Networking, Local Community, and Business Connections with Tony Poluch

Intro: Welcome to Start Local, where we talk with business owners, leaders of nonprofits, and other members of our community focused on doing business in and around Chester County, Pennsylvania. Each episode will provide insight into the local business scene and tell you about opportunities to connect with and support businesses and nonprofits in your local area. 

The Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce promotes trade, commerce, industry, and sustainable economic development while supporting a diverse and growing marketplace. The Chamber is proud to partner with the Start Local podcast to raise the profile of businesses and nonprofits throughout Chester County. Learn more about the chamber at scccc.com. That’s scccc.com. 

Erik Gudmundson: Welcome to Start Local. I am Erik Gudmundson, and I’m in the podcast recording studio with my co-host, Liam Dempsey. Good morning, Liam. How are you?

Liam Dempsey: Hey, Hey. How are you, Erik?

Erik Gudmundson: I’m doing very well. Today, we are speaking with Tony Paluch. He is the Senior Vice President and Senior Business Development Officer at Univest Bank and Trust Company. Hello and welcome, Tony.

Tony Poluch: Hello, and thanks for having me, Erik and Liam. 

Liam Dempsey: You’re very welcome. Thanks for joining us today, Tony.

Erik Gudmundson: Well, both Liam and I are active in the local community, whether it’s in our local businesses or volunteer efforts. And one thing we’ve observed in our travels is that everyone seems to know you, Tony. You and I met several years ago when we both served on the board of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce, and we both served as chairman of that organization. As a matter of fact, let me ask you, what’s it like from your perspective to chair a Chamber of Commerce?

Tony Poluch: There’s a lot of work involved when you share. I mean, I knew that going in, but you know, the chamber was evolving. Cheryl Kuhn was the executive director and still is was rather new, but once it got rolling, I realized we would have to meet like on a weekly basis. 

So, what happened was that Cheryl and I would meet on a weekly basis, go over everything was taking place for the different types of events they have under the 40 group, the actual chamber, the launches, the banquets, you name it, those different things. I thought I had to have a good handle on knowing exactly what was taking place, the dates, etc. What the audience would look like. So, I learned very quickly, probably within the first month or so, that this was going to take a lot of time. So that’s what we did.

You know, once we got it on a weekly basis, we had the meetings, it just kind of flowed. Ironically, that particular year, the lease was running out for the Southern Chest County Chamber. We were in Kennett Square proper, if you would, but a very old, small building, and we just felt like we needed space, we needed a conference room, and we were given the opportunity to have facilities in Jennersville, which gave us all that. A couple of people may have been a little disappointed the fact that we were moving out of Kenneth Square, but if you think about it, we’re the Southern Chesapeake Chamber of Commerce.

And ironically, my first network at noon, which they have every month, was at the Gables of Chadds Ford. And full circle, 13-14 years later, that’s where they’re having their monthly ones again. So, my first time going back there kind of brought back some nostalgic memories of the first time I went there.

Liam Dempsey: Yeah. It must be a lot of work. The Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce, of which we are a member and a partner, is really an impressive organization. So as a member, I will thank you for your past leadership and involvement. 

Tony, you clearly did a lot to keep it moving forward. But let’s switch to your work, your day job. You’ve worked in local banking, in commercial lending, more specifically, going back to 1984. And my Math has that as 41 years. And that’s a long time. And I mean that in a complimentary way. That’s a long, long tenure, and congrats on that.

But I want to ask you, clearly, we respect you. That’s why you’re on the show, and you’re a smart guy, and you network with everybody. You have options, you have opportunities. What about commercial lending has held your interest for so long that you say, “Yeah. There’s still something here for me, I’m going to stay.”

Tony Poluch: Yeah. You know, I think that in the banking world, you know, the banks are looking for loans and specifically commercial loans. Now, you know, there’s different departments in the bank. I’m at residential mortgages, equipment financing, 100%. But commercial loans, you know, are what they’re looking for. So, when I was brought up, I was a branch manager, what was then First National Bank of Chester County, and a consumer lender. So I was actually a consumer lender, but when somebody was on vacation, they asked me to step in to be the branch manager. 

Very quickly, I transferred over into our commercial lending group. And what a lot of people don’t know or remember, my particular age does, they sort of do deregulations in banking. And that came around, like in the late 80s, early 1990s. 

So, our bank wanted us to go out and meet with businesses instead of the business coming to us, which was the way. And so it was a commercial lender; the person I reported to wanted us to go out. So I thought, this is great. I could go out and take people to lunch at my favorite restaurants, you know, or breakfast, or take them to an event or golfing, or whatever it may be. 

