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Foster Marks 30 Years With MCS Bank

LEWISTOWN -- Long before Terry Foster ran MCS Bank, he was one of its customers.

He had a newspaper route. He mowed lawns. The money went into his first savings account at MCS Bank, an ordinary transaction for a boy growing up in the community.

Years later, he came back through the door as an employee.

In 1996, Foster joined MCS Bank as an accountant. Thirty years later, he is its president and CEO, having spent most of his professional life with the same community institution.

Foster worked his way through several positions, including chief financial officer and senior vice president, before becoming CEO in June 2009. Ten years later, the bank named him president.

He also brought deep local ties to the job. Foster graduated from Indian Valley High School and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Penn State.

His history with MCS went back further than any title.

In testimony before a U.S. Senate banking subcommittee in 2015, Foster described himself as a locally raised banker whose connection with MCS began with that childhood savings account and money earned delivering newspapers and cutting grass.

By then, the boy who had once deposited those dollars was testifying before Congress about the pressures facing community banks.

Peter Ort, MCS chief operating officer, said Foster's knowledge of the financial industry became one of the first things that stood out to him.

"Terry has a tremendous knowledge of the financial industry," Ort said, adding that Foster uses that experience to help MCS Bank, MCS Insurance and MCS Financial Advisors grow.

Ort said Foster's value goes beyond his knowledge of banking.

Thirty years in one place creates institutional memory that can't be found in a policy manual. That history gives Foster context about what worked, what didn't, and why decisions were made.

"Terry's vast institutional knowledge and historical context have been instrumental in the past, present, and future success of MCS Bank," Ort said.

His tenure has spanned a period of dramatic changes in banking. Customers who once depended on tellers, paper statements and branch visits can now move money, deposit checks and handle much of their banking without leaving home.

MCS has changed with the industry while continuing to invest in physical locations. The bank opened its Burnham branch in 2023 and broke ground this spring on a new Allensville branch.

Randa Riefer, MCS vice president of marketing and education, has watched another evolution.

She joined the bank in 2009, the same year Foster became CEO.

"Over the years, I think he has become increasingly confident in trusting the people around him, encouraging new ideas and allowing employees to grow into their own strengths and leadership roles," Riefer said.

Riefer said her own career reflects that approach. She said Foster gave her opportunities to take on challenges, pursue ideas, and grow professionally.

Riefer said Foster's trust isn't automatic.

"His trust isn't something that is automatically given. You earn it," Riefer said. "But once you do, he gives you the opportunity to grow, take ownership, and prove what you're capable of."

Ort and Riefer described a chief executive who tends to observe more than command a room.

Riefer described Foster as quiet and reserved, especially around people who don't know him well. She also discovered another side of him after working with him.

Both Riefer and Ort pointed to Foster's sense of humor.

"Terry has a tremendous sense of humor," Ort said. "He often adds levity to the conversation to lighten the mood and help others relax and feel more comfortable."

Riefer said Foster is much the same in private as he is in public.

"What I appreciate most is that there isn't really a 'public Terry' and a 'behind-the-scenes Terry,'" she said. "He doesn't need an audience to care about the bank or the people who work here. He's genuine."

She said Foster isn't someone who works a room to make conversation. But he listens, remembers what is happening in employees' lives and notices more than people might expect.

That steadiness matters most during difficult moments.

Ort called Foster a "true servant leader" whose demeanor during stressful situations helps settle the people around him. His office door is always open, Ort said, and Foster doesn't act as though his title places him above anyone else.

Ort has also seen Foster make decisions that weren't driven solely by the balance sheet.

While he declined to discuss individual cases because of privacy concerns, Ort said Foster sometimes chooses a course "not based on profitability or ease of resolution, but because it's the right thing to do."

That approach also reflects the philosophy Foster has publicly expressed about community banking. MCS operates as a mutual bank rather than a stock-owned institution. On the bank's website, Foster says that structure allows MCS to take a longer view of what benefits its customers and communities.

Riefer said Foster has consistently reminded employees that being a community bank involves more than doing business in a community.

Customers are neighbors, families, and local businesses. Technology can change the transaction, Riefer said, but Foster hasn't wanted it to erase the relationship.

Thirty years after Foster joined MCS as an accountant, Riefer said his influence can be seen in employees who built careers there and in the bank itself.

She said employees will remember his expectations, advice, humor, and even the look on his face that sometimes told longtime colleagues what he was thinking.

She said they'll also remember his consistency.

"He notices more than people probably realize," she said, "and when he does say something, you know he means it."