On any given day, Marquette Savings Bank is at work serving its employees, neighbors and businesses that make Erie and Crawford counties their home.
When a family wants to buy their first home, the bank guides them not only through paperwork and closing on their home, but additionally through the schools, streets and community they’re joining. When a local entrepreneur comes in for a loan, Marquette offers more than numbers; it offers neighborhood insight. When a growing business secures financing, Marquette helps keep jobs local, fueling opportunity right at home.
For 118 years, this people-first, locally grounded approach has guided every move Marquette makes. Even as industries shift and markets change, Marquette’s commitment remains the same: make decisions locally, invest locally and strengthen the community from within.
Because this place where Marquette conducts its business isn’t just a market — it’s home. And serving it has always been, and will always be, what matters most.
A LOCAL COMMITMENT
Marquette Savings Bank’s story has always been about the communities across northwest Pennsylvania. As the only locally headquartered bank remaining in the region, Marquette has spent more than a century rooted in its communities, building trust, creating connections, and making decisions that reflect local needs and values.
What began in 1908 as the Marquette Building and Loan Association has grown from those community-driven roots into one of fewer than 500 mutual banks left in the United States. Mutual banks are key to community growth because they reinvest earnings directly back into the region.
“Being locally headquartered isn’t just a point of pride,” says John C. Dill, president and CEO of Marquette Savings Bank. “It shapes how we make decisions, how we interact with our customers and how we support the community. Everything we do is meant to benefit the people who live and work here.”
With 11 locations across Erie and Crawford counties, more than $1.37 billion in assets and a 5-star BauerFinancial rating for over 30 years, Marquette is consistently recognized as one of the nation’s strongest and most reliable financial institutions — a reflection of the bank’s guiding principles.
Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Danch says, “Our focus has always been on creating long-term stability for our customers, serving them in personal ways and building the kind of trust that comes from knowing our neighbors for generations.”
That commitment shows up every day in the people and programs that bring Marquette’s hometown mission to life, from statewide leaders to hands-on efforts that strengthen Erie and Crawford counties.
A VOICE FOR COMMUNITY BANKING
When Kelly Montefiori, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Marquette, stepped into the role of board president of the Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers (PACB), she brought decades of banking experience. She also brought a personal mission to advance the very values that guide Marquette at home: local decision-making, community investment and personalized service.
In this role, Montefiori takes the principles that define Marquette’s work in Erie and Crawford counties and applies them across the state, ensuring that locally focused banks have a voice in shaping policies, supporting communities and driving economic growth.
PACB represents independent, locally owned banks across Pennsylvania, and Montefiori’s leadership lets her guide the organization’s strategy, support member institutions and make sure the needs of community banks — and the towns they serve — are heard in Harrisburg.
Through PACB, Montefiori engages directly with state legislators, regulators and policymakers to highlight the role community banks play in fostering local growth. From lending to small businesses, helping first-time homebuyers, to supporting local development projects, she advocates for policies that recognize the unique mission and scale of community banks and the direct impact they have on the neighborhoods they serve.
Montefiori’s statewide leadership reinforces the same principle that drives Marquette every day at home: strong, locally rooted banks are essential to thriving communities. By bringing the perspective of Erie and Crawford counties to the state level, Montefiori advances not only Marquette’s hometown mission, but also the broader goal of supporting communities across Pennsylvania.
COMMUNITY-CENTERED EDUCATION
Partnering with Lincoln Elementary, one of United Way of Erie County’s designated Community Schools, is another way Marquette Savings Bank is helping strengthen the foundation of Erie’s next generation, along with four other financial institutions.
The Community School model is built on a simple but powerful idea that when schools serve as neighborhood hubs that connect students and families to academic, social, health and basic-needs resources, children are better positioned to learn, grow and succeed in life.
That’s why, as a corporate partner, Marquette works collaboratively alongside United Way, Lincoln Elementary, and Erie’s Public Schools to help remove barriers to student success, supporting efforts that improve attendance, deepen family engagement and expand access to essential services.
That commitment is quite personal. Through Books with Bankers, a monthly literacy initiative, Marquette employees spend time in the classroom reading with students and building meaningful, consistent relationships throughout the school year. By returning to the same grade level month after month, employees provide stability and encouragement for students, while showing them that the community is rooting for their success.
HOMEOWNERSHIP SUPPORT
As the leading local residential lender in Erie and Crawford counties, Marquette Savings Bank helps more local families put down roots than any other bank or lender. Homeownership is more than a financial milestone; it’s an investment in the long-term strength and stability of the community.