So what happened was I was more and more going out, and then I was working late at night doing the analysis of the financial statements. And then one day, the person I reported to actually said to me, Tony, you look like you’re dragging. I said, that’s because I’m here all during the day and at night when nobody else is there, I’m still in my office.

A couple of weeks later, they came and said, We got a new position, we’re going to start, and it’s going to be called business development. So at that point in time, I’m like, okay, what is it? Explain it to me. And I was always like, if you ever saw that commercial, give it to Mikey. That was the Mikey. So they explained it to me and said, instead of you doing the analysis of the financial statement, you’re no longer be a commercial lender. You’ll bring it in, and they’ll assign it. And you may think that there may be a certain person’s personality that may fit better.

And so that’s what we did. I mean, it worked perfectly. I mean, I go out, develop the business. And the reason I think it worked, especially in that area, to really kind of boost me and get me out there in the forefront was a lot of bankers back then did not like going out and doing the networking. And in fact, I can remember in meetings where they kept saying to the lenders, You need to get out, you need to get out. So, I was there. I was like their release valve. I was a person going out. They knew, they knew I liked that. And so that’s how it worked.

And so I did hold other positions we could talk about, but you know that just on that commercial lending piece, unfortunately, the bank was sold. I moved on. The Bryn Mawr Trust was there for almost about 11 years, and they wanted me to develop the business in Chester County like I did for First National Bank of Chester County, with an emphasis on loans. Once again, you get that? We get that. Well, lo and behold, Bryn Mawr Trust looked very attractive to a bank that wanted their wealth management division. And we were sold. 

And now I’m with Univest, and they want that same emphasis on loans. But then everything else that you know, I talk to prospects, clients about would be also beneficial to the bank. So, I mean, the commercial lending, I did go to commercial Lending school through the Pennsylvania Bank Association at Bucknell University. But you know, all that work going into being a commercial lender, I was only there for a really short period of time.

Liam Dempsey: So it’s 41 years of being a people person.

Tony Poluch: Yeah. I mean a people person banker. But I could tell you that I went to, I was in ninth grade at downtown, what they call junior high, middle school now, and we took a tour of a bank would have been Downtown National Bank. And when we went in there, if you could imagine, we walked from. We probably walk, I would say a good equivalent of maybe six or eight blocks on a hot, humid spring day. Went to the center of Dangtown. Go in, it’s air-conditioned. They gave us a tour of the vault where all the money was, and everybody was dressed.

Liam Dempsey: Back when there was money in banks.

Tony Poluch: Yeah, this is what I want to do. So, since ninth grade, that’s what I wanted to be was a banker. You know, a couple of other things I wanted to be. But banking was probably at the forefront.

Erik Gudmundson: That’s it. That’s it. A neat background. Let me stick with that commercial lending experience that you have for a moment. If I were a business owner or a non-profit leader looking for a bank, what should I be considering and what should I be thinking about and looking for in a bank when I’m looking for money out there?

Tony Poluch: Well, you know, that’s a good question. Because you get… There are several different types of, you know, businesses out there. Individuals, owners, entrepreneurs. Some are just looking for who gives me the best rate with the less fees, that’s what I’m going to do. However, there’s, there’s other ones that are looking for the relationship. In other words, the universe has as the other banks I work for, they had a wealth management division, they had an insurance division. So there’s other things we could help them with. We have in the treasury management, some people call it cash management. But if you can imagine you have three or four different types of accounts, a payroll account, different things. We blend all that in to make it really easy for you.

But I think that they have to get along with what they think is who they’re going to be working with, the commercial lender. I think that’s key because I’m seeing more and more of that. Recently, just had somebody who was looking for a commercial loan with the bank had a really good setup with us. Unfortunately, that person’s no longer with us. They have retired, and he wanted, you know, another relationship major like that.

So it took me a little bit. I now have him lined up with another commercial lender that I think will be a good fit. But, I just think that you know, one, the bank has to have an appetite and want to do the loans. And if you’re, if you’re in a mushroom industry, right, you’ve got to make sure that the bank you’re dealing with is in agriculture and doing agricultural lending. Univest does do that. And the banks that I was with prior did do the agricultural lending as well. 

So, it all depends. I mean if you grow your business and you know the banks are going to want collateral, they want to want, you know, personal guarantees. Well, your business may grow so much that you don’t have the equity in your home anymore, or maybe the equity in your propert,y or maybe you’re just leasing your property.

