Greg Westenhouser To Retire Friday After 37 Years

You might say the work that Greg Westenhouser does at Vinton County National Bank falls into the category “Someone Has To Do It.” That’s because his job as Loan File Review, VP can be tedious and requires a deep understanding of complex banking regulations. Sometimes his coworkers are not pleased to hear what he says but his devotion to keeping loans for commercial banking customers within regulatory lines has made VCNB a stronger bank.

He will retire on January 20 after nearly 37 years of service.

The Lancaster native came to work at Bremen Bank in 1986 after cutting his teeth at other banks as a branch manager, lender, and mortgage loan collector. When he came to Bremen Bank, it was to be a loan officer offering consumer loans, consumer residential real estate loans and commercial loans. Many customers of our Lancaster East Main Street location will also remember Greg as the Officer In Charge at that location in the late nineties.

Greg left the front lines of lending and went on to do loan file review where he was responsible for reviewing all loans originated by the bank for compliance with federal and state regulations and with the bank’s lending policy. He also handled foreclosure and bankruptcy accounts.

In 2005 Greg shifted to the role of Loan Compliance Manager. In this position, Greg was still responsible for compliance of loans with federal and state regulations and laws but he specializes in commercial lending. He oversaw the preparation of pre-documents and final closing documents of all real estate secured loans and commercial loans. Among other things, he was also an administrator for the loan software systems, responsible for the creation of new loan products, generating new disclosures and for system maintenance.

He transitioned into a more specialized role in 2018 where he now focuses strictly on commercial loans. In his role, he knows the laws and bank policies inside and out, working diligently to make sure lenders and loan processors are gathering all needed documents and information from customers. This act of dotting I’s and crossing T’s keeps the commercial lending department strong. This is especially important to the bank and to the customers who benefit from the millions of dollars in loans that cross his desk each week.

But Greg says it’s time to go. His wife Jane has already been retired for seven years and he looks forward to spending time with her and the rest of their family. They have two children, two college aged grandsons and a granddaughter who is a sophomore in high school. The grandkids all are active in their respective schools and Greg looks forward to attending more of their events.

He also looks forward to some well-earned rest including a winter of sleeping in and not going out in the cold unless he wishes. “I won’t have to get up when it’s freezing cold outside. I won’t have to scrape car windows unless I want to and can clear snow when I want to. I can get up and get dressed when I want,” he said with smile. “That’s something to look forward to.”

When asked what advice he has for someone entering the workforce, he thought for just a moment. “Find something that makes you happy, something that makes you comfortable in what you’re doing and keep looking if you don’t find that thing. It’s not always the first job that comes along but it’s out there someplace,” he said.

Greg, who says he has never been one to talk about himself or be the center of attention, will celebrate his retirement with a small party among coworkers this Friday.