Centra Bank Develops a Successful Recipe

State Journal, The, May, 2007 by Bonnstetter, Cathy

MORGANTOWN - in 1999, a group of the businessmen in Morgantown decided it was time to change the way people bank.

On Valentine's Day 2000, Centra Bank opened its doors in Suncrest, and people were reintroduced to banking the old-fashioned way. Apparently, they liked what they found because Centra is the fourth-fastest growing bank of all the banks started in the United States in 2000 and the fastest growing one overall in West Virginia.

"Most of us (on the original board) came from community banks, and then during the 1980s we ended up in chain-type institutions," said Centra founder President and CEO Doug Leech. "Large banks play a key role in facilitating the development of West Virginia's economy. But we felt there was an important a role to be played by community...

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