And so then the banks have to be willing to do accounts receivable lending, asset based lending on equipment, that type of thing. So you’ve got to make sure that as you’re growing, the bank’s willing to grow with you as well. I mean, that’s as simple as putting.

A lot of times, you find that the banks, you can only go to a certain size with that bank, then you have to move forward and look for another bank. But on the other end it doesn’t hurt. When you’re looking for, you have a loan application, go to two or three different banks, maybe go to your, you know, if you have a CPA, if you have an attorney, talk to them, who they may, he or she may recommend and then go to two or three different banks and see which one you like best and who offers you not only the loan but other things that may go along with it. 

For me, for example, depending on the size of the business looking for a loan, we offer benefits. And that’s a hot item right now is in benefits because of all the private equity firms buying up the benefit companies. Som, you know, I know our bank has something to offer there or commercial insurance, but just you know, when I go, I sit down and say here’s the term sheet. And that’s what everybody’s always looking for. The term sheet gives you a quick breakdown of what everything’s involved. But then I also say look, we also can provide this for you, and something for them to think about.

Liam Dempsey: Yeah, that was a really helpful for me, detailed answer. I did appreciate all the different ways of, I think you said collateral lending and accounts receivable lending, and asset. All this stuff was really interesting. So it’s quite a helpful laundry list of things to think about and questions to ask. 

Tony, you’ve seen a lot of acquisitions, mergers, and dramatic growth across Chester County in the past 40 years or so. Maybe even you’ve witnessed a business or organizational failure or two. Tell us something about business in Chester County in the last 40 years that really surprised you.

Tony Poluch: That’s a good question. I think the surprise fact was, and I didn’t realize until it happened, is like the first downward trend, when I really became like a banker, so to speak, when I’m commercial lending and doing business development, we had a downward trend. And you know, you subscribe to different types of banking newsletters, et cetera, and you saw how the recession was hurting a whole area. You know, the businesses, the banks, the whole. Whatever it may be. And let’s just say it may have been. And I’m hypothetically talking about maybe Scranton or Western Pennsylvania, Southwestern Pennsylvania, North Central, more the rural areas where there’s only like one type of industry. 

But here’s the surprising part. With Chester County and Chester County, there’s so many different types of businesses and manufacturing companies, service businesses, that even though we were in like a recession or downward trend, there were a lot of businesses that still did well because we have such a variety of businesses in Chester County. So to me, that was the surprising part. And all during that time, there was still, you know, different businesses that were in need of lending, and the bank still was hitting its goals on doing the lending part.

Erik Gudmundson: One of the things that I think really helps this particular area weather a lot of storms like that are the support structures in place there for businesses and the community in general. Whether it’s different chambers of commerce, the Chester County Economic Development Council, and the list goes on, but that’s it. You attend a lot of those events, whether it’s an economic briefing or a charity golf tournament, a networking lunch, an award dinner, whatever it might be. Your calendar’s full. I’m going to put you on the spot. What’s your favorite event, or at least favorite type of event?

Tony Poluch: I would say the larger, the larger ones and, you know, it’s kind of twofold, a network in Noon at Southern Chesky County, there’s only, let’s say 50 to 100 people to go. I’m always successful there. But at the larger ones, the Chester County Business and Industry or the Chest County Economic Development Council, I guess the Economic Development Council, who recently hosted at Longwood Gardens, those types of events, you get a lot of centers of influence out and you get your one shot maybe to talk to a CEO. And if you have that opportunity to talk to him or her, I’m very professional, very cognizant of their time. But I do ask. And that’s the thing about when you do network. You have to ask for a possible meeting.

And so you just can’t go wrong. With the Chester County Economic Development Council at Longwood Gardens. It’s such a gorgeous event, but the Chester County business industry has been there as well. So those two events were probably, like, my favorite. I will say that whether it’s a network at noon, Exton Chamber, Western Chester County Chamber, or any of the smaller events, if you know what you’re looking for and you have these goals set, they’ll be helpful as well. And I do think they’re a lot better than where you get to meet people. Maybe by chance, a new center of influence. It’s better than house some organizations and, you know, want you to do the cold call where you pick up the telephone and you call people. 

And if you can imagine how many, you know, chief operating officers, Chief financial officers, CEOs, are getting phone calls or emails, you know, it’s like, you know, it’s like throwing darts, trying to hit the bullseye with your eyes closed. Whereas if I’m out to all these different organizations, you know, not only why, maybe I may not meet somebody, but if I meet somebody like Erik Gudmundson, and somebody’s talking to you, and Erik says, well, I know somebody who may be able to help you. If they’re talking about, like, equipment financing, like it’s 100% financing, you may say, you know, I know somebody, Tony Poluch. I’ll email you his contact information. And you’d be surprised how many times a center of influence, an attorney.

