7 minute read
Heritage Bank's New Everett Office Unites Commercial and Retail Teams
ARTICLE BY JOHN STEARNS
Heritage Bank’s commercial and retail teams in Everett, Washington, were looking forward to uniting under one roof in mid-February, when a new downtown office was scheduled to open.
“This new location in downtown Everett brings us back into the center of Snohomish County, and it’s closer to many of our clients and prospective clients that we’re looking to develop relationships with,” Paul Dini, senior vice president-commercial banking regional manager, said. “Also, we get to partner and collaborate day to day with our retail partners to support our existing customers and our broader Everett community, so we’re really excited to be in this new location.”
The new office is centrally located downtown at 2831 Colby Ave., a mile west of where U.S. Highway 2 meets Interstate 5.
Since 2020, the commercial team had been located in Heritage’s northern operations center in Lynnwood, where it relocated after its lease at the Everett Mall Way location expired. Meanwhile, the retail branch had been operating out of a building on Evergreen Way, about two and a half miles south of the new location. The Evergreen Way location closed mid-February.
The new combined hub of commercial and retail banking is technically known as the Everett Commercial Banking Center, but it includes the Everett retail branch for customers to visit for deposits, personal loans and other business, in addition housing Dini’s team for any commercial banking needs.
Dini oversees six other commercial bankers in Everett. Including him, the team has about 165 years of combined banking experience.
The Everett commercial bankers and their areas of expertise and focus are: Neil Sudra, SVP-commercial team leader, commercial & industrial (C&I) lending in the aircraft, food and beverage distribution, life science, maritime, manufacturing, practice and professional services industries, owner occupied and non-owneroccupied real estate loans, construction real estate loans; Sally Johnson, SVP-commercial banking officer, working capital lines of credit, real estate lending, service businesses and manufacturing; Diana Ortega, SVP-commercial banking officer, dental practice acquisition/expansion and nonprofits; Kevin Codd, VP-commercial banking officer, owner-occupied real estate financing and governmentguaranteed loans; John Chambers, VP-commercial banking officer, owner-occupied real estate and working capital and equipment financing for manufacturing, distribution and service businesses; and Simona DeVries, SVP-commercial banking officer, investor real estate, owner-occupied real estate and working capital lines of credit for various industries, with an emphasis on manufacturing.
“I really like the mix of experience and market knowledge on this team,” said Dini, who’s been in commercial lending for 34 years, the last seven at Heritage.
“Collectively, our time in commercial lending, our community network and the industry expertise all make up the competitive advantage that we have. It’s why this group has been successful and will continue to be.”
Whilethe bankers lend across several industries, business sectors that are among their niches are aerospace and ancillary businesses related to it; health care, with a particular focus on dental practices such as dental acquisitions and practice expansions; and commercial real estate, including multifamily housing, mini storage and industrial real estate, he said.
The Everett team is actively developing relationships with potential new clients for Heritage across those industries and others.
Those include a business in the electrical contracting industry seeking a line of credit and financing its owneroccupied real estate, a company in the aviation industry seeking a line of credit and a nonprofit organization for which the bank hopes to bring over the organization’s full deposit relationship and line of credit, Dini said.
“The loans we do really reflect the community we serve in Snohomish County,” he said, including significant lending for owner-occupied real estate, leveraging the SBA 504 loan program and lines of credit and equipment loans.
Significant projects Heritage is involved within the county include construction financing for a new school in Lynnwood, financing purchase of an office building in Arlington and a client expanding their retail business through the acquisition of two new locations on the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County. In the broader region, the team is financing a dental practice acquisition in Federal Way as well as two multifamily projects—one a purchase and the other a refinance and renovation, both in Seattle.
Dini also oversees two other commercial banking teams in the northern Puget Sound region: one based in Burlington, which includes some bankers on Whidbey Island, and a team in Bellingham.
Much of the Everett team’s business is focused in Snohomish County but loans in other counties occur as its clients grow their business in surrounding markets, he said. In the new Everett office, having all the Heritage commercial and retail operations under one roof should benefit prospective and existing customers even more, he said. Think of it as a one-stop shop allowing customers to easily engage with commercial and retail bankers for their deposit, lending or other financial services needs. The office has about 18 total staff, including five members of Heritage’s SBA lending team.
Outside the office, the Everett team, like Heritage bankers everywhere, is heavily involved in the community.
“We definitely, as a team, have a strong and active connection with our community and that’s reflected in the variety of organizations we’re involved in,” Dini said.
Examples include team members on boards for the Imagine Children’s Museum and ChildStrive, said Dini, who serves on the board of trustees for Economic Alliance Snohomish County.
“There’s a bunch of other organizations that we support,” he said. “Some are clients, some are just places where our team members volunteer and are passionate about those organizations.”
Some of those include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, Work Opportunities, Housing Hope, the Everett Gospel Mission, Wonderland Child & Family Services and Center for Human Services.
Community involvement is central to Heritage’s culture as a bank, he said.
“It’s reflective of our values as an organization and our commitment to not only provide financial services to the individuals and businesses in our community but to really ensure that as an organization we are supporting the broader community through our participation in these nonprofits and other similar entities,” Dini said.
Snohomish County By The Numbers
Major industries: manufacturing, aerospace, government, educational and health services, retail trade, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, construction
Major employers: Boeing, Providence, The Everett Clinic, Naval Station Everett, The Tulalip Tribes, Washington State & Snohomish County governments, school districts
Notable company headquarters: Alaska Airlines, Amazon, Coinstar/Redbox, Costco, Expedia, Microsoft, Nintendo
#1 first in manufacturing jobs in Washington state
#1 highest concentration of aerospace jobs
#2 highest number of tech jobs
#4 best community college in Washington (Everett Community College)
60% of jobs associated with international commerce
www.economicalliancesc.org/workforce/major-employers/ esd.wa.gov/labormarketinfo/county-profiles/snohomish
About Our Commercial Team
Combined banker experience: 165 years
Areas of expertise: real estate lending, owner-occupied real estate, government-guaranteed loans, manufacturing, dental practice acquisition/expansion, nonprofits, equipment financing, capital lines of credit
Volunteer hours served in 2022: 209
Charitable giving in 2022: $91,400
Top nonprofits: The Salvation Army, Housing Hope, Center for Human Services, Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, Everett Gospel Mission, Rotary Club of Arlington, ChildStrive
Contact Or Visit
2831 Colby Avenue Everett, WA 98201 425.355.7375
Staci Lindstrand, VP, Branch Relationship Manager
Staci has been a community banker for over 20 years and has experience in both the branch and back office. Her years of experience help her find solutions for her customers’ needs now and in the future. She’s focused on building and maintaining long-term relationships with her customers and helping them reach their goals. Just as she cares about her customers, she also cares about her community. She serves on the board of several local nonprofits including Lake Stevens Education Foundation and Lake Stevens Chamber of Commerce and is a former coach for youth volleyball at the local boys and girls club.
