Growing Heritage in Idaho and my family at home

As someone born and raised in Idaho, opening Heritage Bank’s first branch in the state is a banker’s dream come true.

I joined the bank on December 1, 2022, to launch the Idaho expansion and take on this amazing opportunity to build something from the ground floor. It’s rewarding to bring an institution here that has the values and size that I think reflect this market. Speaking as someone who’s worked in banking for about 20 years, I know you don’t get these opportunities very often in your career, so I feel very fortunate and excited to establish Heritage’s Idaho home.

When interviewing for the job, I was impressed with Heritage’s senior leadership and the values they bring to the bank, which is reflected in Heritage’s culture and my own values. The bank has also supported me in hiring a great team for the Boise office. When fully staffed, we should have about 12 to 14 people.

The bank’s making a huge commitment to this market, and we’re building a full team, so it’s exciting to have that support and faith of Heritage’s executive management.

From our temporary location, we’ve already been transacting with prospective clients and establishing deposit accounts for other companies, and we can’t wait to get into our permanent location.

Ironically, building the Boise bank family coincides with building my family at home, where my wife, Desiree, and I last fall adopted two boys—Noah, 7, and Sha’dale, 9—from foster care in Texas. They joined our biological daughter, Eisley, 9, and son, Jack, 12. We welcomed them to our home November 18, 2022, and they have been an amazing addition to our family.

The transition has been great. All the kids get along super well, and we love our newly expanded family.

Sha’dale is nonverbal autistic. Noah was previously diagnosed on the autism spectrum, but we believe he is still autistic.

It’s been an adjustment trying to figure out Sha’dale and how to respond to his needs appropriately, but his foster mom of two and half years has been a phenomenal resource, and my wife talks with her often to learn how best to engage him. He’s a funny, sweet kid with a great sense of humor in his own way. It’s fascinating to see the wheels turning in his head.

Noah’s developmental delays are said to be mild. He can speak but acclimating with him has been unique, too. He’s very engaging with the family, the dogs and loves everybody in the house. He’s got the best laugh, he’s so happy, and he bounces everywhere he walks.

Desiree and I were several months into the adoption process when Texas officials told us the conditions of Sha’dale and Noah and provided the option to back out. Up until then, we were told they were loving, sweet and caring; loved dogs and trampolines; and that they wanted siblings and a forever home. That sounded perfect.

Learning their condition didn’t change our minds.

We had already decided their qualities were a good fit in our home and we determined their challenges should not preclude them from a loving family. We saw no reason to give up on them because they would be more challenging to raise.

When you adopt from foster care, I don’t know that there is ever an easy or normal transition. I think it’s always challenging for a variety of reasons; these children have been through significant trauma in their life or they wouldn’t be in the situation they’re in.

So, I don’t think our situation’s unique, it’s just the specific factors that we’re dealing with make it our own unique situation. We knew we could provide Sha’dale and Noah a loving home and the resources and community they need to be the best versions of themselves. We figured we’d learn a lot, too, and have the opportunity to make everybody in our family better.

Desiree and I have always wanted a big family and long ago said we might adopt some day. While I only had one sibling, a brother who sadly died in 2021 at age 34 from a rare neurological condition, my dad had eight siblings, so I’ve always had a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins. Desiree is one of five kids. After my brother’s death and life’s uncertainties, we felt a calling not to delay adoption if we were ever going to do it.

Plus, we had a close call with Jack when he was young. He was diagnosed with leukemia at 18 months, an emotionally trying ordeal. A couple years after that diagnosis, we had Eisley. We wanted more kids and also knew a sibling would be the best bone marrow match for Jack if he ever needed that. Thankfully, Jack was cleared of cancer at 5 years old and has been healthy ever since.

With Jack and Eisley still young, we felt the time was right to adopt.

It’s very likely these two boys are never going to have a “normal” early adulthood and adulthood. Are we done having more children? I don’t know, but I think we’re definitely going to be a lot more pragmatic about it because Sha’dale and Noah are probably around for the long haul. They’ve changed our perspective on what our future and potential retirement look like as they get older— and that’s okay.

In addition to family, I enjoy home projects or working on our vehicles. It’s a product of growing up with a father who was a skilled do-it-yourselfer.

He worked as a golf course superintendent, which took us from Boise to Gooding then Meridian. We then moved to Mountain Home, where he ran a potato and sugar beet farm, where I learned farming and how to fix farm equipment. Later, my dad ran an auto body shop in Mountain Home. In March 2022, I helped him buy his own business in Mountain Home, where he sells and services motor homes, trailers and powersports equipment. It’s called Terry’s Truck & RV.

After graduating high school in Mountain Home, I teamed up with three friends to form a rock band, Outside In. We moved to Boise and eventually recorded an album. We spent about five years living together, playing music and doing shows around the greater northwest, including in Boise, Portland, Seattle, Yakima and Spokane. I played bass.

We learned a lot, had wonderful experiences, met some incredible people and other bands and got to play fun shows. We played anywhere that a venue would have us: bars, clubs, events. The biggest venue we played was at Washington State University for Coug Fest, a spring event that drew maybe 10,000 people and included several other bands. We also headlined several times at what today is known as the Knitting Factory in Boise and played for maybe 1,000 people each time.

Eventually, we all kind of grew up and realized we weren’t going to be the Rolling Stones. We went our separate ways, but it was great while it lasted.

Throughout my life, I’ve had the opportunity professionally and personally to build meaningful relationships throughout Idaho. Banking is a relationship business and building relationships is the best part of what we do every day.

I’m thrilled to do that for Heritage in Boise as we build its presence in this incredible state.

About Mike Trueba

Mike is an experienced banker that will lead Heritage’s team in the newly expanded Boise, Idaho, market. Over the last 20 years, he’s held several leadership positions within the financial services industry, including retail, mortgage and commercial lending. This knowledge helps him build long-term trusting relationships. He listens to his clients’ goals, provides consistently reliable advice and tailors financial solutions to meet their needs.