My center of influence, I consider, is why it could be an  insurance person. It could be, you know, of course, an attorney, an accountant. But anybody who would say, you know, I know somebody. Tony Poluch, let me do an email introduction to you. And getting back, you’d be surprised how many of those emails I get.

Liam Dempsey: Tony, there’s a good chance that anybody in Chester County who’s ever attended a local or business networking event probably saw you in the room, even if they didn’t know who you were. You’ve made it clear that you attend so many because of the opportunity to meet new people and meet new opportunities. I wonder if you can talk about reasons beyond that. What else are you getting out of the networking event, beyond the chance to meet another opportunity. And I know it might sound kind of mean and capitalistic, and I don’t mean it that way. Right. What else are you getting at? Is it, you know, does it help you keep a pulse on the businesses in the area? Are you better able to explore what challenges businesses are facing, organizations are facing? Can you talk to those secondary or tertiary reasons and values that you get from attending networking events?

Tony Poluch: You know, that’s another good question. I mean, the, you know, when you say you walk in a room, I teach this Networking 101 course. You know, I explain to people that when you walk in, you almost have to walk in like you, you know, like you own it. Like you’re walking in in a very positive atmosphere. You want to, you want to look the part. You don’t want to go just slide into a corner or just slide to the table. You want to walk in the center. You want to talk to people.

And that kind of gets it flowing, Liam. You know, and I always tell that I had a business development team and I told them just that that’s how you have to walk into the room. One of the things you don’t want to do is walk in and just kind of slink to the side or maybe just see several people. You know, they’re all sitting, standing there by the corner talking. You go to them, and you just lost your whole opportunity. I’m going in. I have goals, and some of them could be just the smallest of gold that I want, at least two business cards. With those two business cards, I met those people. I met a painter recently at an event, got his business card. You know, he had a nice business, a small business, but, you know, I gave him my card, he gave me his. And when I went back, you know, you say you got to do what they tell you to do. And that is, you got to reach out to him. I always say within 24 hours, send an email. Hey, it was nice chatting with you. Maybe something guys chatted about. If I could ever be of help to you, please let me know. 

And so that’s like the goals. I, you know, when I go in there, if I go in, and right away, I mean, I’ve been in long, long enough to realize that I’m going to be in there talking to different people. Like I know a caterer. And so right away I asked you, do you lease your current business? You know, how does that work when you’re doing catering? Do you have enough room? Do you have the equipment? 

And surprisingly, a lot of them will say, I need additional equipment. Or I would like to, probably buy, you know, acquire a bigger building, and there’s buildings available. So what I do is I’ll say, well, listen, you know, we have specific financing for you that you only need, like 10% down. And I said, in fact, let me help you. I’ll refer somebody if you want, like a commercial real estate broker who’s familiar with the program, but then we’ll know what type of building to find that particular person. 

So when I talk about centers of influence, commercial real estate brokers are certainly a commercial center of influence. So, there again, when I go in, as you mentioned, you’ve been in it long enough. You have a general idea of what their needs may be going forward.

Erik Gudmundson: Tony, I have to stop you right there, because when I have attended networking events, I’ve certainly encountered all the things you’re describing. And I would go further. I would say some people actually loathe networking events because they hate small talk. They don’t want to collect a bunch of business cards from strangers, and they feel awkward promoting their own business. 

One thing I’ve always appreciated about you is how genuine you are at these events. And no matter how many people are in the room, you always find the time to authentically connect with the people you’re talking to. You’re certainly not one of those people who immediately launch into a sales pitch before saying hi. 

And when you were talking earlier about how the bank basically told you, shoo, shoo, shoo, get out of the office and get out to these networking events, it doesn’t sound like you were necessarily given a lot of structure or background or training on how to network at these business networking events. So I’d like to know, how did you get so good at navigating these business networking events?

Tony Poluch: That’s a good question. And believe it or not, this is a true story. So when they told me I was going to do business development, I mean, literally, there’s some jobs that I’ve had that I, you know, they said, you’re going to head this up. And I didn’t have an idea, so I would always do the research. I know when they said I was going to be doing business development. Right away, I’m like, okay, I’m going to be talking to all walks of life. So I started reading a lot. 

But back then, you know, I didn’t have all the, I couldn’t Google everything. So I would, knowing that I would be meeting women entrepreneurs, I would read women’s magazines. Just so you know, I didn’t want to go in there and talk about sports. I wanted to be able to know, talk about if it was nutrition or something, whatever, you know, that I’d have. Be just a general conversationalist.

