By George Berkheimer for The Bedford Gazette
Hometown Bank has grown steadily since its launch in Bedford and Everett in 2007, adding branches in Claysburg, Martinsburg, Woodbury, Saxton and Pleasantville in recent years.
As of the end of June, its portfolio includes assets of $408.9 million, loans of $286.3 million, and deposits of $375.4 million. The full-service bank has maintained the No. 1 market share in deposits in Bedford County as reported by the FDIC for seven consecutive years.
Beth Manges, who has served as Hometown Bank’s president and CEO since 2017, attributes the institution’s growth and stability to its local ownership and management, and a low staff turnover rate thanks to a policy of management recruitment from within the ranks. In fact, Manges started working at the bank when it opened and made that management journey herself, transitioning from branch manager to branch operations manager before arriving at her current position.
Outside the bank, she also serves on the Bedford County Development Authority board, the Bedford County Chamber Foundation board, the Bedford County Regional Education Foundation for Allegany College, as well as other organizations in the community.
“Looking back on my career journey, I never thought I could be in a position like this when I started,” she said. “Hometown Bank’s board of directors believed in me and my leadership and gave me this opportunity because they felt that I could do it.” Hometown Bank Board Chairman Merle Helsel has been an important mentor, Manges said.
Life Lessons
Manges was born in Bedford County and raised in the Manns Choice area, where her grandparents operated a dairy farm. She still lives on property that was part of the farm.
She spent time away attending college in Cumberland at Allegany College of Maryland and then in Towson, Maryland, where she studied journalism and broadcasting. In college she worked as a teller and realized that banking was her career path. She returned to Bedford County to raise a family and continue her banking career.
“Bedford County has been a wonderful area to raise a family,” Manges said, although there have been some challenges along the way.
“I was married but divorced when my three sons were very young, which was very difficult to go through,” she said. “My second husband was killed in a tragic accident 10 years into our marriage, and that was also very difficult. I’ve been happily married to my husband Lynn now for 12 years. Things have a way of working out.”
Not many people realize that she’s the mother of a disabled son, Brandon, who is 32. There are, of course, demands on time, expenses, and medical concerns, Manges said, but also unexpected joys and learning to be gained from that experience. “He has taught me so many lessons, beginning with patience and unconditional love,” she said. “I realize now these are lessons that I can readily apply, both in my life and relations with family and friends, and also in the workplace and in my business life. We all encounter obstacles and challenges, and we all have times when we’re down at our lowest point wondering how to deal with something, but you do deal with it, and you grow from it.”
Faith and family support has always brought her through, Manges said. “Being able to remain positive and have a positive attitude, being able to pick yourself up and move forward, that has helped me develop into the person that I am today.”
Personal Service
Despite the convenience of online banking, having a personal connection is still important for customers in Bedford County, Manges said, and continues to be important for the bank’s managers.
“Knowing people and having ties throughout the community helps in understanding the economy and what businesses need and are looking for,” she said. “We take time here to listen to our customers’ needs and look at what their plans are for their businesses.”
Being a local institution with a commitment to the communities it serves helps keep the focus where it should be, Manges said: helping businesses get started or advanced, helping people get their first house, and in other aspects of business development and supporting individual lives.
“We’re serving those needs, but doing it on a very personal level,” Manges said. “We see a lot of development opportunities that the Bedford County Development Association is working on and other opportunities within the county. Tourism is huge, outdoor recreation is bringing more people here to show them all the wonderful things we have to offer, and we’re fortunate to have the different associations and organizations working together to promote that. It’s helping to move things in a good direction.”