Vectra Bank’s Wheat Ridge branch joined the city’s revitalized 38th business corridor in 2018.
Before the move, the Bank maintained its status as a community-based bank—and one of the few banks to dispense $10 bills at ATMs—when it first opened in Wheat Ridge in 1985.
Vectra’s Retail Regional Manager Mark Hall lived in Wheat Ridge in the ‘90s and remembers the Bank’s support in building the new Wheat Ridge Rec Center. He attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“Vectra Bank has always been ingrained in the community and serving its citizens just as a local community bank,” Hall said.
Vectra Banks first grew from strategic acquisitions of smaller community banks across Colorado and New Mexico.
“We positioned ourselves to be a relationship-focused bank, emphasizing on local decision making and community involvement,” said Vectra Bank’s Retail Market Sales Manager, Elizabeth Kretz.
Jobs roles at the Bank are easily filled and held for long stretches, some have even worked there for over 40 years. Named the best place to work for five years running by the Denver Post, Vectra employees claim that it is not uncommon to be on a first name basis with bank customers. Employees at the Wheat Ridge location are also ready to call customers a ride home, when needed.
Wheat Ridge’s Bank manager, Rachael Letterly, even stepped in as a grant judge for Wheat Ridge High School when a judge dropped out. Letterly read and rated resumes and student essays and helped split up the prize money. Letterly is also a board member of the Wheat Ridge Chamber of Commerce. Her Branch participates in events like the Carnation Festival, the Chamber’s annual wine walk.
“Honestly, I haven’t seen other banks involved in the Wheat Ridge Chamber like we are, and how Rachel is,” Kretz said. “It’s been a huge part of their success because they have gotten quite a few clients from it.”
The Branch opens their doors to local business and even takes to the streets to ask how the bank can help surrounding businesses.
Vectra Bank is backed by a larger organization, Zions Bank Corp, which is about $90 billion in size.
“We’re big enough to count, small enough to care,” Hall said. “We’re small enough because we are in the local communities and support what’s going on locally, but we have the back end of a larger organization. We’re in a unique spot to deliver awesome products and services to our clients, but we keep it super hyper-localized with branch managers like Rachel in the market.”
Although the Bank is backed by a larger corporation it values staying local and gives customers the smaller bank feel.
“I think one of the best things about us is that we are local,” Katie Obarski, said marketing manager at Vectra Bank Colorado. “We are a Colorado bank. It’s a major strength of ours that our bankers are local and our decision-making is also local.”
Representatives from the Wheat Ridge branch attend business ribbon cuttings regularly. They especially enjoy financing local startups that provide charitable services.
Brett Moore, the assistant manager at the Wheat Ridge branch, is involved in the Bankwork$ program through Goodwill of Colorado. Moore moved through the structured training program to interview at the bank and continues to be an advocate for the program.
In alignment with the Community Reinvestment Act, which prevents banks from redlining, Vectra Banks ensure branches invest in the entirety of their communities.
“We’re very interested in our CRA activities and making sure that we’re serving not only densely populated areas, but more rural communities,” Obarski said. “We are very much committed to giving back. It’s one of the pillars of our brand.”
Looking forward, the Branch hopes to partner with the Economic Development Council and organizations like the Elks Club and Kiwanis, and to continue working with the Chamber and the City.
“We’ll just continue to try to be the face and walk side by side with the leaders in the City,” Hall said. “We’re making sure they know that they can count on us as a partner.”
