Founded 10 years ago by 60 investors, bank looks to continue growth
Published in the Dec. 21, 2016 – January 3, 2017 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek: Susan Black, president and CEO of Pinnacle Bank, in her Morgan Hill branch office. The bank now boasts $300 million in total assets.
For Pinnacle Bank, the words “reach higher” mean much more than a slogan. They’re a way of doing business with small- to medium-sized local entrepreneurs to help them achieve their dreams.
“We’re a commercial bank that primarily focuses on businesses. We understand small businesses because we are a small business,” said Pinnacle President and CEO Susan Black. “We sit down with our business owners, we listen to what their needs are, and we customize our business solutions to help them grow and help them achieve their needs.”
Pinnacle was established by 60 founding members who put in $20,000 in seed money 10 years ago. At that time, the banking landscape was changing as major corporate banks began swallowing up each other and growing into massive institutions. Two of Pinnacle Banks founders were certified public accountants. When their business customers kept telling them, “We really want a local bank to be the fiber of our community,” they took it took heart. The local and friendly approach to serving customers’ financial needs paid off. By 2008, Pinnacle hit $100 million in assets. By 2014, it reached $200 million. Pinnacle hit $300 million in total assets in November.
Pinnacle Bank’s headquarters is in Gilroy on the corner of Fourth Street and Monterey Road. Its first office to open was in Morgan Hill in a business condominium center along Butterfield Boulevard north of the downtown.
A Salinas branch became its third office. Online customers now reach from as far south as Soledad to as far north as Santa Rosa.
An important part of this growth is due to Pinnacle’s business philosophy, which is to be highly active in the local community, helping out nonprofit organizations as well as individuals and businesses that need financial help, Black said.
“All of our officers are involved with nonprofits and local organizations,” she said. “Many of them serve on boards and committees in the South Valley… Although it sounds like a cliche, doing good is good for business. We feel very strongly about that, and so we’re really committed to that idea.”
The bank also likes to partner with local nonprofits when it hosts an event. For example, when it hosts the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce business mixer every year, it brings in a nonprofit that can benefit from the exposure to various business people and other nonprofits. This year it was St. Joseph’s, which helps local families in need. In Morgan Hill, it worked with Community Solutions.
The bank has also been active in higher education endeavors, providing funds for philanthropic foundations at both Hartnell and Gavilan community colleges. Pinnacle is so prominent with its community activities that in 2014 it received the Spice of Life Large Company of the Year Award from the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce.
With the success of its first decade, Pinnacle Bank projects ongoing growth in the coming years, Black said.
“We’re looking at double digits organic growth in the next five years. We’re having an extraordinarily good year in 2016, our best year ever. And we just see that continuing,” she said. “We see that there’s always going to be opportunities for community banks like us, and increasingly as we see the big banks become more introspective and some of the issues that they continue to deal with, they’re less focused on clients, and so that provides a lot of opportunities for community banks.”
The community approach of dealing with the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses makes a big difference in the quality of customer service compared to other financial institutions, she said. It comes down to the level of commitment in Pinnacle’s staff which adds to the bank’s reputation.
“In a word, it’s the people. We hire very seasoned professional bankers who really care about their clients and care about their community,” she said. “We are quick and decisive about coming up with local solutions. I also would add that our commitment to community is really an opportunity differentiator. We don’t just talk about it but we actually do it because we want to be the bank of choice. Increasingly, you’re seeing that among our clients.”
Black’s own reputation as a banker was recognized earlier this year when she became a member of the Community Bankers Council for the American Bankers Association.
“There are 100 members of this council and it’s primarily CEOs throughout the country,” she said. “We are an advisor to the American Bankers Association, which is really our industry’s largest lobbying group. So we help formulate policy, we advocate on behalf of the community banks, and we meet twice a year to talk about what are the issues now and what’s really important.”
Pinnacle’s brand and public image is building in the South Valley region along with its assets.
“Our directors are as excited today as they were 10 years ago about what they are building. And the whole idea is to make this bank a really strong pillar of the community and then also have a good return for our share holders,” Black said. “So as a bank of choice, we think we’ve got a good foundation and will continue to build on that.”
