You’ve talked about making decisions for the long term — for 20 years from now — as opposed to managing quarter to quarter. What does that look like in practice? Our culture here is better than I’ve ever seen anywhere. The bank really approaches it from the standpoint that if you take care of your clients, you take care of your employees, and you give back to your communities. Everything else just takes care of itself. That’s how they operate. It’s deeply rooted from the top down. When I hire people, I want them to want to be here as badly as I want to have them. As a result, we have very little turnover, and that’s true with clients and staff. We have employees here every year who are 40 years with the company and retiring, or have been with the company 30 or 35 years. That’s very common here, which is not so much in banking. ⁄Tactics⁄ Mike Williams Commits to Community Banking The president of Washington Trust’s Oregon region talks about why the 122-year-old community bank is planting a branch in Vancouver. INTERVIEW BY CHRISTEN McCURDY MIKE WILLIAMS IS RELATIVELY NEW to Washington Trust Bank, but he’s worked in banking for 30 years, and Washington Trust has been in the game for over a century. Williams joined Washington Trust after a 30-year career in banking that includes leadership roles at Columbia Bank, HomeStreet Bank and Northwest Bank. Originally from Montana, Williams started his career in banking after graduating from the University of Montana, then moved to Boise and Seattle before being transferred to Portland in 1996. Based in Spokane and founded in 1902, Washington Trust operated primarily in Washington and Idaho until 15 years ago. Washington Trust has a smaller market share than most banks operating in Oregon (see our Banks Powerlist, p. 47, for a detailed rundown) but is, according to Williams, the second- largest family-owned bank in the country. It’s a full-service bank with retail, commercial and private banking services, as well as mortgage lending and investment services. “It’s really unique, the way we operate the company. It’s for the long term,” Williams says. When he spoke with Oregon Business in October, Washington Trust was preparing to open a branch in Vancouver, Wash., adding to a portfolio of more than 40 other branches throughout the three states in which it operates. That branch opened Nov. 12 in downtown Vancouver. Williams also spoke to OB about what makes Washington Trust different from other banks — even other community banks — and why employees tend to stay with the company for decades. This interview has been edited for space and clarity. 10
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