Keeping in touch

Stan Wilmoth, the president of Heritage Bank of Nevada, has one regret about the decision to run his home telephone number in the bank's TV ads.

"I get some calls but not enough," says Wilmoth."It's been so much fun to call customers back on a Saturday morning."

It's more than an advertising stunt for the bank, which this month marks the 10th anniversary of its founding in Reno.

The ads, Wilmoth says, reinforce the theme upon which Heritage Bank was founded accessibility.

"That's been our rallying cry," he says."We want to hold ourselves accountable."

Wilmoth's office is just inside the door from the parking lot at the bank's flagship location at 1401 S.Virginia St.

If he sees a customer who appears to be angry as he leaves, Wilmoth often hops from his desk, chases the customer down in the parking lot and talks the problem through.

Those spur-of-the-moment meetings, like the president's home phone in advertisements, also deliver a message to the bank's 48 employees about its management's expectations, Wilmoth says.

But the bank's growth from $2.88 million in deposits when it opened in 1995 to a fourbranch operation with $215 million in deposits today also reflects a single-minded focus on its mission, says Rob Cashell, chairman of its board.

Its primary market is small to mid-sized businesses in northern Nevada, and Cashell says Heritage Bank's board carefully avoids temptation to stray elsewhere.

"We've strategically identified our marketplace, and we've identified who we're going to be as a bank," he says."You've got to focus on who you are.We know who we are, and we're good at it."

The bank's strategy wins raves from business customers.

"It has been a phenomenal experience.

They are the most hands-on bank bank I've ever worked with," says Debbie Sasz-Vonarz, the owner of Commercial Properties of Nevada and a customer of Heritage Bank for five years."They surround you with customer service, and they're flexible."

The focus business banking, high degrees of accessibility reflects the thinking of its founders almost from their first meeting, says Wilmoth.

Although the competitive landscape now includes a number of locally owned, businessoriented banks,Heritage was launched at a time that the Reno banking market was dominated exclusively by larger regional players.

About 300 investors some of them putting up only the minimum $1,000 provided the start-up capital for Heritage Bank of Nevada.

They've done well.

"We've been very profitable,"Wilmoth says."It's exciting to have a retired school teacher come and ask how things are going with her 100 shares of stock."

While Heritage Bank has been consistently profitable, its earnings growth accelerated in the past five years.

Cashell, a member of the bank's board since 2000, became chairman in 2003.

Wilmoth, a veteran banker in northern Nevada, became president and chief executive officer in 2001.

Together, they've spent the last few years fine-tuning the bank's strategic focus on business banking and building tighter ties with the region's business community.

"Our loan committee is made of smallbusiness people," says Wilmoth."It's people who understand northern Nevada business."

Even as employees and investors were celebrating Heritage Bank's first decade, its executives were making plans for expansion.

Next up: A branch in the Spanish Springs area, which will join branch locations at Carson City, Damonte Ranch, 7th and Keystone and the headquarters location.