Community Bank System leaders prepare for transition

“We’ve built a company that is very diversified and very stable,” incoming President/CEO Dimitar A. Karaivanov says in an interview with CNYBJ. With a significant banking business (Community Bank, N.A.), insurance business (OneGroup NY), benefits business (BPAS), and wealth-management business (Community Bank Wealth Management), “we have all the pieces in place,” he says.

Current Community Bank System President/CEO Mark E. Tryniski will retire on Dec. 31 from the role he has filled since 2006.

Karaivanov will bring with him a new intensity level and energy to the role with plans to continue on the same growth path, including attracting both top talent and top clients.

While the banking climate remains in a bit of turmoil amid current economic and interest-rate conditions, Community Bank has built a reputation of trust and permanence, he says. It’s a business model that is sustainable and bolstered by the company’s diversification.

“A lot of our competitors are, frankly, just a bank,” Karaivanov says. About one-third of Community Bank’s income comes from outside the banking business, he says. That diversification helps the company weather volatility in the industry.

The banking company has focused on steady and consistent growth, he adds. Excluding one-time gains and losses, Community Bank System generated $176.6 million in total operating revenue in the first quarter of 2023, up 10 percent from the prior year’s first quarter and up 0.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2022. 

Community Bank’s approach isn’t flashy, but it’s stable and sustainable. The result is a bank that’s just the right size. It’s a sweet spot, Karaivanov says, between being big enough to offer a robust menu of products and services and small enough to provide a boutique experience for customers. The banking company has 3,000 employees and 200 bank branches throughout New York, northeast Pennsylvania, Vermont, and western Massachusetts. 

While Community Bank has relied on acquisitions in the past for growth, today organic growth has doubled over the company’s historic rate, Karaivanov says. Acquisitions remain a growth option when the right opportunity comes along, he adds.

Going forward, one of the things Karaivanov is most enthusiastic about is the staff he will lead. “I just couldn’t be more excited about the talent we have at the company,” he says. “I’m just amazed every day. I think we’re in the best position we’ve ever been in because we have the best people we ever have.”

Tryniski says he counts Karaivanov as one of those talented people, noting that he tried to get his successor to join the banking company for the better part of a decade before Karaivanov finally joined Community Bank System in June 2021 as executive VP of financial services and corporate development. 

Looking back on his years of leading the company, Tryniski is proud of the company’s evolution, but is even more proud of its culture and mission of integrity, excellence, teamwork, and humility. “To me, that’s most important,” he says.

Looking ahead toward retirement, Tryniski says he’s ready. “I don’t have anything left to do on my to-do list when it comes to professional aspirations,” he says. Instead, he’s looking forward to spending more time with his friends and family, especially his grandchildren, having more time for his motorcycles, and “watching Dimitar from the bleachers continue to grow and prosper with this company.”