Through simple, straightforward lending, the bank makes it possible for individuals and families to establish themselves in the neighborhoods they call — or dream of calling — home.
The bank’s team of 21 local loan officers serves as a single, consistent point of contact, guiding customers through every step of the mortgage and home equity process with insight into local neighborhoods, school districts, community dynamics and more.
In 2025 alone, that commitment helped families close more than $160 million in mortgages and home equity loans, once again making Marquette the number one local residential lender in the region.
Each loan is more than a closing date; it’s a family putting down roots, a neighborhood gaining strength and a community growing from within. By keeping its focus local, Marquette makes the path to homeownership personal, accessible and deeply connected to the place it has proudly served for more than a century.
YOUTH FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT
Supporting its community means investing in the next generation. That’s why Marquette is committed to helping equip young people with the money skills that create financial wellness and, in return, build a stronger, more resilient local economy.
In 2025, that commitment deepened through the launch of Mpowered™ U, a program designed specifically for youth ages 13 to 21 in the region. The initiative gives local young people the knowledge and confidence to make smart financial decisions early in life, a critical foundation for building strong, thriving communities.
Through a partnership with Banzai, a nationally recognized online financial education platform, students complete interactive courses covering essentials like budgeting, saving, credit, fraud prevention and online security.
To reinforce the value of learning, Marquette rewards account holders with up to $100 for completing the modules, providing both an incentive and a practical lesson in responsible money management.
Mpowered™ U reflects the same principle that guides the bank’s broader work: investing locally means thinking generationally. By preparing young people today, Marquette is strengthening the communities it calls home for decades to come.
SAFER LOCAL BANKING
Safer banking is another way Marquette serves its communities. By reducing fraud, securing transactions and providing reliable, personalized tools, the bank helps families and local businesses manage their finances more confidently.
Customers can now use contactless debit cards — or “tap to pay” cards — for a faster, more secure way to pay. They never have to share card numbers with merchants, lowering the risk of fraud. New ATMs also let users save personal preferences for quicker, more convenient transactions.
Families and business owners also can get a clearer picture of their finances and make smarter money choices every day. Through a partnership with Savvy Money, all Digital One online and mobile banking customers can access Credit Insights for free, letting them view their full credit report, track changes, receive alerts and get practical tips to improve their scores.
Behind the scenes, Marquette has strengthened its cybersecurity program with multiple layers of safeguards designed to prevent, detect and respond to potential threats. These upgrades help protect customers and employees while keeping day-to-day banking secure, reliable and personal — the way Marquette has always done.
VOLUNTEER IMPACT
Erie and Crawford counties are Marquette’s hometown, and a strong, personal commitment to those communities is the core of Marquette. This means supporting not only financially, but also through meaningful service.
Putting these values into action, Marquette encourages employees to volunteer during their workday and promotes organized volunteer opportunities throughout its communities. Many of the bank’s employees also contribute their time in the evening and on weekends by serving on boards throughout Erie and Crawford counties, extending their impact.
From preparing and serving lunch at the Erie City Mission to monthly shifts at the Meadville Soup Kitchen, employees are hands-on in supporting those in need. They help maintain community gardens with the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network, engage students and families through United Way Community School events, such as Books with Bankers and Safari Night, and serve meals to local residents at St. James Haven.
Marquette volunteers also lend their time to building homes with Habitat for Humanity, raising awareness for mental health through the NAMI Walk and a workplace mental health podcast. They also provide nonprofit leadership through board work at organizations, such as Bethesda Lutheran Services and the Crawford County Drug & Alcohol Executive Commission.
Through these efforts, Marquette employees don’t just work in the community — they actively invest their time, energy and expertise to strengthen the hometown they serve. In the past year, 104 employees volunteered nearly 2,700 hours across 137 organizations throughout the region, making a tangible difference in the neighborhoods they call home.
THIS IS OUR HOMETOWN
For 118 years, Marquette Savings Bank has focused its work on the community it calls home. Headquartered in Erie, Pennsylvania, the bank makes its decisions locally, guided by leaders who live and work alongside the people and businesses they serve.
That commitment shows up every day: helping families buy their first homes, financing local entrepreneurs, supporting growing businesses, and reinvesting in schools, nonprofits and community initiatives across northwest Pennsylvania.
Dill says that Marquette’s success is tied directly to the strength and vitality of its hometown.
“As a locally headquartered bank, our responsibility goes beyond banking,” he explains. “We invest in people, we help businesses grow and neighborhoods thrive, and we educate our youth to become financially savvy — all things that make this community prosper.
When our hometown succeeds, we all succeed, and that’s what drives everything we do at Marquette. This is our hometown.”
