Independent Banker - May 2017 - 49

grown, too. " Summit stepped up
when regional banks had committees
and hierarchies to go through, "
he says. " One bank declined the loan
at the last step in the review process,
weeks into the application. Another
bank never made it to the point of
completing the loan process to even
make a loan decision. "
He also explains that he and Mary
Ann have benefited from Summit's
business acumen. Often, Summit
leadership will propose creative
financing solutions or even suggest
new strategies. " With larger banks, "
he says, " we maybe meet once a year.
With Summit, we bounce ideas off
each other all the time. "
Shiv Krishnan, president of
INDUS Corp., a Tetra Tech company,
wanted to work with a community
bank that possessed specialized
knowledge about federal government
contracting, as well as a great
management team (see sidebar, page
46). " What you don't want, " he says,
" is a community bank that's small
and not well managed. If you depend
on them for your financial support,
and if the bank is not well managed,
that can hurt your business, too. "
Shiv Krishnan's wife, Meena, who
is president and CEO of Inoventures,
LLC, based in McLean, Va., offers a
similar take. " I chose John Marshall
because of the excellent service it
provides. The people I work with are
great professionals. " She praises the
bank's culture, in which access to
decision makers is the norm.
" If I have anything I need to
discuss, " she says, " I can talk to vice
president Dan Hampton, senior VP
Bruce Gammill or [president] Bill
Ridenour. They're excited about
our business model, and they have
always been our cheerleaders. That
doesn't happen all the time. "
A community bank wish list
Segal acknowledges that there are
some trade-offs to working with
community banks. He notes, for
instance, that community banks
tend to shy away from long-term,
permanent, nonrecourse financing
because they have different risk profiles
than larger institutions.
Another way in which community
banks lag behind national or regional
competitors, Segal says, is in their
online capabilities.
" For community banks, the population
is centered around where the
community is, so it's not necessary
to dedicate as many resources to the
online world, " he says.
Mark Beauchamp says that while
bigger banks tend to have superior
online banking offerings, he's pleased
that " Summit has implemented those
technologies as [and when] they can. "
So, while shortcomings within the
community banking world do exist,
the small businesses we spoke to, at
least, see the pluses as far outweighing
the negatives.
In the end, what draws Goldberg
to community bankers is the personal
care he receives. " In the end, " he says,
" all business really is personal. And
when it becomes not personal, it just
doesn't work as well. "
Elizabeth Judd is a writer in Maryland.
Mutual trust
The story of Gallic & Johnson Financial and Summit Bank.
On Christmas Eve a few years ago, Kerrie Johnson, owner and loan originator
at Gallic & Johnson Financial in Eugene, Ore., was home when she
got a call on her cellphone from Summit Bank about a suspicious ACH
transaction.
" Before this woman went home for the holiday, she wanted to make
sure there wasn't an issue, " recalls Johnson.
Johnson, who regularly processes monthly mortgage payments
through ACH as part of her private lending business, appreciated the
level of concern.
" I feel pretty confident that Summit is closely monitoring ACH and
other types of things, " she says. " With a big
bank, who knows? "
She continues: " I feel that Summit takes
me on as a personal responsibility. If my ACH
account gets hacked, it hurts them as well. I
feel safer with a community bank. "
Beyond the attention to detail, Johnson
appreciates Summit's willingness to understand
her " unusual type of business. " As
a private-money lender, also known as a
" hard-money lender, " Johnson has found
that national and regional banks are often
skeptical of a business that's sometimes
gotten a bad rap even though risk levels are
not unduly high.
Too often, she says larger banks are hamstrung and will only extend
lines of credit if she keeps " ridiculously large sums of money on deposit,
which defeats the whole purpose of having a line in the first place. "
Johnson continues: " Our community bank didn't just hear 'hard
Kerrie Johnson
money' and think, 'Oh, that's scary.' Summit took the time to say: 'I understand
you're different and this is what you do, and this is why it makes
sense for us to give you this unsecured line of credit.' "
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