[Note from CAF: My wonderful bankers at National Bank of Malvern did not tell me about this story published last year. I just found it, so I am publishing it now.]
Not many banks are in a celebratory mood this year given the upheavals on Wall Street. But one small Chester County bank with three women at its helm is not only toasting its 125th anniversary but also five generations of family involvement in bank operations. And to top it off they are having a very good year.
“We have flourished in this economy. People have been pulling their money out of Wall Street and putting it with us,” says the National Bank of Malvern board chairman, Lydia Willits Bartholomew.
In an industry that is male-dominated, Bartholomew and her sister, bank president Barbara Shipp, run the family-owned bank with daily guidance from their mother, 95-year-old family matriarch Lydia Willits.
“My mother always says: Let the big banks take care of the big customers; we’ll take care of the smaller accounts. Being a small bank is what we’re about,” says Bartholomew, whose grandfather was the bank’s first cashier.
Read more: National Bank of Malvern | The Hunt Magazine
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