Contact: Sameera Jordan
Media Relations Manager
Sameera.Jordan@BankWithUnited.com

Jeff Wade and Rick Gant’s careers stretch back to the Parkersburg National Bank era and the early days of United’s growth.

More than 100 years since its opening, the original Parkersburg National Bank branch at 514 Market Street still stands, known today as United Bank.

For Parkersburg natives, the name United Bank is one many know well. Opened on St. Patrick’s Day in 1839 and now the largest publicly traded company headquartered in West Virginia, United Bank has been part of the state longer than the state itself has existed.

But those who were born and raised in the area may still know the Bank by another name – Parkersburg National Bank (PNB).

“When I tell people I work for United Bankshares on 514 Market Street, the older folks in town will respond, ‘Oh, we bank at PNB! We’ve banked with PNB for years,’” said Jeff Wade, a longtime United Bank veteran. “I don’t correct them. To some people, this will just always be Parkersburg National Bank.”

That makes sense in a place like Parkersburg, where the Bank’s main branch – completed in 1915 – still stands on Market Street. The world around it has changed countless times, but the original “Parkersburg National Bank” name carved into the marble façade remains. Today, a gold “U” logo and “United Bank” sign sit atop the same entrance, the past and present blended together like the history of the city itself.

Parkersburg National Bank situated in the middle of downtown Parkersburg in the 1920s.

The PNB name still resonates because, for the people here, it represents more than a financial institution. It’s a piece of local identity.

Ask United Bank leaders to summarize the Company’s roots, and they might say, “We’ve been in West Virginia since before West Virginia was West Virginia.” Wordy, maybe, but true.

Before statehood in 1863, Parkersburg was part of Virginia, and the Bank was known as the Northwestern Bank of Virginia. After the Civil War, the Bank shed its old identity and officially became Parkersburg National Bank, embracing its place in the newly recognized state of West Virginia.

In the decades that followed, PNB grew alongside the city. The 1974 opening of PNB Square (now United Square) cemented the Bank’s stature in the community, literally – standing as the tallest office building in Parkersburg.

Then the 1980s changed everything. New West Virginia legislation opened the door for bank holding companies and lifted former restrictions that prohibited county and statewide branch banking, allowing company expansion. In 1982, former United CEO and current Executive Chairman Richard M. Adams moved quickly to seize the opportunity.

By then, PNB had become one of the fastest-growing banks in the state, and Bank leaders saw the chance to grow geographically, too. Adams formed United Bankshares, Inc. (UBSI), the holding company for what would become United Bank, and completed the first out-of-market acquisition of The Bank of Dunbar in 1983, followed quickly by additional mergers in the coming years.

In 1985, in anticipation of growing beyond its hometown base, Parkersburg National Bank changed its name to United National Bank, a symbolic shift – but also a strategic one – reinforced by the 1986 acquisition of Intermountain Bankshares and Kanawha Banking and Trust, which carried the Bank into the Charleston market.

“Chairman Adams is very dynamic. A lot of people are visionaries, and others like to put their heads down and work – but he can do both,” said Wade. “He is able to marry vision with labor, and that’s what made him such a brilliant strategist and leader. The moment branch banking was allowed, he jumped on the opportunity.”

In the four decades since, United has completed a total of 34 acquisitions and grown into one of the 50 largest banking companies in the country, with locations throughout eight states and Washington, D.C. The former PNB business is now known as United Bank.

This year marked 40 years since the Bank said goodbye to the Parkersburg National Bank name, ushering in a new era under the “United” banner. With that change came decades of growth across business lines and geographies – growth built on the foundation laid in those early PNB days.

For both Jeff Wade and Rick Gant, who celebrated 50 years with the Bank in 2025, the legacy of PNB isn’t a story they read about in old documents. It’s the place where they learned how to work, how to lead, and how to build a life.

