Emerging Leader: ‘Thankful’ Campaign Morphs into ‘Powered by People, Fueled by You’

Editor’s note: In closing the book on 2023, we asked readers to nominate emerging leaders in conjunction with our story about initiatives underway in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys to cultivate leadership.

Diana Timkovich, Corporate Communications Coordinator, Premier Bank

Diana Timkovich is a true marketing leader. In her role, she supports many lines of business with their communication needs and leads major projects for our team. She is a true brand and core values ambassador for both the marketing team and Premier Bank overall.

Diana serves on the bank’s employer of choice committee and oversees many subcommittees and team efforts. She spent the summer as a mentor to one of our interns, assisting him in growing and developing into the role and providing support and assistance as needed.

At Premier Bank, we empower our associates to give back by performing acts of kindness and volunteering their time to organizations dedicated to doing good. Diana exemplifies these values. Each year, she organizes and leads volunteers at a local American Cancer Society event and served four years as the marketing/communications chair for the Relay for Life in Niles. She leads Premier Bank’s United Way Corporate Pledge Campaign Core Committee and volunteers for the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley Day of Caring.

As a former Youngstown State University student, she knew how hectic the first week of college can be for the students and staff. She came up with a random act of kindness initiative where the bank paid for all the parking meters around the campus during the first week of school. This effort had such a great response that the bank did it for six years.

Diana has also been instrumental in organizing Premier Bank’s participation in several other community service projects. These include holiday postcards for service members abroad, fundraising for local pet rescues and the Youngstown Holiday Parade and High School Band contest designed to provide band members with the opportunity to participate and earn a donation from the bank for their school band.

 In 2018, she created a video “Thankful” campaign that has morphed into the current annual “Powered by (kind) People. Fueled by You.” campaign, which grows and evolves each year.

The first several years the campaign coincided with World Kindness Day. Teams of associates went out into our communities committing random acts of kindness (donating items to local organizations, paying for coffee at local coffee shops, paying for groceries, delivering coffee, doughnuts or lunch to clients or first responders, etc.). Over the years, the initiative has evolved. Now as part of the campaign, each year we identify organizations in our communities and make donations to help further their missions.

Diana partners with local organizations and The Business Journal to produce a video series highlighting several of our community partners, sharing their stories and how we work together to collectively support important programs that benefit our communities.

Nominated by Alicia Miller.