Joseph Bonsick presides over ESSA Bank, the East Stroudsburg institution that became a division of CNB Bank in a July 2025 merger.

As president, he oversees roughly 200 employees across 17 offices spanning the Greater Pocono, Lehigh Valley and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre markets.

ESSA, founded in 1916, spent more than a century as an independent bank serving northeastern Pennsylvania before that combination with CNB Financial Corporation.

The deal folded ESSA Bank & Trust into CNB Bank while keeping the ESSA brand on every office, and it pushed CNB’s footprint to 78 branches.

The merged bank has pooled resources to expand digital banking and product offerings amid industry consolidation.

Stephen Bowers runs commercial lending across the Lehigh Valley for Fidelity Bank, which he joined in 2025 as executive vice president and Lehigh Valley market executive.

He oversees lending operations and client relationships for a bank that operates 21 full-service offices across Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lehigh and Northampton counties. Bowers brings 27 years in commercial banking and finance to the role.

He previously led the Lehigh Valley region for ESSA Bank, where as of early 2025 he oversaw more than $330 million in deposits and $400 million in commercial loans and lines of credit.

A Nazareth resident, he said he looks “forward to enhancing our presence in the Lehigh Valley,” according to a company statement.

Lesa Christian runs KeyBank’s Emmaus branch in the Cleveland-based bank’s Eastern Pennsylvania market, where she also serves as a Key4Women advisor working with women business owners.

In March 2025 she appeared on WDIY’s “HerStory: Women Who Lead” alongside KeyBank business banking relationship manager Dalia Said, discussing career growth, mentorship and the small businesses they work with.

Christian’s branch is among 19 KeyBank locations across the Lehigh Valley, part of a network the bank says it backed with $2 million to $3 million in regional community investment over the past year.

In 2023 she represented KeyBank as the Emmaus branch manager when the KeyBank Foundation awarded a three-year, $150,000 grant to Community Action Lehigh Valley’s Seed Farm.

Jeffrey Drobins is executive vice president and chief lending officer at Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, where he oversees commercial, retail, and consumer lending functions for the institution. Based in Allentown, Drobins also leads the company’s treasury services division and represents its interest on the board of directors for BUDD Insurance.

Over his 19 years in the industry, Drobins has played a leadership role in the company’s investment in BUDD Insurance and led the expansion of its mortgage lending and treasury services teams. His influence extends to the bank’s geographic growth — he has helped guide the expansion of its footprint into central markets, the greater Delaware Valley, and New Jersey.

Drobins also serves as a trustee for the bank’s charitable foundation, extending his lending work into community support.

He currently plays a major role in the bank’s overall growth strategy, with responsibilities that bridge commercial decision-making and board-level oversight.

David W. Freeman is president and chief executive officer of QNB Bank in Quakertown, bringing 50 years of industry experience to the bank’s financial performance, credit quality, business development, operations, regulatory compliance and risk management.

He works alongside a team of five executives to maintain the soundness of the bank’s financial structure while nurturing relationships with shareholders, customers, employees and the communities QNB serves.

Freeman led the bank through its first merger — the acquisition of Victory Bank in April 2026 — forming a nearly $2.4 billion institution with expanded market reach.

“Combined, we have increased our ability to invest in technology, services, and community initiatives while preserving the local focus that defines who we are,” he said.

Addressing the rapid rise of fraud across the industry, Freeman has prioritized employee and customer education to reduce losses and position QNB as an advocate for financial security.

John Hemak is vice president of commercial lending at New Tripoli Bank in Emmaus, where he has built a 15-year career centered on developing strong relationships with commercial borrowers across Lehigh County. Hemak manages a robust portfolio of commercial relationships, delivering tailored financing solutions aligned with each client’s strategic objectives while working to understand the full scope of their operations to improve efficiencies and scalability.

Relationship-building is at the heart of his professional impact.

“I am particularly passionate about supporting businesses within our community as they are the backbone of our local economy,” Hemak said.

Beyond the bank, he serves on nonprofit boards and provides financial awareness education to local students, reflecting a commitment to improving quality of life and cultivating the next generation of Lehigh Valley leaders.

Michael Keim runs the banking subsidiary of Souderton’s Univest Financial Corp., a role he has held since October 2015, and he now also serves as chief operating officer of the parent company.

He joined Univest in 2008 as senior vice president of mortgage banking and was promoted to chief financial officer in January 2013 before taking the bank presidency.

His tenure has tracked Univest’s push beyond its core Montgomery County footprint into the Lehigh Valley and central Pennsylvania.

