VIP: Jason Francis

  • By Kimberly Hilden SCBJ Assistant Editor
  • Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:51pm

Jason Francis remembers getting a panicked call from a customer during a winter storm. It was snowing and the customer couldn’t get to the bank to make a deposit for a car payment that was coming due. The customer lived in Arlington. Francis was general manager for Sterling Savings Bank’s Alderwood branch in Lynnwood.

But he had a four-by-four vehicle and a willingness to go the extra mile, or miles, as the case was that morning. So he picked up the check, made the deposit, and the car payment went off without a hitch.

“I don’t have the four-by-four anymore, but I’d still go out there if I had to,” said Francis, who recently was named Sterling Savings Bank’s Branch Manager of the Year for 2007, his second consecutive year to receive the honor.

“We treat everybody like a member of our family. I accept nothing less,” said Francis, who has managed Sterling’s Alderwood branch since it opened in 2005.

Before joining Sterling, Francis worked at what he calls “box banks” for 13-1/2 years. The appeal of working for a community bank and starting a branch was strong.

“I could build my own team from the start; build the branch from the beginning. I liked the challenge of that,” said Francis, who dreamed of working with money even as a kid.

“When I was in high school, I was like Alex Keaton (from “Family Ties”,” he said, smiling. “I had pictures of money on my wall.”

He worked in retail while attending California State University, Fullerton, but decided he should gain some experience in an industry that was more suited to his college major, finance with a concentration in securities and investments.

He was hired as a teller for Great Western Bank, and his banking career had begun.

“I had a grin from ear to ear on my face,” Francis recalled of his first day on the job, though there was initial disappointment when he realized the vault wasn’t actually filled to the brim with money as often is depicted in movies and on television.

His love of finance is matched by his desire to connect with his clients and the community — an opportunity afforded him by joining Spokane-based Sterling, Francis said.

“I was told in the beginning to get out there, get the Sterling name out there and build relationships. It’s been a very, very welcome change for me,” he said.

Francis, an Everett resident, began building relationships through the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce. It was a new experience for a man who previously spent all his work time at a desk.

“I had never done anything with the chamber before. I went to the first networking breakfast and six to eight months later I became an ambassador,” he said. Soon, he was on the executive team for customer relations with the ambassadors.

Last summer, he became a board member for the chamber, and this past fall, he became division chair of member resources for the board.

“Regardless of whether it’s another bank or another industry (I’m dealing with), it’s chamber related, and that’s only a good thing,” Francis said of the business group’s value.

Along with his chamber involvement, Francis is a member of the Washington Chapter of the Community Associations Institute, which is a resource for property management companies and homeowner associations.

“We specialize in associations at my branch,” Francis said, noting a growing deposit base from that market. “We do network with a lot of property management firms in the area, from Kirkland, Seattle and Bellevue to Lynnwood.”

Another cause close to his heart is Junior Achievement. In 2006, Francis became Sterling’s coordinator for its participation in J.A.’s annual fund-raising Bowl-A-Thon. He now heads up all Sterling’s J.A. efforts in the north Puget Sound region.

When Francis is not busy with his banking and community work, his time is filled with family, which includes wife Veronica and their 5-year-old twin boys, Reid and Tad.

“It’s fun,” he said. “They’re a bundle full of energy. They have so much personality. They’re so verbose.”

While Francis’ youth was filled with stunts of derring-do (he spent the better part of his elementary years in the nurse’s office due to injury, his high school years surfing and his early 20s mountain biking), he now finds thrills on the more sedate golf course.

“I love playing golf. I started playing it in summer ’06, took classes and the bug got me,” he said, noting that he averages a 95 and is working on getting his score below 90.

As for favorite courses, Francis said he is happy at any course and has tried out many.

“Anything that I can get to — Cedar Crest, in Everett at both Walter Hall and Legion, Lynnwood — wherever I can go to humiliate myself on the golf course,” he said.

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