FirstBank Holding Co.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: FINCIAL SERVICES

FIRSTBANK PRESIDENT AND CEO JOHN IKEARD got his start, at the Colorado-based bank as a trainee 30 years ago. If that sounds surprising, it shouldn't that's how FirstBank operates.

Nearly all of the company's 2,000 employees and 300 officers started as trainees, says Ikard, who joined the bank as a teller after graduating from college.

"We were very much cross-trained in all different aspects of the bank," Ikard says during an interview at the bank's headquarters in Lakewoocl. "Pretty much our entire officer and stall* group has been here lor many years, all from internal promotion. So it creates a really unique culture."

FirstBank's do-it-vourself mantra extends to how the bank "rows its business. It's never relied on buying other banks to expand.

"In the last 25 years we've opened all of our own branches," Ikard says. "I like to say we grow our own deposits; we grow our own branches: we grow our own people. It's been very successful for us.'

FirstBank stayed on the sidelines during the subprime craze, thus it has thrived throughout the economic downturn. It has enjoyed its greatest financial success over the past three years since the employee-owned bank's founding 48 years ago. The bank has a modest presence in Arizona -- among the states hardest hit by the real estate meltdown but benefited from having most of its operations in Colorado.

It's a simple model, but really execution is the name of the game for us," Ikard says. "Basically; we're very conservative. We deal with great people, a great customer class. We have not gone off on tangents in terms of subprime lending or any type of exotic securities. We've stuck to what we do well."

Ikard is frank when talking about FirstBank's community connections and philanthropy As much as he's proud of his company's contributions, it's in the bank's best interest.

"We're only as strong as our communities. And 95 percent of our assets are in Colorado so the stronger Colorado is, the more...