Describing the bank’s 2020 expansion into Berks County, Keim said the county “was a natural fit as it connects our presence in the Lehigh Valley with our growing presence in Lancaster,” in a previous LVB profile.

He chairs the board of Lehigh Valley Public Media.

Bryan Lobach has built a career on a conviction that banking is fundamentally a people business.

As vice president and business development officer at Embassy Bank for the Lehigh Valley in Allentown, he focuses on developing and nurturing relationships across the community — prioritizing personal connection over high-pressure sales and trusting that the business will follow.

“The Lehigh Valley is a place where relationships count more than a favorable rate,” Lobach said.

That philosophy has driven continuous growth in his professional network across the region’s business community.

Attuned to the challenges facing Main Street, Lobach points to talent retention and rising fuel and inventory costs as pressing concerns squeezing cash flow for small businesses — pressures he sees Embassy Bank as uniquely positioned to help address.

Hope Pearson has overseen branch banking operations for Firstrust Bank across a four-county Lehigh Valley market for much of her 36-year career in financial services. As senior vice president and regional market manager, she works closely with her teams to deliver relationship-based financial support while keeping a steady focus on deposit growth and overall market performance.

Pearson provides strategic direction across the region, develops branch leadership, and partners across the broader organization on growth initiatives, risk management, and results aligned to the bank’s objectives.

Talent development is her throughline. Throughout her career, Pearson has focused on creating opportunities for others to grow — with a deliberate commitment to advancing women. She has placed people in roles that give them visibility, exposed them to new learning opportunities, and supported their progression into leadership.

Her philosophy is lead by example: set the standard through her own actions, stay visible and accountable, and never ask someone to do something she hasn’t done herself.

Chris Persichetti is president and chief lending officer at American Bank, overseeing all lending operations — commercial, consumer, and residential — and driving new business development across 40 years in banking. From the Allentown-based institution, he manages client relationships while helping set the bank’s strategic direction as a member of its board of directors.

Under his lending leadership, American Bank has expanded its commercial loan portfolio to approximately $800 million in total loans — growth that played a key role in the bank surpassing $1 billion in total assets.

Persichetti’s impact reaches beyond the balance sheet. He is active with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Lehigh Valley, serves as treasurer of the LifePath Foundation Board, and works with LVEIC to facilitate state-sponsored loans that drive local economic growth.

He sees interest-rate volatility and broader economic uncertainty as the industry’s defining challenge — and strong teams focused on a shared purpose as the answer.

Matthew Petrozelli is president and CEO of Valley National Financial Advisors in Bethlehem, where he has led operations and strategy since 2018 across a 23-year career in financial services. Petrozelli maintains close relationships with staff and clients alike — ensuring his team has the tools to deliver strong client experiences and personally matching prospective clients with the right advisors.

In late 2025, VNFA marked its 40th anniversary with more than $1.3 billion in assets.

“We have stayed true to our local footprint and independent business model of providing multiple financial services under one roof,” Petrozelli said.

The firm supports the Volunteer Center Community Challenge and Victory House of the Lehigh Valley and sponsors WDIY’s “Your Financial Choices,” a weekly radio program featuring local financial experts.

At a time when independent community banks are increasingly rare, Kevin Schmidt has made preserving one his life’s work. As president and CEO of The Neffs National Bank in Neffs, he oversees day-to-day operations and the implementation and monitoring of the bank’s strategic plan — guiding the institution through conservative, deliberate growth while honoring commitments to staff, shareholders and the surrounding community.

Schmidt’s decision-making is guided by what he describes as three publics: his staff and management team, whose shared vision and support he prioritizes; shareholders, whose financial interests and the bank’s reputation he works to strengthen; and customers and the community, whose needs he views as central to every consequential choice the bank makes.

Sam Sidhu is president and CEO of Customers Bancorp and Customers Bank, drawing on 22 years of industry experience to lead the institution’s evolution as a technology-enabled national bank.

Sidhu sets the organization’s strategic direction, balancing growth and innovation with disciplined risk management while advancing a model that pairs digital infrastructure with relationship-driven banking.

His defining accomplishment has been scaling Customers Bank beyond a traditional branch model through investment in specialty capabilities and a strengthened balance sheet.

“It proves you don’t have to choose between innovation and stability to grow with customers,” Sidhu said.

On the horizon, he sees artificial intelligence reshaping the industry — but not as a workforce replacement.

“The real opportunity is empowering team members,” Sidhu noted.