Bellevue Bankers: Making beneficial connections for customers and community

Article by John Stearns

Heritage Bank’s Bellevue, Washington, commercial banking office is all about making connections, whether linking customers to lending, or community members and organizations to one another.

It’s no wonder that Mike Arellano, senior vice president, commercial banking team leader in the Bellevue office, sits on the board of Friends of the Grand Connection. That’s a group helping organize support for the city’s vision to build a 2,000-foot-long pedestrian and bike bridge over Interstate 405 to provide a safe, uninterrupted link between downtown Bellevue and the Wilburton neighborhood east of I-405. The bridge is on the eastern end of what the city calls the Grand Connection.

The 1½-mile Grand Connection is designed to enhance street-level activity for shops, restaurants, plazas, parks, entertainment venues, offices and more from Meydenbauer Bay Park to Eastrail. The latter is a 42-mile bike and pedestrian trail from Renton to Snohomish County that’s about halfway completed and passes through Bellevue’s Wilburton neighborhood abutting the east side of I-405. Eventually, Bellevue would like to build a park lid over a section of I-405 next to and immediately south of the bridge.

Additionally, Heritage’s Amy Curran, the bank’s executive vice president, director of commercial lending, sits on the board of the Bellevue Downtown Association, a Grand Connection supporter whose CEO, along with an Amazon executive, cochairs the Friends of the Grand Connection.

One could say the Grand Connection is a metaphor for Heritage’s work in Bellevue and beyond.

“Part of our job—and when we’re out in the community—is to try to be a source of value, meaning we get to be the connectors; we’re the conduit between people,” Arellano said. “And as long as we continue to be the conduit, people are always going to come to us because they trust us and know we can connect them with the right people or organizations who can help move their business forward. Whether it’s accessing capital, support for expansion or connections to professional services such as accountants or attorneys, our job is to really be a one stop shop for our customers and a trusted resource for them.”

It’s not just about doing loans, he said.

“We’re in the community, we’re on the boards, and we’re helping raise awareness for the philanthropic efforts our clients and partners are making,” Arellano said, adding the bank doesn’t do it for attention. “We just want to be able to help where we can.”

Case in point: Jason Hollaway, senior vice president, commercial banking officer, who sits on the EvergreenHealth Foundation board as treasurer and finance chair, used his connections through Heritage to help the foundation’s efforts to raise enough money for a new TrueBeam linear accelerator for advanced and precise cancer treatments at EvergreenHealth’s Kirkland hospital. Heritage was an underwriting sponsor for Evergreen’s 2022 Gala that raised $1.3 million toward the machine.

Hollaway also sits on the board of the Shoreline-based Firland Foundation & Workshop, which provides employment for people with disabilities and uses workshop income to support research and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) and other respiratory diseases. Firland occupies the grounds of a former TB hospital.

Hollaway also volunteers with the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) which is based in Lynnwood with a satellite location in Seattle. Heritage Bank helped finance construction of PAWS’ outdoor recovery habitats at its Snohomish Wildlife Center, where a project to expand PAWS’ capacity for rehabilitating wildlife is expected to be completed this year.

Community service courses through the Bellevue office’s veins as it does throughout all Heritage offices in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Other Bellevue bankers volunteering locally include Sandra Ramsey, senior vice president, commercial banking officer, who is on the board for Encompass, which offers early learning, pediatric therapy and family enrichment programs for children and their families. Ramsey’s also a member of the Rotary Club of Snoqualmie Valley.

Riq Molina, senior vice president, commercial banking officer, is a corporate work study board member for Cristo Rey Jesuit Seattle High School. He connects decision makers in the business community to the school’s innovative Corporate Work Study program. Student associates work one day per week for all four years of high school in a professional setting, earning the majority of their education and gaining invaluable experience from intentional mentorship in the workplace. Molina, Hollaway, and Ramsey are also heavily involved in helping nonprofit sector clients with their banking needs.

Other Bellevue bankers are Michael Tibbits, senior vice president, commercial banking team leader along with Arellano; Aaron Moraca-Savva, vice president, commercial banking officer; Curtis Drury, senior vice president, commercial banking officer; David Stegmeier, senior vice president, commercial banking officer; Dean Peterson, senior vice president, commercial banking officer; and Rob Raile, senior vice president, commercial banking officer.

