25 Years as Rochester’s Community Bank
As GRB celebrates it’s 25th anniversary this year, we wanted to share some of the bank’s accomplishments as it has grown into the region’s premier community bank. The GRB Timeline offers a glimpse of some of the bank’s key developments over the last 25 years.
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1996The assets of Lyndon Guaranty Bank of New York are purchased by local attorney Dan Gullace and entrepreneur E. Philip Saunders. The goal is to create a local banking presence for small business lending. Still serving on the GRB Board of Directors, Chairman Saunders and Mr. Gullace lend their considerable skills and business acumen to the ongoing growth of the bank. -
2000The bank is renamed Genesee Regional Bank (GRB) and holds $33 million in assets. GRB currently has assets in excess of $800 million focusing on small business lending, personal banking, and residential mortgage lending. -
2003GRB taps Philip L. Pecora as its new manager of commercial banking. Eight months later, he is promoted to GRB’s President and CEO. Pecora remains President and CEO of GRB, guiding the organization’s vision and growth as a premier bank for small businesses in the Rochester region. Under his direction, GRB has grown from just 30 employees to more than 150…and the bank is still growing. -
2007GRB is named to the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce Top 100 list for the first time. The Top 100 recognizes the fastest-growing privately held companies in the region. The bank would go on to be named to the Top 100 list 10 times over the next 14 years. GRB is often the only financial institution on the list. -
2009GRB moves its corporate offices from Monroe Avenue to new space in the Linden Oaks office park. Just seven years later, GRB leaves Linden Oaks for its current corporate headquarters location on Winton Road, more than doubling its space. -
2013GRB makes a significant investment in the growth of Rochester’s residential mortgage lending market, hiring more than 40 employees of a local mortgage brokerage firm to add to its existing mortgage team. In 2020, GRB becomes the leading residential mortgage purchase bank lender in the region, Together with its expansion into the Syracuse market, GRB closes more than $400 MM and helps more than 2,000 individuals and families put down roots in Upstate New York. -
2013GRB is recognized as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in New York,” for the first time. The “Best Companies” award is based on anonymous employee feedback on topics including pay and benefits, leadership and management, learning and development opportunities, etc. GRB has now appeared on the “Best Companies to Work for in New York” list a total of seven times, most recently in 2020, even as it brought 40 new employees on board during the pandemic. -
2015GRB’s President and CEO Philip L. Pecora is named to the region’s Top 100 Executives list by the Rochester Business Journal. To date, many of GRB’s employees have been recognized for their business experience and community involvement in programs as diverse as the Forty Under 40, Women of Excellence, Financial Executive of the Year, ICON Awards, and more. -
2017GRB establishes a “Wellness Committee,” developing internal employee physical and mental health programs and managing bank-wide volunteer opportunities. Today, GRB provides charitable contributions to more than 115 different organizations in the local community and provides each employee with 16 hours of time each year to use toward charitable initiatives. -
2020As the pandemic threatens small businesses throughout the region, GRB pivots operations to support the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The bank processed 577 PPP loans, 35% of those from businesses that couldn’t access a PPP loan from their current bank. GRB continues to process Forgiveness applications for the PPP borrowers. At the same time, GRB still provided nearly $20 million in SBA loans to 45 local businesses during 2020. This earns the bank the SBA’s Emerald award and makes GRB the top SBA lender in the Rochester region.