The folks at Oak Bank are celebrating 25 years of doing things differently than the big banks and have achieved significant growth for both the bank and the Dane County businesses they serve as a result.
When most banks grow, what do they do? They literally and metaphorically “branch out” with more and more locations. Often, they merge with a larger bank and lose their independence and connection to the community they started in.
Oak Bank has chosen a different business model. Now a half-a-billion-dollar institution, it has prospered by staying rooted in its community with a single location, finding benefits in this novel approach.
“It’s really not about the number of branches,” says Oak Bank founder and chairman Bob Gorsuch. “It’s about the people who stick around, develop strong relationships and get involved in their communities.” Gorsuch continues, “Larger banks have decision-makers outside of the community. We make decisions locally, based on more than just numbers on paper. And we’re growing as fast as anybody else.”
Oak Bank client Tom Carroll, founder and CEO of Pro Metal Works, a sheet metal fabrication shop in DeForest, can attest to the importance of personal relationships in business banking.
“Pro Metal Works has lasted over 25 years, and it’s because of the great relationships, like the ones I’ve made with Oak Bank and my banker, Larry (Larry Van Epps, vice president, business banking, Oak Bank).” Carroll continues, “Larry takes care of me. I can call him up with a request and he gets it rolling and gets it taken care of.”
Oak Bank’s personal touch is never more evident than when you compare their one-on-one in-person approach to the experience you receive at a big bank. Everyone can relate to the endless phone menus, recorded responses and AI chatbots you encounter when dealing with large banks. Often, it’s impossible to reach a real person. Carroll is appreciative that isn’t the case at Oak Bank, “you talk to live people, which I love. And the greatest thing is when I call Stephanie (Stephanie East, assistant vice president, treasury management, Oak Bank), she picks up the phone. If she is busy, she gets back to me right away.”
“Our financial partnership has thrived for over 23 years,” says Scott Cramer, KL Engineering COO. “Since I’ve been at KL, Jim (Jim McNulty, senior vice president, business banking, Oak Bank) and the whole team have been extremely helpful in getting us connected with people and we’ve enjoyed the local flavor of Oak Bank’s business. I think we’re both similar in that it feels like a kind of family, very close-knit, with an emphasis on work-life balance. We identify with one another. It’s been a great relationship.”
As a vital player in KL Engineering’s success, McNulty helped spearhead the employee transfer of ownership process. He recalls being invited to the contract signing celebratory event with the new ownership group and their spouses and describes the heartfelt scene as his “feel-good story of the year.”
Gorsuch, a longtime Madison bank executive who recently celebrated his 60th year in banking, knows a thing or two about the differences between working with a giant national bank and one that is focused on one community, like Dane County. “I can drive into a small town, and I can tell how good the bank is,” says Gorsuch. “I think a strong, healthy community gets its roots from the local bank. If the bank ownership and employees are genuinely involved in the community and support things like libraries and parks, the community has the foundation for being vibrant and healthy.”
Twenty-five years later, Gorsuch can add Oak Bank to his list of success stories, as can the rest of the Oak Bank team, along with hundreds of Dane County clients whose businesses they’ve helped grow.
Oak Bank supports the growth of Dane County businesses, helps area residents achieve their homeownership dreams and has been instrumental in the development and prosperity of the City of Fitchburg and its surrounding communities for 25 years and counting.
