- Key insight: Civista Bancshares in Ohio is promoting Charles "Chuck" Parcher to president and CEO, effective as of late August, when current CEO Dennis Shaffer is scheduled to retire.
- Supporting data: During Shaffer's nine-year tenure as CEO, the community bank's assets have nearly tripled to $4.3 billion.
- Forward look: In an interview Monday, Parcher said he plans to maintain the bank's current strategy, which is centered on organic growth and remaining independent.
Civista Bancshares, a $4.3 billion-asset community bank based in Sandusky, Ohio, will undergo a change in leadership later this year when Charles "Chuck" Parcher becomes president and CEO.
Parcher, 61, will succeed Dennis Shaffer, who plans to retire Aug. 28, the bank said Monday in a press release. Shaffer, 63, will remain chairman of the board for an undisclosed period of time.
The transition has been in the works for more than a year. Parcher, who was hired by Civista in 2016 as the company's chief lending officer, was named president of Civista's banking subsidiary in January 2025, filling a role that Shaffer previously held for more than a decade.
Civista has made four acquisitions since 2015, and its business strategy, which also includes organic growth, will remain largely unchanged during the management shuffle, Parcher told American Banker on Monday.
The bank's latest acquisition was finalized in November when
"Organic growth will still be our primary focus going forward," Parcher said in an interview. "We will look at acquisitions as they become available, but the biggest thing is that our board right now is trying to focus on remaining independent in this cycle" with strong returns and growth.
Civista is the 18th largest deposit-taker in Ohio, holding about 0.45% of the deposits throughout the state, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s most recent deposit market share data. It operates 42 branches — 34 in Ohio and eight in Indiana — the FDIC data shows.
The bank was No. 83 on American Banker's
Prior to joining Civista, Parcher was a commercial banker at Cleveland-based KeyBank for about a year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he worked at FirstMerit Bank as its president of the Northwest Ohio region. He spent nearly 20 years at Huntington National Bank.
On Monday, Parcher said he plans to retain the bank president title for the time being. His chief lending officer responsibilities were passed on to Robert Katitus in August, he added.
Civista's assets have nearly tripled during Shaffer's nine-year tenure as CEO. He joined Civista in 2009 and became president of the holding company and its banking subsidiary, Civista Bank, in 2014.
Three years later, Shaffer was promoted to CEO of the holding company, which at that time had about $1.5 billion of assets. In addition to the most recent acquisition in November, Shaffer led Civista's acquisition of United Community Bank in Indiana and The Henry County Bank in Ohio.
"We believe we can get more efficient with [greater] size," Shaffer told American Banker on Monday. "Automation, improving the overall customer experience, improving a lot of our digital offerings, that's where we've focused a number of our investments" in recent years, he said.
One analyst said he isn't expecting any meaningful change at Civista with a new CEO.
"The hand-off from [the] holding company president and CEO, while retaining the chair role, to [the bank president] mirrors the transition to Mr. Shaffer back in 2018," Justin Crowley, an analyst at Piper Sandler, said Monday in a research note. "And so with the continuity, we do not expect to see any major shift in strategy at Civista. We believe Mr. Parcher to be a very capable and well-prepared successor."
