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.

The annual award was established to recognize an outstanding individual in the local community who best exhibits the spirit of “Service to Others,” which is the guiding principle of all Rotary Clubs.

Denise upholds this can-do attitude through her many volunteer efforts. She works with a number of local organizations including Boy Scout Troop 222, Mid-Carolina Middle School PTO, Newberry County Chamber of Commerce, the Prosperity Business Association and Epting United Methodist Church.

During her acceptance remarks, Denise said her parents taught her to “work hard for what you want and to treat others with respect and dignity.”

It’s easy to see why we are so proud to have Denise on the First Community Bank team. Congratulations, Denise!

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

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.

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.

Anderson’s is a special place, like all true community businesses are. And yet, there’s something a little extra special about Anderson’s. Shoes have changed significantly over the last 102 years, but Anderson’s commitment to quality footwear and unmatched customer service has never wavered. It’s why their customer loyalty stretches across decades, why customers who live far from Newberry save their shoe shopping for a trip to Anderson’s.

Ed Anderson, who represents the third generation of Andersons to own and operate the family shoe store, calls it a legacy. “We’re always focused on fit and customer service,” he explained. “In fact, we’re kind of a dinosaur these days because we still fit and we still measure.” If a lifetime commitment to quality and customers is their secret, well, it’s worked. Anderson’s Shoes is a beloved fixture in the Midlands, attracting shoppers from all over.

“We can tailor our brands to what we predict our customers will want,” Ed explained. “We’re not like a major department store, where purchasing decisions are made elsewhere.” Instead, Ed focuses on meeting the wants and needs of his customer base while keeping them on trend. In his purchasing decisions, Ed tries to stay just a little ahead of their customers, to expose them to the styles they might be seeing next year. He is constantly rearranging the merchandise mix, making sure Anderson’s stays stocked with fresh styles. “We may be old, but we’re always new!” he joked.

Ed’s career in the shoe industry started early. On an Easter Saturday— the busiest shopping day in the shoe and handbag business — Ed’s father turned in desperation to his nine-year-old son after two employees called in sick. Young Ed pocketed the afternoon’s earnings in his bicycle savings fund (a Schwinn Black Phantom, to be exact), and started working in the store from that day forward. Eventually after graduation, Ed left Newberry and went on to work for major shoe manufacturers and department stores, gaining extensive retail and purchasing experience.

At last, the desire for a small town way of life proved strong enough for Ed and his family to move back to Newberry, where Ed picked up the Anderson Shoe’s tradition. Since then, Ed and his wife, Mary, have watched the business continue to flourish, just as it always has over the years. “We’ve made a real niche for ourselves because we are one of the only stores in the Midlands to carry a diverse selection of women’s narrow width shoes,” Ed said. Part of their success stems from that ability to narrow in on specific customer needs, and in focusing, offer the customer more options in many cases than a major retailer could.

However, the biggest reason for Anderson’s hundred-year success has nothing to do with shoes or style — it’s service. “Customers like a personal, hands-on experience. They like to know we really care about them,” Ed said. And for that same reason, the Andersons decided to move their business banking to First Community Bank in 2007. “They are very good people to do business with,” Ed added. “And I mean good with a capital G.”

What advice does Ed have for other small businesses in the Midlands?

1. If you’re starting a new business, do your research. Make sure you have extensive knowledge of the industry and its requirements, and then have a plan to address them and be adequately capitalized.

1. Know your product. Get very familiar with product you’re selling, so you can become a resource for your customer.

1. Don’t forget the basics: Be polite. Be helpful. Be nice. It’s what keeps people coming back.

This year, the government rolled out several significant changes to Medicare, including a new time frame for the open enrollment period, starting earlier (October 15) and ending earlier (December 7). Because we know these changes impact your world, we’ve developed strategic counsel to help you navigate the best choices for your life.

At First Community Bank, our passion is helping you define your vision for the future and achieve it. Equipping you with the information you need to make smart decisions about your healthcare is just one way we help you get there.

If you are interested in learning more about how we can help, please call me at 803-240-3878 or email me at dpoole@firstcommunitysc.com.

As always, thank you for your continued support of First Community Bank.

