Donald Shamey, president and CEO of NexTier Bank, will retire July 31 after four decades with the bank.

His retirement was announced this morning by the NexTier Bank board of directors.

Shamey, 64, began his career at NexTier, then called Citizens National Bank, in 1974 as a management trainee after graduating from Dickinson College with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Shamey advanced through the ranks from cashier to CEO. He has been CEO since 2000 and also is the president of NexTier Inc., the bank’s holding company.

“I have spent the past 40 years with NexTier. It has been a great run, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to lead this organization,” Shamey said in the release.

He said that he intended to retire at age 62, but he was asked by the Snyder Group of Kittanning, which owns the bank, to stay on until the bank was on better footing.

In 2011, the Snyder Group invested just less than $2 million in NexTier to keep the bank independent and to help it meet federal regulations.

In May 2013, NexTier announced a merger with Farmers & Merchants Bank of Western PA, which has a large presence in Armstrong County and also is owned by the Snyder Group.

When the merger is complete later this year, NexTier will become a much larger regional bank with about $1 billion in assets and 24 locations in Butler, Armstrong and Allegheny counties.

Mark Snyder, chairman of NexTier Inc., thanked Shamey for his leadership.

Rich Krauland, president and CEO of Farmers & Merchants, will take over for Shamey on Aug. 1. When the merger between the two banks is complete, Krauland will run the organization.