were gonna do, got them on board, uh, helped them out, uh, with a lot of projects, you know, to make sure that we were headed in the right direction.

We monetized a subsidy called Alerta, which I don't know what it is, but future payments to the community to be used for, to stave off gentrification, to help them seed housing, right. Low income housing and other projects. We monetized it and delivered it to them day one because they were worried about getting paid out over 15 years and, right, a billion dollars in development, just creating gentrification and they'd be way behind the eight ball. 

In terms of being able to afford to develop low income housing. So we, we accelerated that. We came up with that idea, we accelerated it. We met the thresholds for minority and female contractor participation — 30% on the core of minority contractor participation was exceeded by our team.

We monitored it weekly, so we made sure we went out and met with [01:09:00] contractors. We put programs in place to provide liquidity for contractors, minority contractors and female owned businesses so that they could participate in the construction of the building. And we built the first multi-tenant office building in Pittsburgh in 40 years.

David: So, uh, it's crazy, isn't it? It is a crazy statistic. 

Vincent: It was a, it was a journey. But to take a step back, you know, growing up in the city, being able to, to see a building on the horizon, because that's what we did. We would drive around and look for views of the city. Pittsburgh's is a beautiful skyline.

You know, and our, my friends and I, my wife, you know, we, when we dated, we, we would go to certain places and say, where can we see the city? What's the best view? To be in that skyline is very rewarding. And, and to be there in the way we're there is rewarding to the employees. They, they love it. So again, you get better productivity, people are engaged, [01:10:00] they're back in the office and, you know, they want to be there and they're excited about being there, and they're very proud of the facility that they have.

We were, we were scattered all over the place. It was, it, it wasn't gonna work long term. We were growing too fast, and it was very inefficient. 

David: How do you personally feel when you, when you look and you see that building in the skyline, what does that mean to you personally? 

Vincent: Well, it was a lot of, it was a lot of hard work.

You know, I, to me personally, it, it symbolizes kind of the entire journey. So to go from nothing to something. Right. So, I don't know. I, I look at it, I, I laugh because my daughter said to me, wow, you built a building. I said, I didn't build a building. You know, all of our employees built this building and I didn't build it myself.

I had a lot of help, right? So I don't think anybody remembers the CEOs that build the buildings in Pittsburgh. They remember the companies, but not the [01:11:00] people. So I said, well, you know, in the short run, maybe my legacy's tied to building a building. In the long run, it won't matter, right? As long as the company endures, that's what matters.

And there's opportunity for other people. So I hate to say that, but as you move around Pittsburgh, no one knows. I know 'cause because I'm old. So I know some of the CEOs that built some of those buildings 40 years ago, but others don't, like most of the people in the city wouldn't even know. So yeah, it's great for the city and it's great for our, our company.

David: Your family will know. Your friends will know. Your employees will know. 

Vincent: Yeah. They, but yeah, they will. 

David: For sure. 

Vincent: They will. 

David: Yeah. They know what you've done for the city. And what do — Pittsburgh's been in the news a lot in the last week or so? Especially with steel tariffs. And what do you, what do you see for the city?

Because obviously the, the thing with tariffs, right, is, is a bit like what you said with the regulators one day they're there. [01:12:00] Maybe the next day they're gone. What do you see for the city?

Vincent: Look, I, yeah. This is gonna sound crazy. I mean, you're, and don't, this is not political at all. This is just objective viewpoint based on my experience.

But, you know, driving around Western Pennsylvania, Western New York and eastern Ohio, we used to call on a lot of companies that existed that aren't there anymore. Okay. Some of it makes sense from a globalization perspective, offshoring made complete sense. In other instances. I would meet with companies, they had a very low labor component to the production process.

You look at what they're doing, steel, for example, use that. I mean, I used to, I was the banker for the United Steel Workers, the International Union for 15 years in my past. So I knew Leo Gerard and tremendous respect for him. Uh, and other Lynn Williams and George Becker, you know, those two fellas passed away.

But, you know, I, I think I can tell you that some of what [01:13:00] they're saying about manufacturing in the United States is true. It wasn't a level playing field. So the reset that, I'm not suggesting that I would go out and, and tariff every single country simultaneously, however, you know, leveling the playing field, like we went five decades of not really paying attention to what was happening to our industries in our country.

And we really devastated certain communities, rural communities. With the exporting of jobs and manufacturing capacity in the name of efficiency. And I'm not sure, you know, with currency manipulation, intellectual property theft, I could go on and on. I'm not sure that it was a level playing field or free markets.

Everybody said, Hey, free markets. It wasn't, it was imbalance. So there is a place for it. Having said that, I think what's happening with the steel tariffs and the [01:14:00] deal that's going down in Pittsburgh today, let's hope it's a positive thing for Pittsburgh. I mean, to see that kind of investment that Nippon on has said they're gonna make in the city, in the steel industry in particular.

