September 11, 2023 • 28 mins
Belmont Savings Bank President & CEO Todd Cover stops by to talk about the experiences that honed his leadership skills, the bank's involvement in the community, what he's most proud of looking back on his time at Belmont Savings Bank, and so much more in this latest episode.
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(00:20):
We welcome to CEOs you should know. I'm your host, Mike Howard,
Vice President of Membership, Events andEducation at the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce.
We are proud to be partners withiHeart here in Wheeling, along with
our sponsors West Virginia Northern Community Collegein West BANKO to bring you CEOs you
should know in the Ohio Valley.You can find all of those podcasts on
(00:41):
our website at Wheeling Chamber dot com. Move over to the media tab,
drop down to podcast, and youcan hear any of the podcasts we've done
over the last probably a couple ofyears. We are in studio today with
an old time friend that I've knownfor years and very excited to talk with
him. We just get to knowhim a little bit more. Todd Cover,
President and CEO of Belmont Savings Bank. Todd, Welcome to CEOs you
(01:04):
should know, and I know it'snot your first time, that's right,
Welcome back, right, Yeah,exactly. Thanks for having me, Mike.
It's it's always good to talk aboutthe bank and the good things we've
done in the community over the pastcouple of years, so you know,
it's always it's always fun to gettogether, and you know, our our
marketing girl said I'm going to bedoing one of these and I said,
(01:25):
oh, I just did that.What else they gonna know about me?
But come to realize it's been almosttwo and a half years. So two
and a half years and then youget a different list coming in and bringing
up other questions, and someone thatsaw you as a young man in a
pew at church and sees you nowas a CEO. I'm like, I
gotta find out more about how thathappened, because that's great. I love
leadership stories. I love leadership trainingbooks. It's one of the things that
(01:48):
fascinates me probably more than anything rightnow, even more than you know,
training and working in my sales careerthat I had is right, how do
people learn from others? What dothey decide they're going to take from them
and make it as a part oftheir life. And so that's why it's
exciting for me to do the show. So we're glad to have you with
us. I appreciate it. Thankyou. How long have you been the
president and CEO? Now it'll beI believe it or not, it'll be
eight years in December, Yes,eight years since I joined Belmont Savings bag.
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It's been a funny eight years.There's been some headaches along the way,
but you know, headaches in thebanking industry over time. Never,
never, Now, the government hasbeen a great partner, right, It's
funny. I've worked in the radioand TV, so FCC ruled our lives,
you know, right, I'll getit. I get DSc rules are
so we got that in common.I guess, well, let's go back
for those who may not have caughtthe first show, because that's the other
(02:35):
beauty of this. You know,if it's been two and a half years,
a lot of the people that maylisten now probably didn't even know the
podcast existed. Then give us yourbackground of grown up. I know you're
a Wheeling guy, I think rightup in the Warwood area. Tell us
about that. Yeah, well,my parents were both teachers and High County
schools. I actually they sent me. I lived right on the border of
Wheeling. It was a try address. I lived right on the border of
(02:57):
Brook County and High County. Myparents just for the sake of politics,
you know, I didn't want theirinfluence to guide me in any way,
So they sent me and my sisterto Brook County Schools. Graduated from Brook
High School in nineteen set that yeaha brewin, Yeah, a brewin there.
There's some of us down there,some of us down here. So
yeah. I graduated in nineteen ninetyfour. Was a baseball and basketball player,
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ended up going to college for baseball, went to Davis and Elkins for
two years, and then finished finishedup at West Celebrity. Who's you know,
it's if you know anything about meand the history of Balmont Savings.
We've been partners with Lost Liberty forseveral years, so it's near and dear
to my heart, and I'm gladit worked out that way. I have
a son that just graduated from therea year or so ago, doing very
very well. Jonathan, Yes heis. He's a big supporter now of
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West Liberty as well. So Ilove seeing everything that's happening there, and
recently did the podcast about the partnershipwith them and Marshall and the aviation program.
It's just all good, good stuffto see. It really is.
My funny Brook High School story thoughis. I grew up in Point Pleasant,
your way down the river. Myjunior prom date was from Brook High
School, so okay, I hadthe farthest traveled date, I would say,
(04:05):
so, I would say, sowithout research, anyone could beat me,
it was. And then we'd visitthat she actually lived in Bethany,
so it was kind of cool togo up there and see that. All
right, So after Westlibe, whathappened then? Well, uh, your
father in law, Jim Croft,I was a good family friend of mine
and uh, you know, wewent to church together a long time.
(04:26):
He was an ex bank examinate forthe state of West Virginia. So,
uh, you know, I wasabout a year out of school, just
working a couple of local jobs,and he he said, how would you
like to do this? It's kindof he kind of looked at it and
sold it as getting your masters inbanking. So I said, you know,
you know what the heck, let'slet's apply. And you know,
with with the state, you gottajump through a bunch of hoops. So
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it took about sixty eight months tofinally get hired on with the state.
But it was the best four yearsof my life, really, and he
had a lot of those early things. As far as work career it is,
I mean, it was just itwas, you know, it was
a little tough at first, alittle scary at first because there's a lot
of travel involved. You're leaving everyMonday and coming home every Friday. At
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the time. You have a sonthat's done that too. Yeah, I
know, I know, it's crazy. Yeah, So it's being a lot
of being away from home. Butyou know, it is the best thing
that could happened to me because itopened so many doors and allow men to
meet so many people and make somany contacts in the banking industry. I
kind of knew I wanted to getinto banking. My father in law,
Dawn pell I, was into bankingfor a long long time as well as
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his brother Dave at West Banco.So I kind of knew I wanted to
get into that field. So itwas it was really great for me.
It was, like I said,probably the best thing had happened to me,
that to open the doors that otherwiseprobably wouldn't have been open for me.
So after bank examining, what happenednext after bank exam so main Street
Bank had just started. They wereat the Noble Bank two thousand and one,
it was probably maybe two thousand three, two thousand and four ish.
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We were doing an examination and RichLucas, you know, called me in
and asked, you know, howhow would I like to start working for
them? And you know, wetalked for a little while and it it
ended up working out, and soI started with Main Street, uh sometime
in two thousand and four. Iend up staying there almost ten years,
maybe eight or nine years with themand learned a lot from Phis guys.
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Still have a relationship with them tothis day. A lot of great people
down there. Rich Lucas, BruceWilson taught me a lot about you know,
we talked about leadership, or we'regonna talk about leadership. You know,
they they really kind of set thebar us to how to how to
contact people, how to treat people, you know, what people are looking
for in this area. And Ithink a lot of that's really stuck with
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me. You know, when Ifirst took the job at Belmont, and
I don't have any problem saying this. You know, we kind of wanted
to be the main Street of thehigh Side and we've we've done that.