Others in the office, located on the 15th floor of Bellevue Place, across from Bellevue Square, include Melissa Vaughn, branch manager; Dolores Bedner, team leader for loan production assistants; and Matthew Small and Robin Porter, senior analysts.

Many of the staff have been in the Bellevue market for years, beginning with Bellevue-based Puget Sound Bank, which Heritage acquired in 2018.

Whether working with new or existing customers, they’re all part of a team that creates a welcoming and efficient environment to handle documentation, analysis, credit risk, underwriting, covenants and more, Arellano said.

“The speed in which we get to ‘yes’ with the client really helps us to differentiate ourselves in the market,” he said, praising the team’s work.

The Bellevue office focuses heavily on professional services, from lawyers and CPAs to construction groups and contractors.

It also works with more mature technology companies, not the household names, but smaller companies, many of which provide ancillary services to the large companies or are vendors to them, Arellano said. It also works with nonprofits and does significant work with homeowners’ associations (HOAs) for building upgrades.

One of the tech companies Heritage’s Bellevue team works with is Blink UX, a design consulting firm with more than 20 years in user experience research, strategy and design, partnering with innovative industry leaders. The company does a lot to optimize companies’ online platform engagement with customers, Arellano said, noting the bank offers lines of credit for things like customer and employee acquisition costs, plus standard treasury management services for Blink’s business banking needs.

The Bellevue office also does numerous loans for HOAs needing work done for large maintenance projects that include new roofs, siding, paint and more.

“We do a lot of HOA real estate construction and land development (RECLAD) loans, not specifically in Bellevue because the buildings are newer, but in Capitol Hill to along the water in Kirkland and down south in Gig Harbor and Tacoma. We do a lot of HOA update types of loans that’ll allow us to help the community and help those homeowners retain their property values,” Arellano said.

The office also works with Seattle-based Pagliacci Pizza, which opened its 26th location in the Greater Seattle area on December 29th in Bellevue’s Eastgate area. Heritage helps with the company’s numerous tenant improvement loans, including the Eastgate site, which is a converted Pizza Hut location.

“We continue to support their growth as they continue to pick up various retail spots,” Arellano said.

Heritage’s Bellevue team also supports some single-family and multifamily builders for projects, and for multifamily refinancing and purchases on King County’s Eastside, plus in Seattle’s Green Lake, Fremont, Ballard and Capitol Hill areas. The bank will follow clients to where they have projects, including one who is purchasing investment property in Montana.

It all comes back to connections, helping link clients to capital or other resources and helping communities achieve their goals, Arellano said.

“That’s the fun part; doing lending’s just our job,” he said. “When you get to have an impact on the community and help it have its voice and also be the voice for those who may not feel as influential or feel like their voice is being heard, it’s important to have a part in the way we want our city to continue to grow and make sure that we’re the right stewards of it.”

BUSINESS IN BELLEVUE BY THE NUMBERS

Major industries: Information Technology, Business Services, Retail and Healthcare

Major employers: Puget Sound Energy, Symetra Financial, Microsoft, The Pokémon Company International, Boeing, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, Nordstrom, Overlake Hospital and Group Health Medical Center

According to the 2020 City of Bellevue Economic Development Plan, nearly 90% of workers employed in Bellevue live outside the city, making it an employment destination.

Sources: visitbellevuewa.com and bellevuewa.gov

ABOUT OUR BELLEVUE COMMERCIAL TEAM

Combined banker experience: More than 250 years

Volunteer hours served in 2023: 287

Charitable giving in 2023: $56,000

Top nonprofits: Encompass, Bellevue Downtown Association, EvergreenHealth Foundation, Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue, Stronger Families

CONTACT OR VISIT

10500 N.E. 8th Street, Suite 1500 Bellevue, WA 98004 425.455.2400

Melissa Vaughn, Branch Manager

Melissa has nearly 20 years of banking experience, with nearly 15 years at Heritage Bank. She’s worked in a number of positions before becoming the branch manager. Her primary focus is on building new and current relationships and understanding that personal/business needs and situations vary. She embraces and familiarizes herself with ongoing change so she can support her customers with new and current products and services that may suit their needs. She currently volunteers at Volunteers of America, Goodwill, Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, Housing Hope and the Boys and Girls Club of Snohomish County. Outside of work, Melissa likes to be outdoors camping, boating, snowmobiling and playing tennis.