The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

March 18, 2009

FNB bank chief defends trip to luxury resort

Staff in training, Gurgovits says

By Michael Roknick

HERMITAGE — A bogus e-mail generated interest Tuesday over First National Bank of Pennsylvania employees meeting at a luxury western Pennsylvania resort.

An e-mail falsely seeming to be sent by Steve Gurgovits, chief executive officer of the Hermitage-based bank, said bank managers and other employees were “enjoying massages’’ and “spa treatments’’ at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.

The e-mail added all of this was transpiring at a time when employee raises were banned at the Hermitage-based bank, which took taxpayer dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. First National took $100 million in funds under a specific part of TARP designed to increase loans to boost the economy.

A posh resort in Farmington, 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Nemacolin is known for its championship golf course, horse stables and other upscale amenities for guests.

The phony e-mail, an example of what is known as “spoofing,” was issued to at least of couple of media outlets. Spoofing is when an e-mail header is altered to appear as though the e-mail originated from a different source.

Gurgovits he said he didn’t issue the e-mail but acknowledged about 32 bank employees were at Nemacolin at a planned company meeting. The meeting is one held quarterly among the bank’s marketing managers and branch managers to develop strategic plans and take training classes in compliance with banking laws.

But this was a case where the bank got a better deal by having it at Nemacolin, Gurgovits said. First National bid out the cost for the meeting and found a Holiday Inn Express wanted to charge $150 a night just for a regular room for an employee plus additional charges for meals and meeting rooms. Since this is the off-season, Nemacolin offered the bank overnight rooms, three meals a day and meeting rooms for $205 a day.

“These people are meeting from 7 a.m. in the morning to 6 p.m. at night,’’ Gurgovits said. “To present this as something where people are getting massages and golfing I can assure you it’s anything but that. If any one of those people is getting a spa treatment or playing golf then it’s coming out of their own pocket.’’

While the bank “postponed’’ merit raises it normally gives employees in January, Gurgovits said that will be reviewed at some point. Gurgovits said the e-mail was probably send from a disgruntled employee.

Gurgovits is also chairman and CEO of FNB Corp. in Hermitage which owns First National. He came out of retirement to return to the institutions after former CEO Bob New decided to leave the bank. One of the first orders issued by Gurgovits upon his return drew praise when he canceled a trip to a Mexican resort as a reward to top-performing employees.

But FNB got criticized when it paid New a $990,000 severance, amounting to 18 months of pay, plus bought New’s home for $748,000.

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