Now we're looking to expand you know, we can't do business in West Virginia,
so you know, hopefully if you'regiving us a given this podcast a
little, you'll give us a shotbecause I promise you we won't let you
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down. It's all about customer service, treating people right. You know,
you're not just a number to us. You're not just how much can we
make off this person. It's trulyabout being a partner, being a being
a true partner, and how canwe help you and what can we offer
to you to help you? Whateveryour your situation is you're going through,
whether it's you know, divorce,having kids, new want to buy a
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new house, new job, youknow, whatever it is, we want
to be able to help you.So that's kind of the angle we've taken,
and it's it's worked out well.You know, it's been, Uh
we've kind of had a sleepy road, sleepy reputation maybe back at you know,
ten twelve years ago, and Ithink a lot of people know who
we are now. Not everyone backswith us, which is a shame.
We shall you all should always plug. You absolutely should again come give us
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a shot. You know, ifwe let you down, then I want
to know about it. That's kindof how we've kind of taken us model.
So you know, it's been likeI said, it's been a fun
fun eight years, a couple ofheadaches along the way, but you know,
we've got a lot of great peopleat the bank. It's not believe
me, it's not just me.It's we've been able to hire and fortunate
enough to hire a lot of greatpeople that have really, you know,
moved the needle for us over thepast eight years. So from the time
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you stepped into main Street Bank tonow you've been eight years president CEU of
Belmont Savings Bank, what's kind ofyou know, some of the biggest surprises
you saw that, Boy, Ididn't see that coming. Or well,
the interest rate environment for the pastyear. I think any banker, any
banker, will say that, youknow, we no one. I don't
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think anybody budgeted for this. Youknow, we thought instrate what's going to
We're going to rise to this level, probably not or this quickly, probably
not. So it's been a it'sbeen a challenge, in a hurdle for
us to try to you know,go from them when we had the pandemic
and people just you know, hadhad money to spend their money to park
and a savings or CD somewhere tothe point now where it's you know,
(09:01):
it's so competitive out there with anybody. You got insurance companies, running banks,
you got you know, mutual funds, you got to compete against investments,
you're competing against. So it's it'sreally a tough environment right now for
us. So that's probably one ofthe biggest things I've I've seen as to
Wow. Probably the other thing isjust you know, the resiliency of the
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High Valley. You know, wehad steel leave us. You know,
we had to groom and not.You know, now we're kind of trying
to find our way, you know, hopefully the the uh the uh what's
the plant south? What's word onthe the older worm on the cracker plant?
Yeah, the cracker plant, thecracker plant, and hopefully it becomes
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a reality. So you know,we're looking at different ways to uh,
you know, to uh make aviable living here in the High Valley.
And I think we've been very resilientas far as you know, how we've
accomplished that. Well. One ofthings we appreciate obviously is your support of
us, in the support you givethe other Chambers. We're of that mindset
that we're really rarely, if thatever, competing when it comes to Chambers
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and I tell people, hey,if you're a small business in a little
community and that's the only chamber youcan afford, do, what's your background,
you know your backyard is, andthen if you can grow and join
us, great. But we loveseeing all the other ones do well.
We love partnering with them now andI love seeing all the things that you
all do at the other chambers.To me, that's part of why I
think you've grown well. You're marketingall those things. You're not a sleepy
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group anymore, if that's what youwanted to call it years ago. You're
out there, you're involved in thecommunity things like you do with Westlib.
I know you've been a big partof Festival of Trees, which we've gotten
back into that that used to bea big chamber thing sure years ago.
So we're trying to bring back someof those fun relationships we used to have
as well many years ago. SoI want you to look in that crystal
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ball that you have. I knowyou have one, Todd, you mentioned
that I'd be I'd have a lotmore of a than that worth Mike if
I had a crystal ball. Butwell, what's your thought on the growth
projecting the future of the valley herefor business growing as community. Are we
going to be able to get thatpopulation that seems to still be going down
a little level it and bring itback the other way? I hope.
So. You know, I gotI got three sons, uh you know,
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one's in college who he's got ayear or two left at college,
and I got two sons in highschool. So for my sake, and
you know, kind of being selfish, I certainly hope. So, you
know, we need to keep thelocal young people around here. I think
that you see a little bit youhear to hear stories about a lot of
young people that maybe move away andthen come back. It's it's a great
place to live, it's a greatplace to raise a family. Uh.
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You know, comparatively speaking, yougo to the big cities, there's so
much crime. You know, there'sso much traffic. Who wants to deal
with that? Uh So for formy sake, I certainly hope so.
And I think you know, we've, like I said, we've been pretty
resilient and the High Valley as faras you know, being creative on what
businesses we can we can recruit tothe valley. So you know, hopefully
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that there's more of that in thefuture. Well, that's what we're striving
to work with all the economic developmentfolks. And I look at and we
just as a chamber, I think, look at everything as a region versus
you know, a little bit ofOhio, a little bit of West Virginia,
a little bit of Pennsylvania. IfClaysville gets something greater, or Barnesville
or Moundsville at any of those vills, you know, it's good for all
of us. Yeah, one hundred, one hundred percent. You know,
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we look at our market areas beingthe High Valley and and and I know
some people we can probably get onto Parkersburg. We don't have much of
dealings in Parkersburgh, but we sayUpper High Valley. You know, we
don't want to say we're in Ohiobank and only deal in Ohio. That's
crazy. Uh. Our name isBelmont Savings. But you know, at
the same time, it's it's it'sa valley of the whole valleys are clientele
and are kind of our where wewant to where we want to be.
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So we're always looking to expand youknow, we have a couple of things
on a on a plate for us. I can't speak too too much about
but we're looking to expand and uh, you know, hopefully those come to
fruition and we can be we canbe a huge part of the High Valley
going forward. Well, we loveseeing it. We want to see all
of our members grow and do well. And you know, part of what
we do and create eating content likethis or events or whatever, is to
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help foster that and help leadership training. We'll get into that just in the
second. I want to ask kindof a fun question that I liked to
once in a while, and thatis, you know, people probably have
the image in the mindset of whata CEO does every day, and some
people might say they probably just sitin meetings all day long, and I
know they played golf, in tennisand pickle ball. Now that what is
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something about being CEO for eight yearsthat you see maybe on a daily basis
that people would never realize, Ohyou have to do that. Oh that's
a that's a tough one, Mike. Maybe something fun, maybe something interesting.
Well, one of the fun thingsI do is I coach baseball.
