For nearly a decade, Community National Bank had not grown its assets much above the $200 million level, even during one of the longest economic expansions.
"We were just too conservative," John Owen, the bank's chief executive officer, says of the bank's approach to lending and growth.
To propel the growth of the 56-year-old bank, Community National Bank leaders turned to Natalie Hunt, who had been with the bank since she started out as a teller at age 19 in 1999.
The 20-year veteran of Community National and one of its corporate predecessors, Rossville Bank, has quickly made her mark. Last year, the bank's net loans and leases grew nearly 25 percent from less than $139.1 million at the end of 2017 to nearly $175.8 million at the end of 2018, according to FDIC reports.
"We realized we had this real star in Natalie who had built a lot of contacts and support," Owen says. "We turned her loose and she and her staff have quickly helped us grow both our loans and deposits."
Rising through the ranks
Hunt, who grew up in Cocoa Beach, Florida, moved back to her native Northwest Georgia when she was 16 years old. She joined the then Rossville Bank three years later when she was going to Dalton State College and working at both the bank and a local diner, as well as selling jewelry on the side. She worked as a teller for seven years, in new accounts for five years and then transferred to Ringgold, Georgia, as a loan processor.
"I didn't know anything about that before I started, but I quickly realized I really like it and when my boss left I got chance to be a loan officer," Hunt recalls.
Her passion for hard work and success is seen in a typical workday, which often begins with phone calls around 6 a.m. on many mornings.
"It stops about 9:30 p.m.," she says of her work day which extends far beyond normal bank hours. "I spend a lot of time on the phone and I work a lot of hours."
In dealing with many builders and developers in the construction industry, Hunt said many of her clients start work early and want to get their bank questions and loan needs dealt with at the beginning of the day.
"They know they can call me anytime they need me. We try to do what we can to help our clients," Hunt says, recalling one instance where she drove to Atlanta to pick up a vehicle title to help a customer with a car loan.
Banking on relationships
To build up her contacts and loan volume, Hunt joined the Home Builders Association and different nonprofit groups, including an effort last Christmas to collect and distribute food bags to students on free- and reduced-priced lunch programs in Catoosa County,
"I didn't start out asking for a lot business, but I worked on building relationships," Hunt says. "I picked seven or eight key business people and I never let them forget who I was, and I worked from that sphere of influence to build our book of business."
Hunt said because her business is built on relationships, "we try to get to know the borrower and what he or she needs for the business model and individual situation."
Hunt now oversees a staff of eight lenders, loan processors and others as head of the bank's sales department.
Phil Barnes, a former director of wealth and trust services at CapitalMark Bank in Chattanooga who joined Community National last year as president, said Hunt has grown the loan portfolio without sacrificing its quality.
"She's been able to do this without sacrificing credit quality," Barnes says. "We've kept the standards high and she's been able to put a lot on the books."
Hunt said she has gone after the best borrowers, sometimes cultivating relationships for years before gaining any banking business.
She also hasn't forgotten her teller roots and knowledge, and will often handle both small consumer and commercial loans for customers to improve service.
The bank ended last year with a capital-to-assets ratio of more than 11.3 percent and cut its non-performing loans while growing their volume.
Keeping the name and community focus
Owen said in analyzing the bank and its strengths with the help of marketing guru Brian May and Maycreate, the bank proved true to its name as a community-focused lending institution.
"We're an old-school community bank here to develop the community, and Natalie realized that and argued with Brian and others when they proposed changing the name of the bank," Owen says.
Although there are many banks with the name "community" across the country and May first thought a new name would better differentiate the bank, he said he ultimately realized it was best embrace the name, as Hunt suggested the bank should do. Community National reflects the community-focus at is offices in Dayton, Spring City, and Soddy-Daisy Tennessee growing out of the former First National County Bank of Rhea County and in Rossville, Ringgold and Flintstone growing out of the former Rossville bank.
"A lot of the banking industry offers a lot of the same products," May says. "What is going to draw you to one bank over another in town? A lot of it is relationship and building trust and understanding of customers about where they want to do."
Community National touts itself with the tag line "Your Community, Your Bank."
"The basic plan for the brand is to lean heavily into it, especially at a time when a lot of banks are bragging about their technology, not their people," May says. "While Community National has the technology that most other banks also have, Natalie is a perfect example of why this bank is very different in today's technology-drive world. Technology here is an add on, not a primary."
Hunt said the bank is small and nimble enough to respond quicker to loan requests and to tailor the right product for each business situation.
"We'll build a product to fit a customer's needs," Hunt says. "We can do most anything that the big banks can do. We just do it on the relationship. They can get us anytime they need us."