| Q: |
Tell me a bit about how you got into business banking. |
| A: |
My father owned several small businesses in Sault Ste. Marie; it was always my intention to be a small business owner like him. After college, I tried to buy a business with him that I could run myself. We made some offers but none were accepted. In the meantime, there was an opening at a bank in the credit department and I thought that would be a great way to learn about business from a banking point of view.
It turns out that I was fairly successful and, through hard work and dedication, was able to work my way up into the lending department. After 5 years, there was an opening in Traverse City, so I transferred there. Eventually, I left to work at Republic Bank for 11 years, primarily doing commercial loans, until I came to mBank a few years ago.
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| Q: |
What do you enjoy about your job? |
| A: |
I truly enjoy working with a variety of customers and learning about each of their businesses. From a startup winery to the hospitality industry to an advertising agency to a real estate developer… they’re all so different. I continue to learn what owners do, how they do it — and that’s both interesting and very fulfilling when I can help them realize their business goals. |
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| Q: |
What makes mBank different from other banks? |
| A: |
mBank has the best of both worlds. We’re small, which means prompt localized decision making, personalized service, strong customer service and easy customer access to employees throughout the bank. Yet we have all the advanced services of the largest banks: sufficient lending limit to handle most projects in the region, wide variety of loan and deposit products to service our customers, state-of-the art online banking, remote deposit capture and courier services makes it easy for customers to bank with us. |
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| Q: |
Describe the customers in your region. |
| A: |
We have a wide mix but many customers are related to tourism (hotels, restaurants, golf courses, convenience store / gas stations), service industries and real estate development. Traverse City continues to experience significant growth in residential and commercial real estate. Most of our customers are family-owned businesses, or companies that are closely held with one or two partners. |
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| Q: |
How does mBank show flexibility and innovation to its customers? |
| A: |
I like to say that we bank “people”, not just a piece of paper with credit scores. When we work with a customer, we look at all aspect of the customer which includes, credit history, prior track record, character and reputation along with their financial statements to make a lending decision. We know that every company and situation is different so we try to be flexible and meet the customer’s needs.
In our area, that means things like seasonal loan payment schedules, seasonal lines of credit and participation with the various governmental assisted loan programs which provides our customers with greater flexibility by offering lower down payments, longer loan terms and lower payments on eligible loans. |
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| Q: |
The latest mBank brochures have a “+ You” theme. Please tell me what that theme means to you and your customers. |
| A: |
The best way for me to explain what it means is through a story. We recently helped a local business owner sell his company to one of his long-term employees. We spent a long time working with both parties — ensuring that the seller was able to meet his financial goals and the employee/buyer was able to get the financing he needed.
In the end the company was successfully transferred to a deserving, hard-working employee that would keep the company locally-owned. In this case, “+ You” was about making sure that everyone’s financial needs were met effectively. |