I've coached baseball. I'll coached mykids, you know, since they've been
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five years old. I was fortunateenough to get on his assistant coach at
Winning Central last year and I've coachedable to coach them there. So that's
a huge part of my life.You know. Anything about my sports is
huge with me and my family andmy kids. But as far as you
know, on a data day basis, it's I don't look at myself as
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being CEO. I look at myselfas being an employee. And I think
if you ask any of the employeesthat work for us, you know,
they they feel that they can comein my office any time and talk about
anything, and I that's I reallylove that environment. You know. Sometimes
it gets you in some hairy situationswhere you kind of get caught up,
But at the same time, that'sthe way I want to you know,
I don't want people to say,oh, I work for Todd. Now
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you don't. You don't work forTodd. You work with Todd, and
I give that back to you,and I try to communicate. I try
to walk around the bank, youknow, as often as I can say
hi to people. You know.One of the things I want to get
better at I've just been a timekind of thing is getting out to our
all our branches visiting those folks andjust having that relationship or developing that relationship
with them. Again, I don'tthink it's not it's not bad, but
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I think it could be better andit could be improved. But I would
I would say that's one thing thatmakes might surprise people is you know how
accessible I am. It's great,and that's that's by design and it's something
I don't want to ever change.What does our British total up to now
for Bellwood Safing, Well, wejust we just opened our fifth one,
so okay, we actually have fivelocations, one of those being a corporate
office. So just yesterday actually onMonday, August seventh, we opened our
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new bel Air location. So webought an old existing bank there which is
right across the alley from us.Uh. You know, our corporate office
which which we have now was wasalso hosted to our retail operation and it
just became too much of a it'stoo crowded of a situation. We we've
been hiring a lot of people,so you know, that's a great thing
for the High Valley and for us. You know, we're up to sixty
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two employees now. But with thatexpansion, you need you need space and
this this new branch allows us tohave a little more space. We kind
of moved the retail operation over there. We also have a full basement that's
accessible for training. We have aconference room that any any organizations can come,
uh, you know, use fromus free a charge. We also
can have some you know, privatemeetings in there. Like I said,
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the retail operation will be be upstairs. It's everything's brand new. And then
we'll have you know room with ourcurrent location or a former retail operation where
we can build some offices and wedon't have people sharing desks and sharing offices.
It's great. It's a great problemto have, and you know,
we're excited about it. So,like I said yesterday, it was the
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first day and from from all,from all what I hear, it's it's
gone pretty well. So that's good. You mentioned hiring glad to hear that
school well, because yeah, that'skind of been a crazy thing the last
few years, hasn't it. Yeah. Yeah, finding people, getting people,
keeping people, keeping people all theevolve. Yeah, it's everybody wants
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to work remote, right right,And we've we've hired a new girl that's
in charge HR. We hired herabout a year ago. She's been phenomenal
for us. She kind of takesthat one of the that was kind of
one of my mini hats I wear. She's kind of take that ball and
ram with it, which is phenomenal. Like I said, we've hired,
We've been fortunate to hire great people. Of the staff we have now is
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I would say, may be seventyfive eighty percent. I've been with us
for three to four maybe five yearsor more. Let's go. Yeah,
it's uh. It says something aboutwhat we're doing and the culture we have
and the culture we're trying to build. I think it's it's a fun place
to work. You know. Oneof the things I always say about Bellmont
Savings Bank because we like to havefun. You know, if you come
in I to one of our meetings, no matter what meeting, it is
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a board meeting. We just hada board meeting today and it was we
had so many laughs in there.And that's what's about. You know,
I don't want people to think ofcoming to Belmont Savings it's a job.
It's not a job. It's youknow, it's it's it's a job,
but it's not it's not work.I don't want people dreading on It's Sunday
night. I don't want to worktomorrow. I mean, that's one of
the big things that drives me tocreate a better culture. You know,
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this is where most people spend themajority of their week outside family, and
it's it is your work family.So you know, we try to do
a lot of great things for employees, a lot of giftbacks. We have
a birthday celebration every month at allfour branches, and you know with that,
we water ice cream, we orderpeazzas, we order that's all,
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you know, lunch in, wehave cakes, you know, we have
celebrations. So it's a you know, my estimation, it's a pretty fun
place to work, which is,uh, why have we've been pretty successful
knock on wood of keeping people.People want to be appreciated, Yeah,
and not just paid. I wouldappreciate you. And I had a boss.
You used to say, we're gonnawork hard, we're gonna have a
lot of fun, and we're gonnamake a little money. Yeah. I
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like that. That's kind of beenour motto. It really has. And
you know, we, like Isaid, we try to keep a loose
atmosphere, and I like I said, I'm I'm pretty accessible. You know,
anytime you want to come in andtalk to me, just knock on
the door and people walk in,and it happens all the time. And
I love it because it keeps mekeeps me grounded as well. You know,
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not that I would ever think I'ma better, better or above anyone
else, but you know, itkeeps me grounded as to what's going on
in the world world with the withthe people on the front line, you
know, what what issues are theyhave and how can I help them be
successful? Because without your people onyour front line, I mean, I'm
I'm not gonna be successful in ourbank's not going to be successful. So
you mentioned and I guess this couldkind of fall under your leadership style is
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being accessible. What else would wouldmaybe describe if we sat down with some
of the loan officers or the tellersor anyone within the bank, how would
they describe Todd's leadership style besides accessible? Well, you can ask Alisa right
there saying right here next to me. You can ask her. But I
would say I'm a fair, fairleader of fair boss. Okay. You
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know, I like to hear bothsides of the story. Where I try
to address it. I think Idon't. I'm never going to be ever,
ever, ever going to be amicromanager. Amen, thank you brother,
hear that preach it right. I'mgonna let people do their job,
and you know, if something happenswhere their job didn't go as we had
planned, you know, we'll sitdown and talk about it. But it's
it's not a I don't want ahigh stress situation. You know that our
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lives are all stressful enough as itis. You know, the last thing
I need is me pounding on them. And I'm never ever going to do
that. You know. That's let'swork to get awesome and figure out how
we can get it done. Butyou know, I try to lead a
little bit by example to you know, I try to treat people fairly,
and you know, so far it'sbeen pretty successful. So obviously, none
of us are really born with allthis stuff, right, We've had to
(20:12):
have people influence us in that regard. And I love to ask questions about
people in your life, whether it'sfamily members, or co workers or professors
or just whoever it is. Isthere one or two that kind of stand
out for you that you'd want toshare with us from a mentor standpoint,
I guess, yeah, there's Imean there's several but and I don't want
to miss anyone. But you know, I at the top of this as
(20:33):
my parents, you know, mymom and died. I've been a huge
part of my life, you know. They my grandpap was a minister.
Yea. I grew up in thechurch, you know, as you know,
we want to church together. Forlong we sat upside behind you a
lot. I think that's right,that's right. So you know, faith's
really big with me. You know, I like to like to say I
like to treat people fairly, whichis a part of faith. But obviously
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my parents have been a huge influencein my life. They've even me or
provided me with everything I've ever neededand the as far as support, money,
you know, education. So thosetwo at the top of the list,
I would say professors. I wouldsay doctor mcculoff. You know,
I think everybody has ever gone towatch Liberty or have been to anything close
(21:17):
to West Liberty knows doctor mccauloff.When I first transferred from DNA, he
was he was the one I metwith because my parents knew him. Kind
of reach out to him, andhe took so good a care of me
and I was just you know,I was just a little kid, just
transferred, I mean a sophomore incollege, no big deal. But he,
you know, he treated me likeI was a you know, the
greatest thing to ever come to Westlib. And I'll never forget that. And
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I still have a relationship with himto this day. We serve on the
Westliff Foundation together, and you know, he's he's been a huge part of
my success as well. And Iwould also say Jim Croft, I know
that guy. Yeah, yeah,you know that guy a little bit.