But I do have, you know, if you’d like, I could just scroll real quick. I have like the do’s and don’ts of what you do. I’ve actually come up with this over the years, and I’ve done some research. So, when I teach this class, I’m like, these are the things you don’t do. But…

Erik Gudmundson: It’s funny, like, you weren’t, you weren’t taught the class, but you are now the teacher. You are teaching a class.

Tony Poluch: Yeah, yeah, I didn’t attend any of those types of classes. Just a lot of research and what works and wouldn’t. What did not work? But, you know, it’s the thing about it is, is that when you go to these events, I mean, I can’t stress enough. If you go in with a positive attitude, and everybody there is going there for the same thing, to meet people. 

So, when I’m talking to somebody and I can’t read what their name tag says, what they do, you know, I just play Lance and I’m like, yeah, I may just say, I’m sorry, but I can’t see your name tag, what type of business you do. And then I, if I’m not familiar with it, I ask them about what it is. And then I take another step further and say, well, where are you located, and what’s your marketing area? 

Now, in my session that I teach, one of the don’ts I do is you don’t hand your business card to everybody. And I’ve seen people go in even where I work at, I’m trying to school this individual, trying to teach him that you don’t go in, hand your business card, wait, literally at the water cooler, or where you get the iced tea, the lemonade, the coffee, and stand here, hand out your business cards. I mean, people take that just a whole different way. 

So…But they will take somebody who takes the time and says, What is it you do? I mean, let’s face it, we’re all there for the same thing. So it’s okay to ask them about your business. You know, what is Pegasus? Can you explain to me just a little bit about it, where you are located, and what your marketing area?

And sometimes, you know, the conversation is going good, and I’m always cognizant of the time. You know, I’ll say, you know, how can I, how can I if I come across somebody, how would I be able to refer them to you? 

So, I always tell people who think that way, well, first of all, they may not, they shouldn’t be going. You’re right. And they’re not going to meet their goals. But if you’re open to meeting people trying to obtain your goals, enjoy the fact that you have an opportunity to get out of work, go to breakfast, lunch, or dinner, golf, adding whatever it may be now, nowadays, pickleball. But you know, it’s an opportunity, and that’s the key. It’s all these opportunities you’re creating by just going well.

Erik Gudmundson: And it’s not just us and not just me, certainly, who’s impressed by our style of networking. So, several organizations have literally asked you to teach the class, and you’ve termed it Networking 101, like we’ve been talking about here a little bit.

In case our listeners didn’t know, you’ve taught them for the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce, you’ve taught them for the Exton Chamber of Commerce. And I remember you taught one of those sessions many, many years ago to the young business leader group of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce, is probably over a decade ago. 

And to this day, people still talk about how much they appreciate your insight. So whether you wanted to or intended, or knew you were going to do it or not, you have shaped that next generation of business leaders here in the county. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence, but several of those youngsters are now community and business leaders today. They’re not just regular attendees of these events; they’re actually the leaders. And that’s really impressive.

Tony Poluch: Thank you.

Erik Gudmundson: When’s your next Networking 101 event?

Tony Poluch: So, I believe this is going to air, but it was going to be the Exon Chamber of Commerce, and that is going to be this Friday. I think it’s the 10th or 11th or something. So that’s the Exit Chamber of Commerce. They’re actually providing that course with lunch included free to their members. 

And I have been asked by the Southern Chesky County Chamber of Commerce for this December Network at Noon luncheon. But I do it for the bank I work with. I’ve done it several times. The prior banks that I worked for, I also did it as well teaching different, maybe the retail group, the branch managers. I’ve actually had, you know, where a department comes up said can you just do like a private class for the individuals that report to him. 

But most recently, a law firm that is Worldwide came to me and asked me about doing something for them, that is such a large scale. I’d really have to analyze that and see if that’s something that would be advantageous for them and myself. 

But how this all came about, Erik, is that the attorneys who had young attorneys under the 40 group and the CPAs couldn’t get their people to go out to network. So they are the ones that came to us and said, could you provide a course? And that’s all. That’s how it came about. So it’s kind of evolved. But interesting enough, since COVID, more and more people work from home.

And you’re finding that if you talk to senior partners of an attorney firm, an accounting firm, or real estate brokers, they’re having a tough time getting their younger people to go out and actually network and mingle like we’re talking about, because they got so used to doing everything via Zoom. So that’s been a struggle for them.

And this, this worldwide attorney firm was explaining to me how they have really, really good attorneys, but they need to go out and network themselves and network their firms. So, it’s ever evolving. But I would say, you know, as much as technology, which I love, all for AI, you need to go out there and mingle.

