“Being leaders in our community is a core tenet of this bank.”—Troy Sanderson, president and CEO
Exchange Bank was founded in 1890 by father-son team Manville and Frank P. Doyle. Frank valued supporting and investing in the community, believing it was the key to a successful financial institution. He was committed to keeping Exchange Bank locally-owned and operated, as evidenced by his last will and testament. Rather than giving stock to his heirs, Doyle put his controlling interest (50.44% of common stock) into a perpetual trust—the Frank P. Doyle and Polly O’Meara Doyle Scholarship Fund. This fund is dedicated to assisting “worthy young men and women students attending Santa Rosa Junior College.” Since 1948, the Doyle Scholarship fund has provided $93.6 million to 139,000 students.
For 131 years, Exchange Bank has continued to manage the bank with the same local focus as its founder. “We make our business decisions based on honoring and enhancing the legacy of Frank Doyle,” says Troy Sanderson, president and CEO. Exchange Bank’s community-oriented culture is exemplified in its dedication to the communities it serves in Sonoma and Placer counties. It differs from national and regional banks in that 100% of its charitable giving is invested back into the local community. Exchange Bank is committed to more than 300 local nonprofits and charitable organizations, which it supports with hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual giving.
“Being leaders in our community is a core tenet of this bank,” says Sanderson. For the past 25 years, the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County has named Exchange Bank the corporate fundraising champion for the Human Race. Exchange Bank also offers its employees paid time off to participate in a long list of community and nonprofit events. Each year, employees collectively volunteer thousands of hours of their time and personally raise more than $100,000 through fundraising activities. Employees are also encouraged to serve on boards of local nonprofits and share their leadership experience with the community.
As chairman of the board Bill Schrader often says, “We dedicate our time, talent, and treasure to this community.” These three virtues were tested over the last year. In the face of challenges brought on by the pandemic, Exchange Bank continued to maintain its exceptional level of customer service. Sanderson agrees, adding, “I have never seen a group of people just roll up their sleeves and say, ‘What do we need to do?’”
Over just one weekend, Echange Bank employees built an online origination portal that allowed customers to apply for SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for fast financial relief. The company also delegated a significant number of employees to work solely on PPP loan processing. These were talented non-lenders who dediated themselves to the task of quickly processing and funding loan requests. Employees clocked in the hours from their kitchen tables for months during the shutdowns and were able to deliver 1,783 PPP loans to local businesses to support clients and their employees during a financially-stressful time.
It is this feeling of responsibility among staff and their commitment to giving back to the community that motivates their work. Exchange Bank has been voted Best Business Bank and Best Consumer Bank many times in its history. However, this year feels more rewarding, given the unprecedented challenges the company faced. Sanderson says, “[It] feels like a great validation of some tremendous hard work from our 400 employees.”
Photos courtesy of Exchange Bank