Wade remembers walking into PNB Square as a teenager, visiting the accounting department, and thinking that it might be the kind of place he’d like to work someday. More than 50 years later – and with an accounting degree, several promotions, and an entire career behind him – Wade still works in the same building he always felt drawn to.

But it wasn’t a straight line to get there. He joined PNB at 18 years old as a runner in the mailroom after a school counselor called his home one evening with a job offer. His father didn’t even hesitate. “Whatever it is, take it,” he told him. Wade laughs as he repeats the line. “My dad had a very strong work ethic and believed everyone ought to work, even if you’re in school.”

Wade did both. He attended Parkersburg Community College, now known as WVU Parkersburg, from 8 to 11 a.m., worked his mailroom shift until 5:30 p.m., then rushed back to campus for night classes from 6 to 9 p.m. Eventually, he earned his accounting degree and moved into the department he once admired as a teenager.

Today, Wade serves as VP of Risk Management. He attributes much of his career trajectory to the Bank’s willingness to take a chance on him. “People say the United States is the land of opportunity. Well, I always tell people that United Bankshares is the company of opportunity. The trajectory here is always pointing up,” he said.

In fact, one of his earliest opportunities came from Executive Chairman Richard Adams himself. “When an opening became available in the accounting department, I immediately recommended Jeff for the job,” said Adams. “He had a fire in his belly, and I knew he was someone who would go far.”

Wade’s path since then has been anything but linear – accounting, operations, supporting the CFO, then shifting into insurance when the Bank’s former insurance lead departed. He learned the basics by studying the Bank’s insurance policies with help from a local insurance agent who served as a mentor. Then, just one month into the job, he presented independently at a Board meeting – a daunting task for a self-proclaimed introvert.

“I consider that presentation one of my biggest accomplishments,” said Wade. “I got to prove to the company and myself that I had what it takes.”

Though he now focuses primarily on risk management, he still considers himself “a numbers guy at heart.” After five decades, he still loves coming to work.

“I was just an ordinary guy who happened to get a job at an extraordinary company – and right here in Parkersburg, too! A lot of people think they have to leave their hometowns to go work for a big company, but in our case, the big company came to us.”

For Rick Gant, the people are what kept him with the Bank for five decades.

“We weren’t a huge operation back then; we just had one office,” he said. “It was a family-type situation where everyone looked out for each other. I always felt supported, and I really thought this was a good opportunity to start my career.”

Gant, now an SVP and corporate auditor in the Bank’s Vienna office with a team of 30 direct reports, remembers office life before computers – literal stacks of paper, files everywhere, and shipping documents back and forth between offices covered in red pencil edits. By the mid-90s, computers had arrived, but new technology brought its own woes.

On New Year’s Eve 1999, Gant sat in his office waiting for faxes from every United branch confirming their systems had survived the Y2K shift. “It wasn’t until 4 o’clock in the morning on January 1, 2000, that I could confidently confirm the Bank was still online,” he said.

Like Wade, Gant’s achievements didn’t go unnoticed by those around him, even catching the eye of senior leadership. As a former factory worker turned Glenville State University graduate, and now a company leader himself, many consider him a Parkersburg success story.

“Rick’s journey is truly remarkable. His career has grown right along with the company,” said Adams. “I know of few people who could have gone from auditor at a small bank in Parkersburg to leading the department at one of the largest regional banking companies in the country.”

Gant still marvels at that. “I always thought I’d wind up working in manufacturing. It’s still hard to believe that someone from Parkersburg like me could become the corporate auditor for a $33 billion company,” said Gant. “It has been such an amazing ride, and I enjoyed every second of it. If I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

As the banking landscape changed, the company grew, and the United Bank name spread across new markets, Wade and Gant stayed true to their roots – continuing the banking tradition that began all those decades ago with Parkersburg National Bank.

“I consider it an immense privilege to have been able to work with such great team members – and friends – as Jeff Wade and Rick Gant these past few decades,” said Adams. “United thanks them both for their 50 years of dedication.”