Liam Dempsey: You know, Tony, I consider myself reasonably adequate when it comes to in-person networking. But even as I listen to you talk about your tips and your techniques and the types of questions that you’re asking, and more importantly, the way that you’re asking them, I think I’m going to have to sign up for one of your Networking 101 question. I almost wonder, can you start work on networking 201 or 301, kind of the advanced course?

We’ve talked about chambers of commerce and your role in them over the years. And here on this show, we are just delighted with the number and quality of chambers that we have available in our area. I think at our last count, we were, our eight active chambers of commerce for Chester County alone. And while each serve an important function to the community where they belong, whether it’s north, south, east, west, or kind of comprehensive, I’m going to try to put you on the spot here. Is there a particular business organization, chamber, or otherwise, that really stands out as a must-join for local business owners?

And I guess we’re asking on behalf of smaller organizations that won’t really have the time to join everything. They can’t join Rotary and the chamber, and the next group that’s helping the community. Where do you point small business owners or nonprofit leaders of smaller organizations? 

Tony Poluch: For smaller organizations, I actually get that question asked, believe it or not, a company that works with small businesses, helps them with their bookkeeping, staffing, maybe direct them to benefits or insurance. They asked that. They asked me, you know, the same questions that you just asked. 

So, I say if you’re a small business, there’s a certain area that you’re working, right? Unless you’re going to go produce a product or something that you’re selling nationwide, then you should join that local chamber.

So if they say, okay, I’m located in Chadds Ford, and I’m like, okay, there’s a cost to become a member of the chambers. But if you want your best bang for the buck and you got to attend is maybe you would go to, just as a suggestion, the Greater Westchester Chamber of Commerce or the Southern Cheskel County Chamber of Commerce, just because of the, if you live, if your business was in Chadds Ford, the marketing area, those two would connect. 

They wouldn’t at that point in time need a larger chamber, a business and industry, or an economic development council. However, they may grow where they’re going to need the Economic Development Council because they got so many specialized loans that can assist you. But I would say if they’re starting out just trying to build their name, who they are, their local chamber, that’s who I would direct them to. 

For somebody like me who belongs to those different ones, I found that that may not be enough, especially if I’m looking for commercial loans. I may want to join an organization where all commercial real estate brokers belong to because they’re always looking for clients to buy properties or sell properties. So I may get the best bang for the buck there.

So, if there’s a, you know, even in the construction industry, concrete whatnot, there’s the Delaware Contracting Association. So, if you’re going to be more specialized, maybe you get the best bang for the buck there. Because if you’re building, if you’re a cement company, you’re building buildings, somebody may need you. So if it’s a small business starting out, a local chamber or a specialized organization that’s geared towards what you’re providing.

Erik Gudmundson: One final point on the networking organizations, I do want to move on to something else, but you made a subtle point in your last answer that you have to be active in the chamber. And I think that it really deserves an underscore because so many people join a chamber of commerce, they pay their membership dues, and they never show up. They never talk to anyone, they never participate, and therefore, they don’t get the value out of that membership investment. So it’s really important that people participate and find ways that they’re comfortable getting involved, or maybe find ways they’re uncomfortable getting involved, just to try something new and see where they fit and see where they don’t fit. Really, really good point, Tony. Thank you.

Let me ask you, though about your past role as a Community Reinvestment Act CRA officer.

Tony Poluch: Yeah. So that probably in the, just to give you an idea, so I was a branch manager, commercial lender, consumer lender, business development officer, head of government banking, treasury management, sales head of that created a call center, executive vice president of bank market leader. 

But the CRA officer, the CRA officer was probably the toughest position I ever had. The most challenging because if you could imagine, if a bank has a footprint and let’s say it’s South Jersey, northern Delaware, southern Chester county, to include the Philadelphia market, the banks are required that they must lend in low to moderate income areas, what they call LMI. They must be able to and do lend to whoever would qualify, race, religion, male/female. So that’s what CRA encompasses, you know, especially like low to moderate income areas.

So, if you can imagine a depressed area where, you know a lot of banks are governed by the Federal Reserve. So the government wants you to go into a depressed area, work with the community, work with the non-profits, and help build like small businesses. Help build that area up if you would, for small businesses, which then you got to provide small business lending or provide residential mortgages to the area. 

So, if there’s affordable housing, we got to be able to lend to those individuals, those being the low to moderate income individuals, sowe  have certain products for that. So at the institution I work with, prior I was familiar with the program but not the intricate details. If you can imagine. If you go, if you have to report to the government, it’s going to be a lot of paperwork, if you would. But you know, I was good with working with nonprofits, especially in Chester County. 