Uh. You know, he kindof gave me the opportunity to go be
a bank exam or, which kindof opened a lot of doors for me.
(22:00):
And you know, without him andwithout him standing in touch, you
know, he could easily just goneon with his career because he was a
pretty pretty successful banker himself. Youknow, he didn't have to do anything
for him for me, but youknow, he took took me under his
wing and kind of introduced me toa lot of people and a lot of
aspects in life. So I wouldsay that, And then you know,
(22:21):
as far as co workers, theguys in main Street. Really, you
know Rich and Bruce, and Idon't want to leave anybody out. But
Rich and Bruce have kind of,you know, I kind of learned from
watching them how to treat people,how to grow your business, you know,
how to be a upstanding member ofthis community. So I would say,
you know, all those guys,and again I don't want to leave
(22:41):
anyone out. Probably for hours onthat right, I probably have, but
and I apologize to this people,but those are the ones that really come
to the top of mine. Soover all those years, I'm sure there's
been some challenges, tough things thatcome. Is there any kind I always
like to ask that, is therethat tough lesson out there? And did
it may even be you know,an example of something you learned at home
with dad in the in the backyard. Who knows what it could be,
(23:03):
but something that you're like, youknow, I really need to not do
that again, or I know I'mgonna learn from that pothole and I want
to share it with others. Isis it does anything stand out to you
like that a tough lesson? Well, I don't know if there's any one
particular I always look at, youknow, anytime you make a mistake in
life, you got to learn fromit. And I don't regret making any
mistakes in life. You know,maybe some of the some of the way
(23:26):
the way the things turned out,maybe I can regret a little bit.
But if you don't make any mistakes, and like if you never learn anything,
so uh, you know, forme, I don't think there's any
one in particular, you know,but you try to think about it when
you make a decision, you know. Being a CEO, you know,
my my job is to make decisionspent whether the right, wrong and different.
(23:48):
You know, you take all theinformation you have present at the time
and you try to make the bestdecision. You know. For me,
like I said, face a bigpart of it. You know, if
I'm throughly struggling with something, youknow, I'll pray about it, you
know, sleep on it, andkind of like God, you know,
guide me the way it needs tobe guided. So with that you can
never go wrong. But you know, again, I'm gonna make mistakes,
(24:11):
aren't The people that work for BelmontSavings Back are gonna make mistakes. The
thing about it is just to likeis just to learn from it and try
to you know, think about thatgoing forward. Yeah, well I can
went and talk for a long timebecause I still like to remind people even
though it's not like a radio program. They know they're listening to a podcast,
but you're listening to CEOs. Youshould know. I'm your host,
Mike Howard and Todd Cover, Presidentand CEO of Belmont Savings Bank, is
(24:34):
our guest today. And I guesswe ought to say if someone wants to
go check out where these branches are, your website, how do they get
in touch with you? Yeah,I can go to our website www dot
Belmont dash Savings dot com. Ohyeah, the Dash Dash Yeah, don't
forget to Dash. Yeah, gocheck us out and give us a call.
Like I said, And you know, we we have all the bells
and whistles that any bank can offeryou, whether big, small, intermediate.
(24:57):
We can offer anything that they do, and probably at probably a little
bit cheaper price. You know,we're not built on fees, never will
be. You know, obviously wegot to charge a little bit for our
services. But if you compare themto the other banks, you know,
it's it's gonna be uh, it'sgonna be at the bottom of this.
And that's that's by design. Youknow. Again, we don't want to
make money off directly off people,you know, we want to help people
(25:19):
out and there's truly it's a twoside of relationship and that's how we we
view every customer. Well. Iknow when I was first getting into marketing
and advertising and there were a lotof people that were, you know,
shlocking packages and wanting to sell thisbecause the boss said, go sell that.
My thought was, I'm going toget people started where they're comfortable.
I don't want to put anybody outof business because when they grow, who
(25:40):
they're going to come back to?Right, Yeah, And it sounds like
that's kind of your philosophy. Yeah, I think one hundred percent. You
know, you know, we wantto be easy, the easiest bank to
deal with, you know, lessred tape, less fees. Obviously,
the government controls a lot of whatwe do or what we need to collect
from customers. There's nothing we cando about that. But as far as
being easy to work with, accessible, you know, on time, and
(26:03):
be honest. That's that's one ofour core values. Trust, trust and
honest. There are two of ourcore values at Beaumont Savings and they're really
at the top of the list forme. Yeah, all right. So
my fun final question, you geta phone call. Let's just even pretend
it's this evening and it's Brooke HighSchool on the line. Todd, You're
speaking to the graduating class this springat Brook High School. And my favorite
(26:26):
question to ask is what are yougonna tell them? What's the one main
thing for those seniors getting ready togo out that Todd wants to tell him.
Uh? Well, and it's shortin a nutshell, you know,
keep your faith in God and lethim guide you forward. You know,
That's what I've always trusted and Istill to this day believe I've never swayed
from it. You know. Behonest with people, whether whether they have
(26:51):
that you have the answer they wantto hear or not. Be honest with
them, be up front with them, Treat people the way you want to
be treated, and I think you'llbe fine in life. Excellent. Our
guest has been Todd Cover, PresidentCEO of Belmont Savings Bank. I'm your
host, Mike Howard. This isCEOs. You should know. You can
find us at Wheeling Chamber dot comover on the media tab, drop down
(27:11):
to the podcast. They're all rightthere. This one will probably be up.
Well by the time you hear it, it'll have already been up.
I don't know I even say that. It's so funny. Yeah, the
podcast is just such a different thingthan a live radio program or even one
that you know it is only goingto air at a certain time because they're
out there forever. All right,people could hear this one hundred years from
now, thought, good, nowyou still still be around. I won't
(27:32):
be around them, but you mightbe. But we appreciate alt you your
support at the chamber or what youdo for the community, and we appreciate
your time being in here today.I appreciate that. Mike, thanks for
thanks for your opportunity. And youknow, all those guys listen to podcasts
or girls listen to podcasts, comecheck us out. Absolutely, I'll be
this point if you do. Gottago check out Belmont Savings Bank for sure.
Thanks Todd, We'll catch you nexttime on CEOs. You should know that
We welcome to CEOs you should know. I'm your host, Mike Howard,
Vice President of Membership, Events andEducation at the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce.
