Patricia (Patti) A. Husic, President & CEO of Centric Financial Corporation and Centric Bank, has been selected from hundreds of national top-tier female bankers as one of American Banker’s Most Powerful Women to Watch. 

Under Husic’s founding in 2007 and sustaining leadership, Centric Bank has grown to a $1.1 billion financial institution and become one of the winningest banks in the country. In addition to achieving American Banker Best Banks to Work For wins in 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018, four American Banker Top Team recognitions, Top 50 Fastest-Growing Companies for eight years, and Top 200 Community Banks in the U.S. in 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, Husic has been one of the Most Powerful Women in Banking for seven consecutive years. A past chair of PA Bankers Association, she is one of only three women to hold the position in the association’s 127-year history. Husic also founded PA Banker’s Women in Banking Program, now in its tenth year.  

With 60 perent of Centric Bank’s executive leadership team female, and 70 percent of the workforce female, Husic turned rhetoric into reality with her vision for advancing women in banking and finance—no peer bank in Pennsylvania is equal to Centric Bank’s number of women in leadership.  

“For the past 15 years, Patti Husic has exhibited extraordinary leadership in guiding Centric Bank from its inception, through multiple seasons of national crisis, to eclipsing the $1 billion asset threshold,” said Duncan Campbell, President & CEO of PA Bankers Association. “Throughout her career, Patti has served her customers and communities with tremendous passion and dedication. As one of only a few female bank founders in the country, she has long recognized the importance of increasing the number of female leaders in the C-suite for our industry. Patti epitomizes this goal, as evidenced by her seven-member executive leadership team, five of whom are women.” 

This year, Husic joined a super-elite group of women in the U.S. who have founded a bank and then successfully negotiated its sale. On Aug. 30, 2022, Husic announced that Centric Financial Corporation would merge with First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, a $9.6 billion institution headquartered in Indiana, PA. Husic will join First Commonwealth Financial Corporation and the Bank’s board of directors upon completion of the merger, which is expected to close on or after Jan. 1, 2023, subject to certain conditions including regulatory and Centric shareholder approvals. 

“The Centric Bank journey has been my greatest opportunity to give back to the community I grew up in and love, and to invest in a team of 140 incredibly talented, generous, and steadfast people. It has been much more than my professional purpose; Centric Bank’s growth and impact on our small businesses has been my personal mission for the last 15 years,” said Husic. “My next professional chapter opens a new vision of possibility and opportunity, both in business and community service.” 

“Since our founding in 2007, Centric Bank has thrived as a category of one—we redefined community banking in Pennsylvania and proudly financed brighter futures for more than 6,000 businesses. The Centric Bank Way is embedded in the hearts and minds of our team and will be the perfect complement to the First Commonwealth Bank culture,” says Husic. 

The Most Powerful Women in Bankingprogram recognizes individuals and teams for demonstrating exceptional leadership skills, strong performance, and a commitment to driving real outcomes for diversity, equity, and inclusion in financial services. 

“The 20th anniversary of The Most Powerful Women in Banking represents an impressive milestone and gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past while looking toward the future,” says Gemma Postlethwaite, CEO of Arizent, publisher of American Banker. “When I think about what this year’s honorees have accomplished as business leaders, as mentors to women in their organizations, as inspiration to the next generation of bankers—I am confident we have the right leaders forging ahead and shaping the industry for the next 20 years and for future generations.”  

Learn more about Centric Bank.