Northrim: the little bank that could-and did: diversification results in wide array of financial services.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: FINANCIAL SERVICES

This year, Northrim Bank is celebrating one of the most significant milestones in its remarkable history: a twenty-five-year anniversary.

The community bank opened for business on December 4, 1990, in a small trailer off Anchorage's C Street with twenty-one employees and $13,225,000 in assets. Since those humble beginnings, Northrim has experienced a steady pattern of growth, evolving into an entity that provides a wide array of financial services. In addition to banking, it offers annuities, residential mortgage, employee health benefits, wealth management, and investment advisory services. Today, Northrim Bank has 294 employees, fourteen branches that serve 75 percent of Alaska's population, and an asset lending division in Washington state.

The bank's holding company, Northrim BanCorp, Inc., has five affiliate companies under its corporate umbrella: Residential Mortgage LLC, Elliot Cove Capital Management, Elliott Cove Insurance Agency LLC, Northrim Benefits Group, and Pacific Portfolio Consulting (held by Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC). As of December 31, 2014, Northrim BanCorp had assets of $1.45 billion, portfolio loans of $924.5 million, and deposits of $1.18 billion.

So to what does Northrim attribute its success? In large part, it's due to the bank's employees and customer relations. Or as Northrim BanCorp Chairman Marc Langland puts it: It's being able to address the market in a way that the market responds to your service, your products, and the way you handle yourself with customers. "If customers are comfortable with you, they'll bank with you," he says. "You have to be sure the market feels you care about their needs."

This concept is embodied in Northrim's "Customer First Service" philosophy, and it constantly drives the bank's successful approach to doing business.

Transition in Leadership

As another significant development for 2015, Northrim installed Joe Beedle as president and CEO of Northrim Bancorp on January 1. Beedle continues to serve in these positions with the bank, while Langland remains chairman of the board of directors for the holding company and bank.

Assuming the top leadership role at Northrim feels extraordinary, Beedle says. "It's darn special, especially if you consider Alaska only has three publically-traded companies that are headquartered in the state. It's that one in one hundred thousandth opportunity," he says.

The transition in leadership also feels comfortable and seamless, says Beedle, who has worked for Northrim for nine years and known Langland for more than forty years. Beedle started as a management trainee in 1974, hired by Langland right after he graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. From there, he continued to work with Langland in various capacities, culminating with his most recent promotion. "It certainly creates heightened focus for me," Beedle says. "This will be my last official kind of job before I retire. It's a fulfillment of a lifetime opportunity."

Regarding Northrim's...