We are proud to be partners withiHeart here in Wheeling, along with
our sponsors West Virginia Northern Community Collegein West BANKO to bring you CEOs you
should know in the Ohio Valley.You can find all of those podcasts on
(00:41):
our website at Wheeling Chamber dot com. Move over to the media tab,
drop down to podcast, and youcan hear any of the podcasts we've done
over the last probably a couple ofyears. We are in studio today with
an old time friend that I've knownfor years and very excited to talk with
him. We just get to knowhim a little bit more. Todd Cover,
President and CEO of Belmont Savings Bank. Todd, Welcome to CEOs you
(01:04):
should know, and I know it'snot your first time, that's right,
Welcome back, right, Yeah,exactly. Thanks for having me, Mike.
It's it's always good to talk aboutthe bank and the good things we've
done in the community over the pastcouple of years, so you know,
it's always it's always fun to gettogether, and you know, our our
marketing girl said I'm going to bedoing one of these and I said,
(01:25):
oh, I just did that.What else they gonna know about me?
But come to realize it's been almosttwo and a half years. So two
and a half years and then youget a different list coming in and bringing
up other questions, and someone thatsaw you as a young man in a
pew at church and sees you nowas a CEO. I'm like, I
gotta find out more about how thathappened, because that's great. I love
leadership stories. I love leadership trainingbooks. It's one of the things that
(01:48):
fascinates me probably more than anything rightnow, even more than you know,
training and working in my sales careerthat I had is right, how do
people learn from others? What dothey decide they're going to take from them
and make it as a part oftheir life. And so that's why it's
exciting for me to do the show. So we're glad to have you with
us. I appreciate it. Thankyou. How long have you been the
president and CEO? Now it'll beI believe it or not, it'll be
eight years in December, Yes,eight years since I joined Belmont Savings bag.
(02:14):
It's been a funny eight years.There's been some headaches along the way,
but you know, headaches in thebanking industry over time. Never,
never, Now, the government hasbeen a great partner, right, It's
funny. I've worked in the radioand TV, so FCC ruled our lives,
you know, right, I'll getit. I get DSc rules are
so we got that in common.I guess, well, let's go back
for those who may not have caughtthe first show, because that's the other
(02:35):
beauty of this. You know,if it's been two and a half years,
a lot of the people that maylisten now probably didn't even know the
podcast existed. Then give us yourbackground of grown up. I know you're
a Wheeling guy, I think rightup in the Warwood area. Tell us
about that. Yeah, well,my parents were both teachers and High County
schools. I actually they sent me. I lived right on the border of
Wheeling. It was a try address. I lived right on the border of
(02:57):
Brook County and High County. Myparents just for the sake of politics,
you know, I didn't want theirinfluence to guide me in any way,
So they sent me and my sisterto Brook County Schools. Graduated from Brook
High School in nineteen set that yeaha brewin, Yeah, a brewin there.
There's some of us down there,some of us down here. So
yeah. I graduated in nineteen ninetyfour. Was a baseball and basketball player,
(03:20):
ended up going to college for baseball, went to Davis and Elkins for
two years, and then finished finishedup at West Celebrity. Who's you know,
it's if you know anything about meand the history of Balmont Savings.
We've been partners with Lost Liberty forseveral years, so it's near and dear
to my heart, and I'm gladit worked out that way. I have
a son that just graduated from therea year or so ago, doing very
very well. Jonathan, Yes heis. He's a big supporter now of
(03:44):
West Liberty as well. So Ilove seeing everything that's happening there, and
recently did the podcast about the partnershipwith them and Marshall and the aviation program.
It's just all good, good stuffto see. It really is.
My funny Brook High School story thoughis. I grew up in Point Pleasant,
your way down the river. Myjunior prom date was from Brook High
School, so okay, I hadthe farthest traveled date, I would say,
(04:05):
so, I would say, sowithout research, anyone could beat me,
it was. And then we'd visitthat she actually lived in Bethany,
so it was kind of cool togo up there and see that. All
right, So after Westlibe, whathappened then? Well, uh, your
father in law, Jim Croft,I was a good family friend of mine
and uh, you know, wewent to church together a long time.
(04:26):
He was an ex bank examinate forthe state of West Virginia. So,
uh, you know, I wasabout a year out of school, just
working a couple of local jobs,and he he said, how would you
like to do this? It's kindof he kind of looked at it and
sold it as getting your masters inbanking. So I said, you know,
you know what the heck, let'slet's apply. And you know,
with with the state, you gottajump through a bunch of hoops. So
(04:48):
it took about sixty eight months tofinally get hired on with the state.
But it was the best four yearsof my life, really, and he
had a lot of those early things. As far as work career it is,
I mean, it was just itwas, you know, it was
a little tough at first, alittle scary at first because there's a lot
of travel involved. You're leaving everyMonday and coming home every Friday. At
(05:10):
the time. You have a sonthat's done that too. Yeah, I
know, I know, it's crazy. Yeah, So it's being a lot
of being away from home. Butyou know, it is the best thing
that could happened to me because itopened so many doors and allow men to
meet so many people and make somany contacts in the banking industry. I
kind of knew I wanted to getinto banking. My father in law,
Dawn pell I, was into bankingfor a long long time as well as
(05:31):
his brother Dave at West Banco.So I kind of knew I wanted to
get into that field. So itwas it was really great for me.
It was, like I said,probably the best thing had happened to me,
that to open the doors that otherwiseprobably wouldn't have been open for me.
So after bank examining, what happenednext after bank exam so main Street
Bank had just started. They wereat the Noble Bank two thousand and one,
it was probably maybe two thousand three, two thousand and four ish.
(05:56):
We were doing an examination and RichLucas, you know, called me in
and asked, you know, howhow would I like to start working for
them? And you know, wetalked for a little while and it it
ended up working out, and soI started with Main Street, uh sometime
in two thousand and four. Iend up staying there almost ten years,
maybe eight or nine years with themand learned a lot from Phis guys.
(06:18):
Still have a relationship with them tothis day. A lot of great people
down there. Rich Lucas, BruceWilson taught me a lot about you know,
we talked about leadership, or we'regonna talk about leadership. You know,
they they really kind of set thebar us to how to how to
contact people, how to treat people, you know, what people are looking
for in this area. And Ithink a lot of that's really stuck with
(06:40):
me. You know, when Ifirst took the job at Belmont, and
I don't have any problem saying this. You know, we kind of wanted
to be the main Street of thehigh Side and we've we've done that.
