Mar 24, 2023 5 min read

After ending 2022 in a solid financial position, First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Greene County began 2023 with a bittersweet celebration of one of its longest-tenured employees and directors.

After a nearly 52-year career with the Association, former president/CEO John E. Mariner officially retired from the board of directors in January.

Mariner, who was president/CEO of the Association from 2008-2012, had served as a director since 2002 and had been chairman of the board since 2017. He retired as president/CEO in February 2012.

On Jan. 25, Mariner was surprised with a reception in his honor following his last annual meeting and board meeting as a director. Also unknown to Mariner, the board announced it was naming him a director emeritus.

“This is not a goodbye,” said Charles W. Trump, Jr., president/CEO of First Federal of Greene County, during the reception. “This is a congratulations to you.”

Mariner’s retirement from the board caps a career that began in July 1971, when First Federal of Greene County needed a mortgage loan officer to replace the late James L. Brewer, who was in line to become president/CEO the following year.

“I happened to be in just the right place at the right time to have the opportunity to fulfill the years of service that I fulfilled for First Federal,” Mariner said. “It simply was God’s blessing that the opportunity was provided to me to do what I have been able to do through my journey of 50 years with First Federal. It’s an honor.”

After starting in the loan department, over the years, Mariner became a vice president, executive vice president and finally president/CEO in 2008.

“Your years with this institution, your years of service, the fortitude, the commitment, the passion, the reliability – you set a fine and oftentimes difficult example to follow,” Trump said. “You set the bar really, really high. And I hope, in the years to come, we continue to make you proud because you certainly have made us proud. We can’t thank you enough for what you’ve been and who you are, and we wish you all the best.”

Also during the Jan. 25 annual meeting, the board recognized Mariner’s retirement and selected Judi Goodwin Tanner as board chairwoman.

Along with Tanner and Trump, the board of directors includes Gregory A. Parsons, Jay S. Hammers, Murray W. Hoy, Stephen M. Neubauer, Douglas A. Wilson and Michael C. Baily. Neubauer and Baily were re-elected to three-year terms on the board. Henry T. Cochran serves as a director emeritus.

The board of directors also approved the corporate officer title changes of Sarah A. Westfall to assistant vice president/assistant secretary and Aimee D. Toothman to assistant vice president and named Brian E. Moody to its slate of officers as assistant treasurer.

Trump was re-elected president/CEO, and the following Association officers were once again elected: Chad M. Moore, executive vice president; Jeffrey B. Widdup, vice president; Courtney A. Schroyer, vice president/chief financial officer; Kathleen M. Toth, vice president/secretary; Terry L. Clutter, vice president/treasurer; and Danielle R. Tobusto, assistant vice president.

Last year, First Federal of Greene County navigated the fluctuating interest rates of 2022 to end the year in a positive financial position.

At the beginning of 2022, the Association’s 30-year mortgage loan product carried a 3.05 percent interest rate; at year’s end, that rate had more than doubled to 6.2 percent. That represents an increase of more than 300 basis points in 12 months.

Despite inflation, rollercoaster interest rates and continued coronavirus recovery, First Federal of Greene County ended 2022 with $1.056 billion in assets, another record for the nearly 99-year-old institution.

Other financial highlights of 2022 included $910 million in deposits and $111 million in loan closings, ending the year with $656 million in the Association’s mortgage portfolio.

In 2023, customer service is driving the growth of First Federal of Greene County’s loan department in two key expansions.

Loan offerings will evolve this year to include a commercial lending department, built from the ground up, as well as the opening of an additional office in Bridgeport, W.Va., for the Association’s mortgage origination subsidiary, First Greene Mortgage. The Bridgeport office joins the Morgantown office in serving West Virginia home loan customers.

With customer service at the forefront of the Association’s values and product offerings, First Federal of Greene County continues to embrace new technology for the ease, convenience and security of its users.

Last year saw a big change for the Association as it moved its website to the more secure .bank domain, relaunching its main site as www.ffgc.bank and obtaining a separate address for First Greene Mortgage at www.fgm.bank.

Recapping 2022 would not be complete without acknowledging the death in July of former President/CEO and Board Chairman Scott S. O’Neil, who devoted nearly 50 years of his life to First Federal of Greene County.

O’Neil’s passion for his workplace and his community typifies the qualities that set First Federal’s employees apart.

“Our Association has been built on two pillars for the last 99 years – our employees and our customers,” Trump said. “Our customers and partners continually show their confidence in us by giving us their business and recommending us to others. We are grateful for that confidence and do all we can to continue to merit it.

“That confidence is possible thanks to our talented and dedicated employees, along with the trusted leadership and guidance of our Officers and Board of Directors,” Trump continued. “I pray that the year to come, and the many that follow, offer success and growth to our special and treasured Association.”