Barbara A. Maculloch, president of Pennsylvania Banking for Community Bank N.A., along with professional golf pro and Pittston Area alum, Brandon Matthews, take questions at Community Bank’s private customer golf tournament at Glenmaura National Golf Club, Moosic, last week.
                                 Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

Barbara A. Maculloch, president of Pennsylvania Banking for Community Bank N.A., along with professional golf pro and Pittston Area alum, Brandon Matthews, take questions at Community Bank’s private customer golf tournament at Glenmaura National Golf Club, Moosic, last week.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

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It is an exciting time for Community Bank N.A. here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The DeWitt, New York-headquartered company is nearing completion of its Pennsylvania “flagship” location in Wilkes-Barre Township near Mohegan Sun Arena.

As first reported by the Times Leader last year, the sleek, 16,000-square-foot facility at 350 Liberty Plaza will include three drive-thrus, two ATMs and a fully staffed branch to support all lines of business, including retail, commercial and wealth management.

As well, parent Community Bank System, Inc. recently reached a deal to partner with Pittston-based Jacobi Capital Management, LLC, under which Jacobi will provide investment advisory services to Community Bank commercial and high net worth clients in Pennsylvania.

Adding to the excitement, the bank has put its brand behind a hometown hero by reaching a sponsorship deal with Pittston Area graduate and PGA Tour Professional, Brandon Matthews.

That partnership was on display last week during Thursday’s Community Bank-sponsored Summer Classic at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic. You can read more about Matthews’ day out in today’s sports section.

We also spoke with Barbara A. Maculloch, president of Pennsylvania Banking for Community Bank N.A., about the new building, the Matthews partnership and more.

That conversation follows, lightly edited for length and clarity.

***

Q: Barbara, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. I’d like to start with the Brandon Matthews sponsorship. Could you tell me how it came about, and why it’s important to the bank?

A: One of our commercial lenders, Matt Dougherty, Senior Vice President, Group Leader, Pa. Commercial Banking, knows Brandon and has played with him at different charity events, and has followed his career for quite a while.

Matt called me and presented this idea to us. Brandon was already sponsored by Adidas and and a couple of other high-end companies, but he was looking for a sleeve sponsor, and Brandon loves our area so much that he was hoping to be able to do it with. with a company here locally. That’s how we became involved with it, and we’re just really proud of him. Of course, you know, this was in conjunction with our CEO (Mark Tryniski).

Q: What benefits does this bring for Community Bank?

A: He has already helped us in attracting some prospects to our event by his name alone, and his name is, is very well known here. And people, especially if they’re golfers, know who he is and they want to be there.

So we want to show our community the kind of people that we are and introduce them to the kind of person that he is, because he’s a special individual in so many different ways.

Q: Does this open the door to similar sponsorships down the road with other athletes or teams? Is that something you’re looking at?

A: No. This is something that came to us, not something we were looking for. That’s not to say that we wouldn’t, but this is not our mission in banking. It was because Brandon is a local born and bred and loves Northeast Pennsylvania, and we are really community driven.

Q: Tell me a little more about the company, its focus and range.

A: We have (about) 220 branches between Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. We have several entity companies that we own, including a 401k company. The Pennsylvania market in particular is what I’m responsible for, and we’re really focused on growing business here. And if, Brandon can help us do that in some small way, then that’s a wonderful bonus for us.

Q: Speaking of the Pennsylvania business, I know you have the new headquarters going up by the arena. Tell me a little about that project and how it’s going.

A: It is the biggest endeavor we’ve ever undertaken in Pennsylvania, we’re calling it our Pennsylvania flagship, because it will have every line of business, like wealth management, commercial lending, and administration will be in there that the building.

It will have three drive-thru lanes. It will have two ATMs. When you get off of 81 and you make that right, we’ll be right there.

It’ll be really efficient for customers and just has this great, modern feeling inside and out. We’re showing that we’re here to really be committed to Pennsylvania.

Q: What’s your target date for opening?

A: It is Sept. 26. So we will be closing (the Franklin Street office) that Friday, the 23rd, and we’ll reopen with no interruption in business on Monday morning in the new building.

Q: Any other thoughts you might like to share?

A: I love this company that I work for. I love people like Brandon Matthews. We’re all about doing as much as we can for this community and sponsor events when appropriate for different not-for-profits. I, myself, personally chair a lot of events and have raised in the millions of dollars for people as a volunteer. So I can tell you that we’re just so committed and so happy to be in Northeast Pennsylvania.