Now we're looking to expand you know, we can't do business in West Virginia,
so you know, hopefully if you'regiving us a given this podcast a
little, you'll give us a shotbecause I promise you we won't let you
(07:02):
down. It's all about customer service, treating people right. You know,
you're not just a number to us. You're not just how much can we
make off this person. It's trulyabout being a partner, being a being
a true partner, and how canwe help you and what can we offer
to you to help you? Whateveryour your situation is you're going through,
whether it's you know, divorce,having kids, new want to buy a
(07:25):
new house, new job, youknow, whatever it is, we want
to be able to help you.So that's kind of the angle we've taken,
and it's it's worked out well.You know, it's been, Uh
we've kind of had a sleepy road, sleepy reputation maybe back at you know,
ten twelve years ago, and Ithink a lot of people know who
we are now. Not everyone backswith us, which is a shame.
We shall you all should always plug. You absolutely should again come give us
(07:53):
a shot. You know, ifwe let you down, then I want
to know about it. That's kindof how we've kind of taken us model.
So you know, it's been likeI said, it's been a fun
fun eight years, a couple ofheadaches along the way, but you know,
we've got a lot of great peopleat the bank. It's not believe
me, it's not just me.It's we've been able to hire and fortunate
enough to hire a lot of greatpeople that have really, you know,
moved the needle for us over thepast eight years. So from the time
(08:18):
you stepped into main Street Bank tonow you've been eight years president CEU of
Belmont Savings Bank, what's kind ofyou know, some of the biggest surprises
you saw that, Boy, Ididn't see that coming. Or well,
the interest rate environment for the pastyear. I think any banker, any
banker, will say that, youknow, we no one. I don't
(08:39):
think anybody budgeted for this. Youknow, we thought instrate what's going to
We're going to rise to this level, probably not or this quickly, probably
not. So it's been a it'sbeen a challenge, in a hurdle for
us to try to you know,go from them when we had the pandemic
and people just you know, hadhad money to spend their money to park
and a savings or CD somewhere tothe point now where it's you know,
(09:01):
it's so competitive out there with anybody. You got insurance companies, running banks,
you got you know, mutual funds, you got to compete against investments,
you're competing against. So it's it'sreally a tough environment right now for
us. So that's probably one ofthe biggest things I've I've seen as to
Wow. Probably the other thing isjust you know, the resiliency of the
(09:24):
High Valley. You know, wehad steel leave us. You know,
we had to groom and not.You know, now we're kind of trying
to find our way, you know, hopefully the the uh the uh what's
the plant south? What's word onthe the older worm on the cracker plant?
Yeah, the cracker plant, thecracker plant, and hopefully it becomes
(09:46):
a reality. So you know,we're looking at different ways to uh,
you know, to uh make aviable living here in the High Valley.
And I think we've been very resilientas far as you know, how we've
accomplished that. Well. One ofthings we appreciate obviously is your support of
us, in the support you givethe other Chambers. We're of that mindset
that we're really rarely, if thatever, competing when it comes to Chambers
(10:09):
and I tell people, hey,if you're a small business in a little
community and that's the only chamber youcan afford, do, what's your background,
you know your backyard is, andthen if you can grow and join
us, great. But we loveseeing all the other ones do well.
We love partnering with them now andI love seeing all the things that you
all do at the other chambers.To me, that's part of why I
think you've grown well. You're marketingall those things. You're not a sleepy
(10:31):
group anymore, if that's what youwanted to call it years ago. You're
out there, you're involved in thecommunity things like you do with Westlib.
I know you've been a big partof Festival of Trees, which we've gotten
back into that that used to bea big chamber thing sure years ago.
So we're trying to bring back someof those fun relationships we used to have
as well many years ago. SoI want you to look in that crystal
(10:52):
ball that you have. I knowyou have one, Todd, you mentioned
that I'd be I'd have a lotmore of a than that worth Mike if
I had a crystal ball. Butwell, what's your thought on the growth
projecting the future of the valley herefor business growing as community. Are we
going to be able to get thatpopulation that seems to still be going down
a little level it and bring itback the other way? I hope.
So. You know, I gotI got three sons, uh you know,
(11:13):
one's in college who he's got ayear or two left at college,
and I got two sons in highschool. So for my sake, and
you know, kind of being selfish, I certainly hope. So, you
know, we need to keep thelocal young people around here. I think
that you see a little bit youhear to hear stories about a lot of
young people that maybe move away andthen come back. It's it's a great
place to live, it's a greatplace to raise a family. Uh.
(11:33):
You know, comparatively speaking, yougo to the big cities, there's so
much crime. You know, there'sso much traffic. Who wants to deal
with that? Uh So for formy sake, I certainly hope so.
And I think you know, we've, like I said, we've been pretty
resilient and the High Valley as faras you know, being creative on what
businesses we can we can recruit tothe valley. So you know, hopefully
(11:56):
that there's more of that in thefuture. Well, that's what we're striving
to work with all the economic developmentfolks. And I look at and we
just as a chamber, I think, look at everything as a region versus
you know, a little bit ofOhio, a little bit of West Virginia,
a little bit of Pennsylvania. IfClaysville gets something greater, or Barnesville
or Moundsville at any of those vills, you know, it's good for all
of us. Yeah, one hundred, one hundred percent. You know,
(12:16):
we look at our market areas beingthe High Valley and and and I know
some people we can probably get onto Parkersburg. We don't have much of
dealings in Parkersburgh, but we sayUpper High Valley. You know, we
don't want to say we're in Ohiobank and only deal in Ohio. That's
crazy. Uh. Our name isBelmont Savings. But you know, at
the same time, it's it's it'sa valley of the whole valleys are clientele
and are kind of our where wewant to where we want to be.
(12:39):
So we're always looking to expand youknow, we have a couple of things
on a on a plate for us. I can't speak too too much about
but we're looking to expand and uh, you know, hopefully those come to
fruition and we can be we canbe a huge part of the High Valley
going forward. Well, we loveseeing it. We want to see all
of our members grow and do well. And you know, part of what
we do and create eating content likethis or events or whatever, is to
(13:01):
help foster that and help leadership training. We'll get into that just in the
second. I want to ask kindof a fun question that I liked to
once in a while, and thatis, you know, people probably have
the image in the mindset of whata CEO does every day, and some
people might say they probably just sitin meetings all day long, and I
know they played golf, in tennisand pickle ball. Now that what is
(13:22):
something about being CEO for eight yearsthat you see maybe on a daily basis
that people would never realize, Ohyou have to do that. Oh that's
a that's a tough one, Mike. Maybe something fun, maybe something interesting.
Well, one of the fun thingsI do is I coach baseball.
