Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | July 22, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 13 UniBank financials S U C C E S S I O N P L A N N I N G F O C U S the bank and oversee the organization's big-picture trajectory while Foley han- dles the banking side of things? "It just began to fall into place," said UniBank Chairman Timothy Wick- strom. Welch "has all the great traits of a leader: honesty, integrity, communi- cation skills and the ability to inspire people to do their best." Meanwhile, Foley has as firm a grasp on the banking side of things as any- body in the business, Wickstrom said. Foley has been with UniBank for nearly 20 years, first as senior vice pres- ident and then executive vice president before taking the interim job in March. "We saw a terrific candidate there for at least part of the top spot," Wickstrom said. "We considered various options, but it became very clear very quickly that Chris could do exceptionally well in the role of president, so we were really looking for more of a leader than necessarily a banker." Welch, who called his counterpart Fo- ley a banking rockstar, will head up the organization's outward-facing business model, relationships with local business- es, institutions and the community. "His expertise in banking allows this paradigm shift to occur," Welch said of Foley. Pepper's quiet departure e idea to install a two-headed leadership team at the bank was made possible only when Pepper agreed to step down in March. at move was without any news whatsoever. e bank's annual report from 2018 made no mention of Pepper. Pepper took the job in 2017, coming from Kansas, where he was executive vice president and commercial banking president for Equity Bank. Before that, he worked at Enterprise Bank & Trust and at BMO Harris Bank in Missouri. However, aer Pepper's first 22 months at UniBank, Wickstrom and the board decided he wasn't the right fit. "e growth in the bank's numbers wasn't what we had hoped they would be in 2017 and 2018," Wickstrom said. Pepper could not be reached for comment. Without getting into details, Wick- strom made reference to adjustments that needed to be made due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law in December 2017, that reduced the cor- porate tax rate from 35% to 21%. e law led to a one-time tax charge of $3.6 million and reduced UniBank's aer-tax net income from $12.1 million to $4.6 million. According to the bank's annual re- ports, the bank's assets went from $1.53 billion in 2016 to $1.6 billion in 2017 and $1.76 billion in 2016, increases of 4.5% and 9%, respectively. Net income fell from $9.24 million in 2016 to $4.6 million in 2017. In 2018, it rose back to nearly $10.3 million. Source: UniBank 0 $.5B $B1 $1.5B $2B 0 $4M $8M $12M 0 $50M $100M $150M 0 $.5B $B1 $1.5B $2B TOTAL ASSETS TOTAL DEPOSITS NET INCOME RETAINED EARNINGS 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 $1.5B $1.6B $1.76B $1.39B $1.45B $1.56B $9.3M $10.3M $4.8M $134.5M $140.1M $150.4M W

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