YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The transition of Premier Bank to WesBanco is complete, and team members celebrated Wednesday at the WesBanco Financial Center, downtown.
“This is an exciting day for both Youngstown, for our customers and for our employees,” said Amanda Congemi, vice president, district sales manager at Wheeling, W.Va.-based WesBanco. “WesBanco values personal connections, and our customers can rest assured that they will continue to be greeted by the same familiar smiles and dedicated team members that they have built relationships with. Along with our continued commitment to the excellent service that our customers have come to know and love in our branches and our local employees, we’re really excited to be part of this new journey.”
Josh Toot, market president and senior commercial banker, said nobody likes change, but he predicted the transition will benefit the Mahoning Valley.
“We’re going to grasp that change, and we’re going to prove to the community that we’re still a community-focused bank,” Toot said. “We have global leadership. We have local decision-making, and our employees, our clients and our community are going to come first. We’re going to make Youngstown and the area stronger together.”
Toot said WesBanco’s Community Reinvestment Act rating is strong, so he believes the bank will be able to do even more for low- to moderate-income communities. From a commercial banking perspective, Toot said being bigger will allow the bank to make even larger deals and upgrade its systems.
When WesBanco executives came to Youngstown, Toot said, there was never any discussion to move the bank from its location at the iconic clock tower downtown.
“They didn’t want to disrupt the building and the historical presense of the building with the plaques and everything, but they did a wonderful job with the signage,” Toot said. “All of our branches look amazing. They make the green work.”
Toot touted the transition as the smoothest of the nine he has been through and credited the hard work of the transition team, the IT team and all the employees.
“I appreciate so much the amount of hours and hard work we put into making this happen,” Toot said. “It just doesn’t end up like this. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, and the team killed it.”
In addition to celebrating the transition with a ribbon cutting Wednesday, WesBanco also presented a $5,000 donation to the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. The rescue mission promotes accountability and provides food and emergency shelters to men, women and children experiencing hunger and homelessness.
Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said WesBanco’s size may mean an increase in philanthropy, and strong financial institutions like WesBanco means more products and services to businesses in the Valley, as well.
“WesBanco’s investment here speaks volumes about its confidence in our region – confidence that we share, and with good reason,” Coviello said.
Coviello, a member of the Mahoning Shenango Business Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said the region’s workforce has grown for three years in a row for the first time since the 1990s. He said the region’s population has grown two years in a row for the first time since the 1970s, according to Macrotrends. Coviello added that the National Association of Realtors has lauded the increase in home values, and Site Development Magazine ranked the region 61 out of 400 metro area for economic strength.
“So I hope our friends in Wheeling – I hope they realize they inherited a rock star in Josh Toot,” Coviello said. “As a member of the Regional Chamber board of directors and the chamber’s downtown council, Josh has been critical in helping us make good decisions – decisions that resulted in all that upward trajectory.”
WesBanco’s acquisition of Premier was announced July 26, 2024, and the merger was completed Feb. 28, 2025, creating the eighth largest bank in Ohio by deposit share. WesBanco has $27.4 billion in assets and 250 financial center locations and loan production offices in nine states.
Pictured at top: WesBanco team members Trish Gelsomino, assistant vice president, foundation giving coordinator; Joe Fanto, vice president and commercial banker; Bob Kempe, senior vice president and senior commercial banker; Amanda Congemi, vice president, district sales manager; Dave Howard, senior vice president and commercial banker; Josh Toot, market president and senior commercial banker; Kevin Dougherty, vice president and commercial banker; Mindy Wiesensee, assistant vice president and banking center manager; and Mark Mediate, vice president and commercial banker.