Recently, the five members of First Community Bank’s executive management team sat down to chat about their perspective on the values that shape First Community Bank. For the next few weeks, we’d like to help you get to know the people who guide the bank’s future and lead the decisions. Join us for conversations with the leadership team.

Joe Sawyer, CFO

Why do community banks matter?

Small businesses need community banks. And communities need small businesses. The owners of those local businesses tend to prefer to work with a smaller bank that can provide personalized services without requiring them to deal with several layers of management.

What makes First Community Bank different?

We know where we’re going. We’ve had our executive management team together since the day we opened. As a result, we are a close-knit group that’s dedicated to ensuring First Community’s success. We’ve also worked hard to develop very strong employee relationships. Our employees are happy to be working here, and that shows up in the level of personalized, friendly service we get to provide every day.

How do you see the bank’s core values carried out every day?

Since the day we opened the bank’s doors, we have been committed to integrity. That foundation has proved to be a solid one. Obviously, the last few years have been very tough for banks, but because we have a strong history of doing the right thing, I think we were able to work through the challenges of the Recession and come out with our head up.

To every business, family and individual we are privileged to serve, we thank you not only for being our customer, but for your friendship, as well.

We wish you a holiday filled with laughter and great joy!

Recently, the five members of First Community Bank’s executive management team sat down to chat about their perspective on the values that shape First Community Bank. For the next few weeks, we’d like to help you get to know the people who guide the bank’s future and lead the decisions. Join us for conversations with the leadership team.

Ted Nissen, Director Commercial & Retail Banking

A local bank should be local. The local bank should be focused on serving the community and serving others.

Why do community banks matter?

Community banks have the unique ability to really relate to small businesses and help those businesses where a larger bank would be a little more out of touch. A locally-owned bank understands the market and the challenges, and is therefore better positioned to work with other local business owners.

What makes First Community bank different?

In our market, we’re really the only local bank. We have lots of competitors, and even competitors who say they’re local — but really, they’re headquartered somewhere else. We are a Midlands bank. All of our decisions are made here, and we are free to be more responsive to our customers. We are personally invested in the success of our customers. After all, we live here too.

How do you see the bank’s core values being carried out everyday?

Passion for service, quality and integrity in all that we do, and respect for every employee — those are our core values. I see them play out in our interactions in the lobbies, in the personal attention we give customers. Our team — our lenders, our customer service representatives, our tellers, our bankers—all have a passion for delivering service, and it shows in the quality of the relationships we’ve built over the years. The secret to our excellent service is our employee culture. Our employees are happy here — and that lends itself to better service.

Recently, the five members of First Community Bank’s executive management team sat down to chat about their perspective on the values that shape First Community Bank. For the next few weeks, we’d like to help you get to know the people who guide the bank’s future and lead the decisions. Join us for conversations with the leadership team.

Mike Crapps, President and CEO

A local bank should be completely and totally focused on relationships, both internal and external.

Why do community banks matter?

If you go back in history, community banks have always played a significant role in financing local businesses and helping those businesses grow — and that contributes to community growth. So the prosperity of a community is very tightly tied to the success of a community bank, and consequently, the success of a community bank is tied to the success of the community’s business. As a community bank, we will reflect both the struggles and the successes of our customers and our communities. We are all dependent on each other — we always have been, and in this changing world, we’re probably even more so.

What makes First Community Bank different?

Our core values, which shaped the bank from day one and will always guide us. First and foremost, everything we do must be done with quality and integrity. If we can’t promise integrity or do something with quality, we just choose not to participate. That plays out in all of our actions. If we say we’re going to have a loan commitment to a customer by a certain time, well that’s a promise we’ve made and a promise to be honored. If we say we’re going to return a phone call by lunch, that’s a promise to be kept with integrity.

Next, we believe in passionate customer experiences. Every interaction we have with a customer — on the phone, in the lobby, at the grocery store, on the ball field with our children — matters. That’s why we hire people who truly enjoy people. We hire people whose mamas taught them to be nice. We look for smiles.

And last, we value and respect our employees. This value is why we might look different internally from other organizations. There are no bright lines here. We’re all a team; we all value each other’s roles. My position might be different from someone in customer support, but we believe that every role is equally important to the success of the bank.