First National Community Bancorp Strengthens Risk Management Function

DUNMORE, Pa., Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- First National Community Bancorp, Inc. (OTC Markets Group, Inc.: FNCB), the parent company of Dunmore-based First National Community Bank, today announced that Sandra E. Laughlin was appointed to the newly created position of Chief Risk Officer. In this position, Ms. Laughlin will be responsible for developing and implementing enterprise-wide strategies that address various aspects of risk management within the organization. She will oversee implementation of risk management policies, standards, controls and procedures, and ensure compliance with federal and state regulations.

"The creation of this new role strengthens our management team, enabling us to apply greater focus on organizational and regulatory risks of all types so that we are better able to meet the challenges specific to FNCB, as well as those inherent in today's financial services environment," said Jerry A. Champi, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. "The Bank has performed well for many years, but experienced some challenges recently which the Company has been focused on addressing. The addition of Sandra to our team will elevate our efforts to improve our enterprise risk management."  

Ms. Laughlin most recently served as a Northeast Financial Institutions Risk Management Partner for Crowe Horwath LLP.  In this role, Ms. Laughlin oversaw and directed numerous risk management audit and consulting engagements in various areas including enterprise risk management, internal audit, loan review, regulatory compliance, trust and Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition, she consulted with organizations on how they could meet their strategic objectives within a safe and sound framework by the implementation of various internal controls and processes. Furthermore, Ms. Laughlin has provided extensive training to members of senior management teams and boards of directors on compliance with good corporate governance expectations for both public and private institutions.

Previous to joining Crowe, Ms. Laughlin worked as a Commissioned Bank Examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.  She earned a BBA and MSA from the University of Toledo and maintains her CPA license in the States of New Jersey and New York.

About First National Community Bank:

First National Community Bancorp, Inc. is the financial holding company of First National Community Bank, which provides personal, small business and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Wayne Counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania, The institution was established as a National Banking Association in 1910 as The First National Bank of Dunmore, and has been operating under its current name since 1988.

For more information about FNCB, visit www.fncb.com.

SOURCE First National Community Bancorp, Inc.