Ohio bank dismisses its CEO, expands chairman’s duties

Main Street Financial Services Corp. in Wooster, Ohio, has fired its CEO without providing an explanation. 

The $1.4 billion-asset holding company for Main Street Bank said Wednesday that it “terminated” James VanSickle without cause, while thanking him “for his contributions.”

To replace VanSickle, Main Street appointed Executive Chairman Mark Witmer as its new CEO. 

VanSickle was named CEO of a Main Street predecessor, Wayne Savings Bank, in August 2017. He presided over that company’s $68 million, all-stock acquisition of the Wheeling, West Virginia-based Main Street in May 2024. Though Wayne was the acquirer, it adopted the Main Street brand. 

Witmer joined Wayne Savings as executive chairman in January 2021. Earlier, he served as CEO of First National Bank of Orrville, prior to that bank’s $74 million acquisition by Farmers National Banc Corp. in Canfield, Ohio, in 2015.

Witmer and VanSickle previously worked together at First National Bank of Orrville. VanSickle, who is a certified public accountant, had been that bank’s chief financial officer.

Main Street Financial Services Corp.

In an email Thursday, Witmer told American Banker he has led Main Street’s day-to-day operations since becoming executive chairman four years ago.

Witmer declined to detail the reasons behind VanSickle’s termination. He indicated that Main Street does not plan to make any additional changes to its senior management team, ruling out new executive hires. “We have a very strong team that has performed well over an extended period of time,” Witmer stated in the email. 

“I have a strong team around me, including Todd Simko, our chief banking officer who has many years experience working in banking and at the Federal Reserve, Matthew Hartzler, who has many years experience as a chief risk officer and now chief financial officer, and Donnie Sheller, who has over 15 years experience as a chief operating officer and as an executive at Wesbanco,” Witmer stated.

Sheller is Main Street’s chief administration officer. 

Prior to Main Street’s announcement on Wednesday, the bank had given little sign of dissatisfaction with VanSickle. In April, the 126-year-old company reported first-quarter net income totaling $3.6 million, including a return on average equity of 13.27%, better than the industry-wide average of 11.58%, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Asset quality was stable with performing loans totaling $4.9 million, or 0.43% of total loans, on March 31.

Main Street earned $3.2 million for the three months ending Dec. 31, 2024.

In March, on a conference call with bank investors, Witmer said Main Street’s financial performance was “on the upswing,” adding that deposit growth “has been tremendous.”

“We expect to be a high-performing bank and we are getting there,’ Witmer said on the conference call. 

Bank CEO firings are infrequent, but they do happen. The $1.1 billion-asset Saint Louis Bank in St. Louis, Missouri, terminated CEO Travis Liebig in August 2023. The same month, Riverview Bancorp in Vancouver, Washington, announced that its board had fired CEO Kevin Lycklama.

Eight months earlier, in April 2022, Alan Thian, CEO of the $4 billion-asset RBB Bancorp in Los Angeles, resigned after an internal investigation found he had violated company policies.