Mark Witmer: ‘Don’t be Paralyzed by Fear … Trust God’

Mark Witmer, senior executive vice president and chief banking officer at Farmers National Bank, is hanging tough. You can read more about Mark at his LinkedIn profile.

What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life? 

As Chief Banking Officer at Farmers National Bank, my focus is generally in growing our business in the form of new loans, new deposits and in general, growing our services. Since this crisis, my daily focus is now on servicing the community in the way of making certain the banking services the economy needs to survive are delivered. I am still in the office every day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., however, we have worked hard to keep our team healthy by constantly sanitizing and disinfecting our facilities as well as facilitating off site workforce deployment. Instead of focusing on growing loans, I am focusing on making sure we provide the payment relief for affected customers and businesses necessary to get them through this temporary downturn.

How about your personal life? 

My personal life has not changed a lot, however the biggest change is not being able to worship in person with fellow believers. We have a very close family with parents, four children with spouses, and 9 grandchildren all living close by and I continue to interact with them and draw strength from each other as a family.

What steps are you taking to hang tough? 

I continue to rely on my faith and family. I also feel blessed to be a leader at a community bank with the ability to make banking services available to keep the economy going through this disruption.

What advice are you sharing with the people you love? 

Take the necessary precautions to stay safe, help others in any way you can, don’t be paralyzed by fear and trust God to carry us through this disruption and use it for his will.