I've coached baseball. I'll coached mykids, you know, since they've been
(13:43):
five years old. I was fortunateenough to get on his assistant coach at
Winning Central last year and I've coachedable to coach them there. So that's
a huge part of my life.You know. Anything about my sports is
huge with me and my family andmy kids. But as far as you
know, on a data day basis, it's I don't look at myself as
(14:03):
being CEO. I look at myselfas being an employee. And I think
if you ask any of the employeesthat work for us, you know,
they they feel that they can comein my office any time and talk about
anything, and I that's I reallylove that environment. You know. Sometimes
it gets you in some hairy situationswhere you kind of get caught up,
But at the same time, that'sthe way I want to you know,
I don't want people to say,oh, I work for Todd. Now
(14:24):
you don't. You don't work forTodd. You work with Todd, and
I give that back to you,and I try to communicate. I try
to walk around the bank, youknow, as often as I can say
hi to people. You know.One of the things I want to get
better at I've just been a timekind of thing is getting out to our
all our branches visiting those folks andjust having that relationship or developing that relationship
with them. Again, I don'tthink it's not it's not bad, but
(14:46):
I think it could be better andit could be improved. But I would
I would say that's one thing thatmakes might surprise people is you know how
accessible I am. It's great,and that's that's by design and it's something
I don't want to ever change.What does our British total up to now
for Bellwood Safing, Well, wejust we just opened our fifth one,
so okay, we actually have fivelocations, one of those being a corporate
office. So just yesterday actually onMonday, August seventh, we opened our
(15:11):
new bel Air location. So webought an old existing bank there which is
right across the alley from us.Uh. You know, our corporate office
which which we have now was wasalso hosted to our retail operation and it
just became too much of a it'stoo crowded of a situation. We we've
been hiring a lot of people,so you know, that's a great thing
for the High Valley and for us. You know, we're up to sixty
(15:33):
two employees now. But with thatexpansion, you need you need space and
this this new branch allows us tohave a little more space. We kind
of moved the retail operation over there. We also have a full basement that's
accessible for training. We have aconference room that any any organizations can come,
uh, you know, use fromus free a charge. We also
can have some you know, privatemeetings in there. Like I said,
(15:56):
the retail operation will be be upstairs. It's everything's brand new. And then
we'll have you know room with ourcurrent location or a former retail operation where
we can build some offices and wedon't have people sharing desks and sharing offices.
It's great. It's a great problemto have, and you know,
we're excited about it. So,like I said yesterday, it was the
(16:17):
first day and from from all,from all what I hear, it's it's
gone pretty well. So that's good. You mentioned hiring glad to hear that
school well, because yeah, that'skind of been a crazy thing the last
few years, hasn't it. Yeah. Yeah, finding people, getting people,
keeping people, keeping people all theevolve. Yeah, it's everybody wants
(16:37):
to work remote, right right,And we've we've hired a new girl that's
in charge HR. We hired herabout a year ago. She's been phenomenal
for us. She kind of takesthat one of the that was kind of
one of my mini hats I wear. She's kind of take that ball and
ram with it, which is phenomenal. Like I said, we've hired,
We've been fortunate to hire great people. Of the staff we have now is
(16:59):
I would say, may be seventyfive eighty percent. I've been with us
for three to four maybe five yearsor more. Let's go. Yeah,
it's uh. It says something aboutwhat we're doing and the culture we have
and the culture we're trying to build. I think it's it's a fun place
to work. You know. Oneof the things I always say about Bellmont
Savings Bank because we like to havefun. You know, if you come
in I to one of our meetings, no matter what meeting, it is
(17:19):
a board meeting. We just hada board meeting today and it was we
had so many laughs in there.And that's what's about. You know,
I don't want people to think ofcoming to Belmont Savings it's a job.
It's not a job. It's youknow, it's it's it's a job,
but it's not it's not work.I don't want people dreading on It's Sunday
night. I don't want to worktomorrow. I mean, that's one of
the big things that drives me tocreate a better culture. You know,
(17:41):
this is where most people spend themajority of their week outside family, and
it's it is your work family.So you know, we try to do
a lot of great things for employees, a lot of giftbacks. We have
a birthday celebration every month at allfour branches, and you know with that,
we water ice cream, we orderpeazzas, we order that's all,
(18:02):
you know, lunch in, wehave cakes, you know, we have
celebrations. So it's a you know, my estimation, it's a pretty fun
place to work, which is,uh, why have we've been pretty successful
knock on wood of keeping people.People want to be appreciated, Yeah,
and not just paid. I wouldappreciate you. And I had a boss.
You used to say, we're gonnawork hard, we're gonna have a
lot of fun, and we're gonnamake a little money. Yeah. I
(18:23):
like that. That's kind of beenour motto. It really has. And
you know, we, like Isaid, we try to keep a loose
atmosphere, and I like I said, I'm I'm pretty accessible. You know,
anytime you want to come in andtalk to me, just knock on
the door and people walk in,and it happens all the time. And
I love it because it keeps mekeeps me grounded as well. You know,
(18:44):
not that I would ever think I'ma better, better or above anyone
else, but you know, itkeeps me grounded as to what's going on
in the world world with the withthe people on the front line, you
know, what what issues are theyhave and how can I help them be
successful? Because without your people onyour front line, I mean, I'm
I'm not gonna be successful in ourbank's not going to be successful. So
you mentioned and I guess this couldkind of fall under your leadership style is
(19:06):
being accessible. What else would wouldmaybe describe if we sat down with some
of the loan officers or the tellersor anyone within the bank, how would
they describe Todd's leadership style besides accessible? Well, you can ask Alisa right
there saying right here next to me. You can ask her. But I
would say I'm a fair, fairleader of fair boss. Okay. You
(19:29):
know, I like to hear bothsides of the story. Where I try
to address it. I think Idon't. I'm never going to be ever,
ever, ever going to be amicromanager. Amen, thank you brother,
hear that preach it right. I'mgonna let people do their job,
and you know, if something happenswhere their job didn't go as we had
planned, you know, we'll sitdown and talk about it. But it's
it's not a I don't want ahigh stress situation. You know that our
(19:51):
lives are all stressful enough as itis. You know, the last thing
I need is me pounding on them. And I'm never ever going to do
that. You know. That's let'swork to get awesome and figure out how
we can get it done. Butyou know, I try to lead a
little bit by example to you know, I try to treat people fairly,
and you know, so far it'sbeen pretty successful. So obviously, none
of us are really born with allthis stuff, right, We've had to
(20:12):
have people influence us in that regard. And I love to ask questions about
people in your life, whether it'sfamily members, or co workers or professors
or just whoever it is. Isthere one or two that kind of stand
out for you that you'd want toshare with us from a mentor standpoint,
I guess, yeah, there's Imean there's several but and I don't want
to miss anyone. But you know, I at the top of this as
(20:33):
my parents, you know, mymom and died. I've been a huge
part of my life, you know. They my grandpap was a minister.