The best part of Ted Nissen’s job is when he gets to leave his desk. “That sounds awful, doesn’t it?” Ted laughed. But he went on to explain, “It’s a lot of fun for me to get out there with my team.” Ted, who is the Director of Commercial & Retail Banking, enjoys nothing more than going out in the “field” with the commercial bankers to drop by local businesses and see how the bank’s long time customers are doing.

Ted Nissen

Ted loves to see small businesses thrive, and that passion for their success has been key to First Community’s leadership team since 1995, when he first joined the bank. As the director of commercial banking, Ted has an ear to the ground, so to speak.

“We work to be really great listeners,” Ted said. Because he and his team interact with real business owners in the Midlands every day, they can quickly detect changes in the local business landscape. It’s this careful attention to detail that makes First Community Bank such a strong business partner for small business owners.

The objective for every commercial lender at First Community is not simply to meet their customers’ needs, Ted explained, but rather to truly understand their customers’ individual businesses in order to help them find solutions to problems and achieve long-term goals.

Ted’s position has given him a firsthand glimpse into how local businesses owners have fought to come through the Recession. Although the worst of the Recession is behind us, Ted can still see the effects all across balance sheets. Deposits are up, and businesses are focused on reducing their debt.

“It’s just like household economics. When times are tight, you’re more likely to save money and put off big purchases until things feel a little better,” he said. With this in mind, Ted offers this advice for local business owners:

Right now, just weather the storm. Keep a careful eye on your balance sheet and cut costs where possible. Try to build liquidity and equity in your business. In the meantime, focus on strengthening relationships with your most profitable customers.

When he’s not in the office, Ted is making the most of his last year with his high school senior son, before he and his wife enter the brand new world of empty-nesters.

Joe Sawyer has a slight twinkle in his eyes. And if that seems like an unusual way to describe a bank’s Chief Financial Officer, well, it is. But then First Community Bank is not your usual bank.

Formed in 1995 to serve local businesses, The First Community team is comprised of leaders who are not only passionate about community banking, they’re passionate about their role in it. Joe Sawyer is a perfect example. He loves his job, and you can see the smile in his eyes when he talks about what his days look like as CFO. It’s a natural fit for him, he explained, because financial puzzles have always captured his interest.

Joe Sawyer

Like everyone on the executive management team, Joe Sawyer has been with First Community Bank since the bank was formed in 1995. Unlike everyone else, he hadn’t worked with his fellow executives prior to joining them. He was the new guy in a team that had already been working together for several years. But for Joe, working in such a close-knit group – particularly this close-knit group of people — has been one of the great joys of his career.

“The people at this bank are really special,” he said. “And I have loved getting to really know them over the years.”

Although he is a Spartanburg native, Joe has lived in Columbia for 32 years and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. He’s spent 16 of those years at First Community Bank, where he helps the organization navigate today’s dynamic and volatile regulatory environment. He is responsible for ensuring that the bank does all that’s necessary to meet regulatory financial requirements while still working hard to provide local customers with the service they want.

“The challenge of my job,” he said, “is finding that balance.”

Many of the bank’s local customers are small business owners. “With a strong service industry (doctors, lawyers) as well as a range of businesses that support the Capitol, the Midlands has been an excellent place for First Community Bank to thrive,” he said.

When asked for his best advice for local business owners, he paused to consider his answer—like any good CFO—before replying with this tidbit:

Focus on your strengths to develop a sound plan. Once you’ve created a plan, stick to that plan. If it’s a good plan, it will be successful over time. Don’t be moved by short-term swings.

When he’s not at the office, Joe is a husband, father, and, as of this year, a world traveler. He joined his daughter (who is studying to be a nurse practitioner) on a ten-day medical mission trip to Uganda this past August.  They served with a team of doctors working in multiple clinics across Uganda to provide free medical care to as many people as possible in the ten-day trip.

“It was a great opportunity to spend some time with my daughter,” he said. “ We also got to make a difference.”

Mr. Donaldson has twenty- five years of experience with local banking institutions and is a graduate of the South Carolina Banker’s School.  He is active in the local community as a past President and current board member of the Lexington Rotary Club and through past service to the Boy Scouts, the United Way, and the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce where he has served as a board member.

Mr. Donaldson is a graduate of Leadership Lexington County and earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgia Southern University.  A native of Metter, Georgia, he and his wife Sally reside in Lexington.

Mr. Donaldson is a great addition to our commercial banking team, and we are excited to watch our First Community Bank family continue to grow.