My own upbringing comes from a very blue-collar. Seven children, mother, father, disabled veteran in a three-bedroom one-bath house, you know what I mean? So I would be considered low and moderate income if I were looking at myself when I was growing up. But having that little bit of background, I understood it, and so I was tasked with working with all these nonprofits that worked in different areas of Philadelphia, Camden, northern Delaware, codes fill. 

So those particular areas which you can basically go to a map and see those particular areas were or classified as low to moderate income, work with the non-profits, provide them with grants, or inform them about possible grants through the state, which I did. But I had to join all these organizations. 

And a really good one out of Philadelphia is the Urban Affairs Coalition. But I went in, and I didn’t know a soul. And once again, as I talked in the beginning, I always did a lot of research with that. So, I went in, you know, they don’t know me from Adam. I got to use my networking skills to introduce myself. And as it went on, the other members of the Urban Affairs Committee looked at me for like answers as if you would. They looked for me for, okay, this is an issue, Tony, what do you think that we could do about this? How should we tackle this issue? 

So, I worked with a lot of nonprofits I would have never worked with before. I met a lot of great people that worked in trying to help those communities build up the small businesses, affordable housing. But it was an arena where you say, I meet know everybody in Chester County. This was working everywhere in Chester County, with the exception of Coatesville. But going into the Philadelphia market, understanding who the nonprofits were and seeing how I could help them and work with them to better the communities and be able to provide housing mortgages, small business loans to that community, and then report that all back to the government.

So, I will say that we probably were graded at the institution I worked for before I came on board at a very, very low. As if you would, as far as our CRA. And three years later, when we had an examination by the Federal Reserve, we scored one point below outstanding. 

So in three years, we turned that around, and you know, it’s always working together with even the individuals at the bank getting someone from every department. We had a CRA committee, and then there was buy-in. And if you have buy-in from everybody else, you know, they provided small business lending, they come up with new mortgage products, we had deposit products. So it was a team concept. Even though I was a CRA officer, we had a CRA committee.

Liam Dempsey: Yeah, thank you for that. That’s an impressive turnaround in three years with all those different stakeholders and competing priorities to turn it around that, that quickly. Right. Three years passes in a heartbeat.

Tony Poluch: Yeah.

Liam Dempsey: We talked previously about what might have caught you off guard or surprised you about the Chester County business community in the past 40 years. I’m going to flip the question around a little bit and ask you to gaze into the future with all of your community experience, with all of your banking experience with, as well as, you know, the business community in our area. Can you share any predictions or what you think might happen in and around Chester County in the next 40 years from a business perspective?

Tony Poluch: In the next how many years?

Liam Dempsey: Well, we asked about the past 40, we’ll ask about the next 40. But chances are you, me, and Erik aren’t going to be here in 40 years to hold you accountable. So I’ll let you answer how the question, how you see fit.

Tony Poluch: Well, I think the footprint, you know, and the bricks and mortar have been laid for all the chambers assisting everybody, you know, technology certainly assisting. I mean, whereas our bank, we’re doing equipment lending, if you would, in all 50 states now. So that’s technology.

So, I think that, and even, you know, a small business, a person who does a small business, they could sell via the Internet, you know, so I think things happen quickly. I think that there’s always going to be new banks or there’s always going to be acquisitions of banks, mergers of banks. The credit unions there they’re more. The credit unions, at one time they were doing just residential, if you would, consumer lending, consumer deposits. They’re now into the commercial aspect of it. 

So, I think there will always be, there always will be a vehicle for somebody in a small business to get a loan of what they need there. They’ll always be in a technology to collect your deposits quicker. You know, back in the day, you used to, used to have a person come to the bank with a whole bag full of checks or cash, and if it snowed, they couldn’t get there. And if it snowed on a Friday, they couldn’t make a deposit till Monday. Well, all that’s changed, that technology. You’re making deposits every day, daily, sometimes twice a day, a lot of times electronically. 

So the technology is there. I just think that you always have to adapt to the changes. The banks have to adapt to the changes, which they do. And you know, you have to look at AI to me as a positive, just like you’re looking at networking as a positive. As Erik mentioned, the person who thinks, oh, I don’t want to go waste my time because truly that person’s never going to benefit, or they haven’t done it correctly. 

But I think that there’s only so many buildings in Chester county. They’re only going to let you build so many buildings. There is a little bit more affordable housing that they’re going to do. I just think that they’ll look at an area like Coatesville and they’ll be the entrepreneurs who are smart enough to go in there and build a business in Coastville. Right. Or southern Chester County. 