I applaud it. You know, I think, I think, you know, I think the local steel workers, maybe not the international union, but the local guys see it, you know, they know. It could potentially create lots of opportunity for steelworkers again, for Pittsburgh, for steel. So, you know, I'm, I'm pretty excited about that. I, I think if it all falls into place, the way it sounds like it's falling in place — you never know in the long run. But, you know, if it benefits those workers, it's gonna benefit the city. 

David: I saw Aaron, Aaron Rogers was signed. Yeah. Today. 

Vincent: That’s another, surprise. It's been all over the board, you know, back in the seventies and the eighties, obviously, [01:15:00] when we were down and out as a city. I grew up with the Rooneys, by the way, Art Rooney. My grade school. He was on the board of our bank. So I have a lot of respect for that family. But during a time when it was very challenging in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the highlight, right, of that city. Tremendous pride in that, those teams.

I had the great honor of working with some of those people. Mike Wagner and Andy Russell. Mike Wagner worked for us for a long time. Retired, he was the safety, you know, he, four Super Bowl rings. He couldn't even wear them on his hand. Like he, it was so big he couldn't wear four of them at the same time.

It was like, he'd look like, you know, looked like he had brass knuckles on, but, you know, it was, it was awesome. And, and you know, those players, I —  where I grew up in the city, Art Rooney would show up when I played midget football. He would show up there and sign autographs. And the [01:16:00] chief, I'm talking about the chief, the, the, the old man, the grandfather.

So you took great pride in those teams. And I, I think Aaron Rogers signing, I hope, I hope the Steelers can come back and, you know, do some things. They, they really need some help in the, in the quarterback arena. So hopefully he can, he can do something for us. But that'll be interesting. 

David: Yeah, I hope so too. But one thing you can guarantee is he will bring the spotlight.

Vincent: He will. I hope he behaves, I hope in Pittsburgh, like I said, it's a tough, tough area, tough fans. But I think he'll, I think hopefully they do well. 

David: We talked about, you know, potentially the legacy of the, the building on the skyline and clearly what that, what that means, means to you and to the company. For the, for the next generation of leaders at FNB and beyond, what would you like them to take from your personal journey? [01:17:00] 

Vincent: I, I would like them to, to continue the commitment to Pittsburgh and to the communities that we serve. And we, we also help to build buildings in Charlotte and Raleigh and Greensboro, North Carolina. Spent a lot of time with the mayor in Greensboro.

You know, I, I hope that leadership doesn't lose sight of the fact that their commitment to those communities matters more than anything from a new business perspective, from a growth perspective, that that matters. And, you know, I, I would hope that they continue that I, I would hope that they would continue.

And I think they will, because they're part of the culture. I hope they continue the focus on the employees and making sure the employees have what they need from a resource perspective and are engaged and we're doing things that, that work for the shareholders and for the employees to keep us headed in the right direction.

And, you know, I, I would, you know, I think [01:18:00] we've already set the course, we've already set the stage for us competing in the future with, you know, the changes that are coming with AI and, and data, data analytics. And I, I, I think they'll continue that as well. So we have some very strong young people at the company who will come up and hopefully do better than I did. 

David: We're just gonna move on to the final, final segment here, which is our rapid response round. So I'm gonna throw some questions at you. And hopefully the, the first thing that comes to mind, can blurt that out. One daily habit you refuse to compromise on, no matter how busy you get. 

Vincent: I, I work out two hours a day, believe it or not.

And I will not, not do that no matter where I am.

David: Best piece of business advice that you [01:19:00] actually put into practice. 

Vincent: I would say, you know, be decisive. You know, be willing to make decisions, study the situation, but don't overanalyze, and then be decisive. That would be my best piece of advice. I, I think leaders that are decisive, they typically make the right decision and they get things done and they're ahead of the curve and everybody else is, is sitting back and still analyzing things. I'm not suggesting you run off and do something crazy, but take measured risk, calculated risks, and be decisive. 

David: Finally, if there was some sort of parallel universe where you didn't join FNB, what would you be doing?

Vincent: It depends on where you are in your life. Like if I go back to being in high school or middle school, I'd probably be in the military. So to be quite [01:20:00] candid, I wanted to be in the military, but my mom guilted me out of it, so I probably would be there. If you go later in life, after I've gotten through that and I'm in college, you know, I, I probably would have stayed in investment banking and that could've been an area that I stayed in.

If you go beyond that and you go into my career, I probably would be at PNC because National City was absorbed in the PNC or maybe I wouldn't even have a job. I don't know. I might be doing something else. I, I think, you know, those, that's the way I look at it. I, I, it could be, there's a lot of paths and choices in your life and, you know, the journey that you take is a bunch of decisions.

So different points in my life, I would've ended up in a different place. 

David: Vincent, thank you very much for today. Really enjoyed the conversation.

Vincent: Thank you very much. I appreciate the time. Thank you. Uh, and uh, hope for hopefully we can talk again [01:21:00] soon.

David: Yeah, I would love that. 

Vincent: Alright, take care.