SANTA ROSA -- If you like your banking with pizza and jeans, First Community Bank might be for you.
Debbie Meekins, president and CEO, joined First Community Bank just over two years ago after more than two decades as CEO of Sonoma National Bank, which was sold to Sterling Financial, then Umpqua Holdings. An informal, spirited leader with strong community ties, Ms. Meekins puts it this way:
“If we have happy employees, we have happy customers,” she said. There, in nine words, is a kernel of brilliant management philosophy. “That’s the key to success,” she said. “It’s all about people.”
With bank customers managing their money more through smartphones, “you have to make the experience good when a customer comes into the bank,” Ms. Meekins said. “You have to take care of them if they have issues, typically over the phone. It’s a warm, inviting environment here. It keeps people wanting to come to work every day.”
First Community Bank has assets of about $800 million, with seven branches, including Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Corte Madera, Walnut Creek and Alameda. The Alameda branch is inside the Nob Hill Foods store, an excellent retail location for consumer banking. “It has done very well for us,” Ms. Meekins said.
Though the bank is tiny by comparison to banking goliaths, being acquired “is not a goal,” Ms. Meekins said. “This is the directors’ legacy.” One of the directors is Doug Bosco, former U.S. Representative and one of the owners of The Press Democrat and North Bay Business Journal. “We are a community bank. That’s our main focus,” she said.
The chairman is William Gallaher, a principal in Oakmont Senior Living LLC.
First Community is the primary funder for Sonoma Clean Power, a new local provider of electricity that is drawn from renewable sources. “I think it’s going to be a really big story,” she said. “It’s just up and going as of May.” The company is run by Geof Syphers.
The bank has about 100 employees, including 80 in Sonoma and Marin counties. The business serves both commercial and consumer customers. The Santa Rosa and Petaluma branches are directed more toward commercial customers.
“It’s nice to be working from home,” Ms. Meekins said. She ran retail and production operations from Sterling’s headquarters in Spokane, Wash., a hefty commute. “I had to travel every week. It was a very exciting job.”
When employees reach their fifth anniversary, she takes them on a special day outside the bank. Last year it was a Giants game. “We do things to recognize” employees’ accomplishments, she said, and to “thank them for the work they do each day.”
Every Friday is jeans day at the bank. “People love that,” Ms. Meekins said. “That’s a big, big deal.”