You know, at one time it was like a sleepy area with just mushroom companies. Now it’s evolved with small mid, and large companies in southern Chester County. But you have the Economic Development Council who’s always going to be there. They always have something new on the horizon as far as lending. They’re always in tune with what’s happening nationally, how they incorporated, you know, into Chester County.

So, I think that it’ll evolve. There’s not that much space they could do, but somewhere like the Great Valley Corporate Center. I was at an event where they told us that the corporate buildings, as we know, probably 40% of them would be torn down and something new would take place. And you’re seeing that now at the Great Valley Corporate center with all the retail industry that’s in there now, like the restaurants, I should view it. Hair salon, that and I understand that hair salon is just doing just a great job as far as doing well themselves and their employees. But there’s all different type of shops open up there and they tearing down the corporate center. It’s just some new entrepreneur has a vision that somebody did not have, you know, 10 years ago. And that’s always going to evolve and that’s always going to keep it going.

And as I mentioned earlier, we’re so diverse in Chester County. We’re so lucky. It’s just not one or two industries. I think the diversity just within the industries will keep it going and expanding. We’re not one of the wealthiest counties in the state for nothing.

Erik Gudmundson: Well, as someone who lives and works here in Chester County, tell us about a business or nonprofit in Chester County that more folks should know about.

Tony Poluch: Hmmm. Okay.

Erik Gudmundson: It’s always a tough question. Always a tough question.

Tony Poluch: You put me on the spot there. I work, you know, I work with a lot of different nonprofits. Let me just do just a couple quick. You know, there’s an organization, Home of the Sparrow. And that organization helps women with children who may not have a job, who may not have a place to live, who may need further education. 

The Home in a Sparrow helps a lot of different women, keeps them off the street, and keeps them safe. Great organization that’s learned to not only how a lot of nonprofits maybe look towards some government funding, they all do it internally, if you would. So great organization.

Open Hearth Inc. Out of base, out of Faintsville, but helps all of Chester County as well. They take it one step further. You know, where I talked about women with Home and a Sparrow. But I think that the just the fact that they could take, let’s just say an individual and he’s down on his last luck and doesn’t have a place to stay, doesn’t have enough income to eat, that they’ll come in, step in, work with all the other organizations and you know, organization recognize them and forwarded to them. 

And then you have someone else like the Chess County Art Association. The Chess County Art Association. You know, they have all these summer programs for individuals. Anybody could go there, whether you’re 8 years old or if you wanted to take up something new in life, and you’re 60 year old, do photography, maybe start an artist, something you’ve always wanted to do. They got so many different programs for young and old at the Art association.

And I think you need something like the arts, you know, within the communities as well. You have the Home of the Sparrows, Open Hearth. You have the Kennett Library, which helped southern Chester County. But something like the Art Association definitely is worthwhile for the community as well.

Liam Dempsey: Thank you for that. Tony Paluch, senior vice president and senior business development officer at Univest Bank and Trust Company. Aside from bumping into you at a local networking event, where can listeners connect with you?

Tony Poluch: That’s a good question. I’ve got to be honest with you. A lot of my spare time right now I have grandchildren, and even in the summer I’m attending summer basketball leagues for my granddaughters, baseball for my grandson, swimming lesson, swim team swimming events. So a lot of my evenings and weekends right now are attending my grandchildren’s events. 

But I do like to go to the local restaurants, whether it’s Downingtown, Westchester, Kenneth Square, Unionville, or Phoenixville. I think that there’s no reason to go outside of Chester County because so many great restaurants have moved in or opened up in Chester County. So, my wife and I always on the weekends, pick a different restaurant. This past weekend we’re in Unionville. We could be in Westchester next week, Danningtown, the next Phoenixville. So, there’s just so many great restaurants to go to. So you could always find me, you know, at a restaurant.

Erik Gudmundson: Tony, hope to run into you soon. Thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom today. And you know, really, it was an absolute treat to talk with you. So, thank you for coming out.

Tony Poluch: It was my pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you to you, Erik, and thank you, Liam.

Liam Dempsey: And thank you to our listeners for joining us here today. 

As a reminder, we publish the Start Local podcast every fortnight. That’s two weeks to keep up to date with what’s going on with the show. And to get the latest episodes directly into your email inbox, head over to our website at startlocal.co, where you can subscribe to our email list. You can also get all links to everything that we talked about in today’s show. 

Thanks again for listening, everybody. Appreciate you being a part of the community.

Bye for now.