Yea. I grew up in thechurch, you know, as you know,
we want to church together. Forlong we sat upside behind you a
lot. I think that's right,that's right. So you know, faith's
really big with me. You know, I like to like to say I
like to treat people fairly, whichis a part of faith. But obviously
(20:56):
my parents have been a huge influencein my life. They've even me or
provided me with everything I've ever neededand the as far as support, money,
you know, education. So thosetwo at the top of the list,
I would say professors. I wouldsay doctor mcculoff. You know,
I think everybody has ever gone towatch Liberty or have been to anything close
(21:17):
to West Liberty knows doctor mccauloff.When I first transferred from DNA, he
was he was the one I metwith because my parents knew him. Kind
of reach out to him, andhe took so good a care of me
and I was just you know,I was just a little kid, just
transferred, I mean a sophomore incollege, no big deal. But he,
you know, he treated me likeI was a you know, the
greatest thing to ever come to Westlib. And I'll never forget that. And
(21:40):
I still have a relationship with himto this day. We serve on the
Westliff Foundation together, and you know, he's he's been a huge part of
my success as well. And Iwould also say Jim Croft, I know
that guy. Yeah, yeah,you know that guy a little bit.
Uh. You know, he kindof gave me the opportunity to go be
a bank exam or, which kindof opened a lot of doors for me.
(22:00):
And you know, without him andwithout him standing in touch, you
know, he could easily just goneon with his career because he was a
pretty pretty successful banker himself. Youknow, he didn't have to do anything
for him for me, but youknow, he took took me under his
wing and kind of introduced me toa lot of people and a lot of
aspects in life. So I wouldsay that, And then you know,
(22:21):
as far as co workers, theguys in main Street. Really, you
know Rich and Bruce, and Idon't want to leave anybody out. But
Rich and Bruce have kind of,you know, I kind of learned from
watching them how to treat people,how to grow your business, you know,
how to be a upstanding member ofthis community. So I would say,
you know, all those guys,and again I don't want to leave
(22:41):
anyone out. Probably for hours onthat right, I probably have, but
and I apologize to this people,but those are the ones that really come
to the top of mine. Soover all those years, I'm sure there's
been some challenges, tough things thatcome. Is there any kind I always
like to ask that, is therethat tough lesson out there? And did
it may even be you know,an example of something you learned at home
with dad in the in the backyard. Who knows what it could be,
(23:03):
but something that you're like, youknow, I really need to not do
that again, or I know I'mgonna learn from that pothole and I want
to share it with others. Isis it does anything stand out to you
like that a tough lesson? Well, I don't know if there's any one
particular I always look at, youknow, anytime you make a mistake in
life, you got to learn fromit. And I don't regret making any
mistakes in life. You know,maybe some of the some of the way
(23:26):
the way the things turned out,maybe I can regret a little bit.
But if you don't make any mistakes, and like if you never learn anything,
so uh, you know, forme, I don't think there's any
one in particular, you know,but you try to think about it when
you make a decision, you know. Being a CEO, you know,
my my job is to make decisionspent whether the right, wrong and different.
(23:48):
You know, you take all theinformation you have present at the time
and you try to make the bestdecision. You know. For me,
like I said, face a bigpart of it. You know, if
I'm throughly struggling with something, youknow, I'll pray about it, you
know, sleep on it, andkind of like God, you know,
guide me the way it needs tobe guided. So with that you can
never go wrong. But you know, again, I'm gonna make mistakes,
(24:11):
aren't The people that work for BelmontSavings Back are gonna make mistakes. The
thing about it is just to likeis just to learn from it and try
to you know, think about thatgoing forward. Yeah, well I can
went and talk for a long timebecause I still like to remind people even
though it's not like a radio program. They know they're listening to a podcast,
but you're listening to CEOs. Youshould know. I'm your host,
Mike Howard and Todd Cover, Presidentand CEO of Belmont Savings Bank, is
(24:34):
our guest today. And I guesswe ought to say if someone wants to
go check out where these branches are, your website, how do they get
in touch with you? Yeah,I can go to our website www dot
Belmont dash Savings dot com. Ohyeah, the Dash Dash Yeah, don't
forget to Dash. Yeah, gocheck us out and give us a call.
Like I said, And you know, we we have all the bells
and whistles that any bank can offeryou, whether big, small, intermediate.
(24:57):
We can offer anything that they do, and probably at probably a little
bit cheaper price. You know,we're not built on fees, never will
be. You know, obviously wegot to charge a little bit for our
services. But if you compare themto the other banks, you know,
it's it's gonna be uh, it'sgonna be at the bottom of this.
And that's that's by design. Youknow. Again, we don't want to
make money off directly off people,you know, we want to help people
(25:19):
out and there's truly it's a twoside of relationship and that's how we we
view every customer. Well. Iknow when I was first getting into marketing
and advertising and there were a lotof people that were, you know,
shlocking packages and wanting to sell thisbecause the boss said, go sell that.
My thought was, I'm going toget people started where they're comfortable.
I don't want to put anybody outof business because when they grow, who
(25:40):
they're going to come back to?Right, Yeah, And it sounds like
that's kind of your philosophy. Yeah, I think one hundred percent. You
know, you know, we wantto be easy, the easiest bank to
deal with, you know, lessred tape, less fees. Obviously,
the government controls a lot of whatwe do or what we need to collect
from customers. There's nothing we cando about that. But as far as
being easy to work with, accessible, you know, on time, and
(26:03):
be honest. That's that's one ofour core values. Trust, trust and
honest. There are two of ourcore values at Beaumont Savings and they're really
at the top of the list forme. Yeah, all right. So
my fun final question, you geta phone call. Let's just even pretend
it's this evening and it's Brooke HighSchool on the line. Todd, You're
speaking to the graduating class this springat Brook High School. And my favorite
(26:26):
question to ask is what are yougonna tell them? What's the one main
thing for those seniors getting ready togo out that Todd wants to tell him.
Uh? Well, and it's shortin a nutshell, you know,
keep your faith in God and lethim guide you forward. You know,
That's what I've always trusted and Istill to this day believe I've never swayed
from it. You know. Behonest with people, whether whether they have
(26:51):
that you have the answer they wantto hear or not. Be honest with
them, be up front with them, Treat people the way you want to
be treated, and I think you'llbe fine in life. Excellent. Our
guest has been Todd Cover, PresidentCEO of Belmont Savings Bank. I'm your
host, Mike Howard. This isCEOs. You should know. You can
find us at Wheeling Chamber dot comover on the media tab, drop down
(27:11):
to the podcast. They're all rightthere. This one will probably be up.
Well by the time you hear it, it'll have already been up.
I don't know I even say that. It's so funny. Yeah, the
podcast is just such a different thingthan a live radio program or even one
that you know it is only goingto air at a certain time because they're
out there forever. All right,people could hear this one hundred years from
now, thought, good, nowyou still still be around. I won't
(27:32):
be around them, but you mightbe. But we appreciate alt you your
support at the chamber or what youdo for the community, and we appreciate
your time being in here today.I appreciate that. Mike, thanks for
thanks for your opportunity. And youknow, all those guys listen to podcasts
or girls listen to podcasts, comecheck us out. Absolutely, I'll be
this point if you do. Gottago check out Belmont Savings Bank for sure.
Thanks Todd, We'll catch you nexttime on CEOs. You should know that
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