Peoples State Bank announces the addition of Chuck Winegarden to a new role at Peoples as chief credit officer.Peoples State Bank announces the addition of Chuck Winegarden to a new role at Peoples as chief credit officer.

In this role, Winegarden will assist in maintaining the strong credit quality of the bank and leading the credit function. He will work to improve tracking and reporting of overall loan portfolio risk, streamline loan policy and procedures for a customer focus, and maintain existing competitive advantages of flexibility and responsiveness with appropriate credit process and controls.

Winegarden will also serve as the liaison between the credit team and the commercial banking department, helping to support commercial bankers with large credit decisions.

“We feel creation of a stand-alone chief credit officer position is the right move for Peoples to support accelerated growth as we seek to expand to new markets with higher growth potential,” said President & CEO Scott Cattanach of Peoples State Bank. “With Chuck in this chief credit officer role, we strengthen our foundation for successful growth and significantly improve overall loan portfolio risk measurements for internal and external stakeholders,” he said.

Winegarden has nearly 20 years of experience in banking; holding roles as an FDIC bank examiner, bank president, chief credit officer, commercial loan officer and credit analyst. He has worked with other banks to help manage credit processes more efficiently and effectively and maintained regular contact with banking regulators.

“With Chuck’s experience and skills, he will be a great asset to our team to help Peoples grow safely and with managed credit losses,” said Cattanach.

“Peoples is a strong, well respected community bank that cares about its customers, employees, and shareholders. The bank has a high-quality customer base and strong customer relationships with a strategy for increased commercial lending in new markets,” Winegarden stated on why he joined Peoples.

Winegarden is married and in his free time enjoys fishing, music, and investing.  He is looking forward to volunteering at the local animal shelter.