Catherine A. Stevenson: SVP & Chief Credit Officer at NexTier Bank

Catherine A. Stevenson serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Credit Officer at NexTier Bank, overseeing all credit policy, portfolio risk management and lending operations across 18 branch locations in Western Pennsylvania. With 20 years of Pennsylvania banking experience and a finance degree from Penn State University, Catherine has structured or supervised over $2.1 billion in total credit exposure during her career — from $75,000 equipment lines for Armstrong County contractors to $8 million commercial real estate financings in the northern Allegheny County corridor.

Catherine A. Stevenson, Senior VP and Chief Credit Officer at NexTier Bank, professional portrait at Butler County headquarters

Early Career

Catherine began her banking career in 2006 as a credit analyst at a mid-size Pittsburgh community bank, reviewing financial statements, building cash flow models and preparing credit memoranda for the loan committee. That analytical foundation shaped her credit philosophy: every lending decision starts with the numbers, not the relationship. Within three years, she had moved to the commercial credit desk, underwriting her first $2 million credit facility for a Westmoreland County manufacturing company expanding its machining operations.

By 2012, Catherine had joined a regional bank in Butler County as a senior credit officer, specialising in commercial real estate and C&I lending during the Marcellus Shale boom. She structured revolving credit facilities for natural gas service companies, evaluated collateral positions in a rapidly changing real estate market, and maintained a portfolio loss rate below 0.25% — well under the industry average for community banks during that period.

NexTier Bank

Catherine joined NexTier Bank in 2016 as Vice President of Credit Administration. She was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2019 and appointed Chief Credit Officer in 2022. In this role, she chairs the bank's senior loan committee, sets credit policy, oversees portfolio risk management, and supervises 24 loan officers across the Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Allegheny county regions.

Under Catherine's leadership, NexTier Bank has maintained a non-performing asset ratio consistently below 0.6% — well under the Pennsylvania community bank average of 1.1%. She implemented a risk-rating framework that identifies deteriorating credits 60-90 days earlier than the bank's previous methodology, allowing proactive intervention before problems escalate. Her credit team reviews every loan above $500,000 before commitment, ensuring that relationship enthusiasm never overrides analytical rigour.

Credit Risk Management

Catherine oversees NexTier Bank's entire loan portfolio, which totals $1.2 billion in outstanding balances across commercial, residential, agricultural and consumer segments. She sets concentration limits, establishes underwriting standards, monitors portfolio performance against stress scenarios, and reports directly to the board's risk committee. Her risk framework balances growth objectives with the conservative capital preservation that has defined NexTier Bank since 1934.

Commercial & CRE Lending

Catherine's direct deal experience spans office, retail, industrial, multifamily and mixed-use properties across Western Pennsylvania. She has particular expertise in owner-occupied commercial real estate in the Butler County corridor and light industrial properties in the Allegheny River valley. Her commercial team has originated over $340 million in CRE loans since 2022, maintaining a weighted average loan-to-value ratio of 68%.

SBA & Small Business Lending

Catherine provides credit oversight for NexTier Bank's SBA lending programme, which has funded over $85 million in SBA 7(a) and 504 loans across Western Pennsylvania. She ensures that SBA credit files meet both internal underwriting standards and SBA guarantee requirements, protecting the bank's position while maximising approval rates for small business borrowers in Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Allegheny counties.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Finance — Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), University Park, Pennsylvania. Catherine graduated from Penn State's Smeal College of Business, where she concentrated in corporate finance and completed coursework in banking regulation, credit analysis, and risk management. Penn State's programme provided a rigorous quantitative foundation that has anchored her credit methodology throughout two decades of Pennsylvania banking.

Catherine holds additional credentials including the Risk Management Association's Credit Risk Certification and has completed the Pennsylvania Bankers Association's School of Banking executive programme. She is a regular speaker at PBA conferences on credit risk topics including concentration management and agricultural lending in Pennsylvania's changing rural economy.

Community Involvement

Outside the bank, Catherine serves on the board of the Butler County Community Development Corporation and volunteers as a mentor in the Butler County Chamber of Commerce's Women in Business programme. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, the Risk Management Association's Pittsburgh chapter, and the Independent Community Bankers of America.

Catherine grew up in Indiana County, Pennsylvania — a background that gives her firsthand understanding of the rural and small-town economies that NexTier Bank serves. She lives in Cranberry Township with her family. The FDIC community banking model that NexTier Bank represents is, in her words, "the backbone of Western Pennsylvania's economy — and it is worth protecting with disciplined credit standards."

Schedule a Lending Consultation

Whether you need a commercial mortgage, an SBA loan, a business acquisition facility, or an agricultural operating line, Catherine's lending team is ready to discuss your specific situation. Call 724-543-2500 and request a commercial lending appointment, or visit any of our 18 branches across Western Pennsylvania.