Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
The Company and its subsidiaries, from time to time, are involved in legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business against its debtors and are defendants in legal actions arising from normal business activities. Management, after consultation with legal counsel believes that the ultimate liabilities, if any, resulting from these actions will not have a material adverse effect on the financial position of the Bank or on the consolidated financial position of the Company.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable
Item 4.5 Information About Our Executive Officers
Pursuant to General Instruction G(3) of Form 10-K, the following information is included as an unnumbered item in this Part I in lieu of being included in the Company’s Proxy Statement for the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders:
The executive officers of the Company are as follows:
Executive Officer
Age at
December 31,
2024
Position
Benjamin J. Bochnowski
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President, Chief Executive Officer of Finward Bancorp, Chief Executive Officer of Peoples Bank
Robert T. Lowry
63
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Todd M. Scheub
57
Executive President, Chief Revenue Officer of
Finward Bancorp, President of Peoples Bank
Benjamin L. Schmitt
44
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer
The following is a description of the principal occupation and employment of the executive officers of the Company during at least the past five years:
Benjamin J. Bochnowski currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Chief Executive Officer of the Bank. Mr. Bochnowski joined the Company in 2010, became Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company in 2013, and was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer in 2015. He became the Chief Executive Officer in 2016. He was appointed to the Board of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions by the Governor of Indiana in 2019. He served as the Chairman of the Indiana Bankers Association in 2024. He also serves on the Board of Directors of One Region, a non-profit business organization focused on population growth, and Allies for Community Business, a community-based micro-lending fund serving Chicago and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Robert T. Lowry is Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of the Company and the Bank. He is responsible for managing the overall day-to-day operations, which includes transformational change, facilities, commercial credit, as well as loan and deposit operations. Mr. Lowry has been with the Bank since 1985 and has previously served as the Bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, Controller, Internal Auditor and Assistant Controller. Mr. Lowry is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Mr. Lowry holds a Master’s of Business Administration Degree from Indiana University and is a graduate of America’s Community Bankers National School of Banking. Mr. Lowry has taught online courses for the American Bankers Association that focused on capital and liquidity management, interest rate risk and investments. Mr. Lowry is currently serving on the board of the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana and is a past board chairman and chair of the executive committee. In addition, Mr. Lowry volunteered for the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Indiana CPA Society.
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Todd M. Scheub is Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer of the Company and President of the Bank. He is responsible for the Bank’s Wealth Management group, Retail Banking group, Marketing, Commercial, and Retail lending groups. Mr. Scheub joined the Bank in 1996 and has previously held positions in the commercial lending group. He provides oversight to the sales group in wealth management, retail banking, business and retail lending as well as chairing the Senior Officer’s Loan Committee and the Executive Officer’s Loan Committee. Additionally he provides oversight to the Bank’s Marketing group. He is the liaison to the solutions group, risk management, executive management, and the Board of Directors on all items related to the Bank’s sales groups. Mr. Scheub holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Indiana University Northwest. He also graduated from America’s Community Bankers National School of Banking. Mr. Scheub is a Board Member at Lake County Economic Alliance, and the Indiana University Northwest Business School Advisory Board.
Benjamin L. Schmitt is Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of the Company and the Bank. Mr. Schmitt joined the Company and Bank in 2024. He previously served as President of Rally Consulting LLC from August 2023 to February 2024, where he advised on special projects and managed strategic efforts of commercial and community banking clients. Prior to that, Mr. Schmitt served as Managing Director within the financial services investment banking group at Piper Sandler Companies from January 2020 to June 2023, where he advised banking clients on capital raising, merger and acquisition transactions, and other strategic advisory assignments. Previously, he worked at Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P. in a similar capacity serving banking clients, as Director from January 2013 to January 2020, and held other investment banking advisory positions at Sandler O’Neill from September 2004 to December 2012. Mr. Schmitt began his career as an investment analyst from 2003 to 2004 at Mercer Investment Consulting. Mr. Schmitt received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance with Honors from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business.
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PART II