“My objective as a business banker is to build relationships.”

Nate Lloyd, Vice President-Business Banking, sees this as the building block of the work he does at Grand Rapids State Bank.

“Before someone agrees to do business with us,” Nate explained, “I need to build trust with them; I need to understand their business. When we meet, I want to learn about their background, the history of their business and how they got to where they are. I want to understand their story.

“During the conversation, they’ll tell me about their customers, the trends they see, and the changes they’re experiencing. I’ve found that if I sit back and listen, I’ll get a better understanding of their business and how we may be able to help.”

Nate is a Grand Rapids native, and he was delighted to return to Grand Rapids in 2015 after starting his banking career in the St. Cloud area. Coming home gave his wife, Anna, and him a chance to build roots. Anna is the director of special education for the Grand Rapids/Bigfork school district, and she and Nate have two school-age daughters.

“Once I’ve developed a relationship with someone, there’s a comfort level that allows me to dive a bit deeper and learn more about what they’d like to achieve,” said Nate. “I view each business we help as adding another piece to the puzzle of building a strong economic base for the community. It drives excitement when there’s growth and new things going on locally.”

Nate was part of the GRSB lending team that responded to the COVID pandemic in 2020 by reaching out to dozens of businesses with information about federal PPP loans.

“Every industry was affected, but they were all affected differently,” Nate explained. “Some of our established customers hadn’t had any recent banking needs, so it was a good chance to reacquaint ourselves and help where we could. By focusing so intently on the PPP program, we made connections with many new businesses, too. It was a ‘wow’ moment for me as I realized that our team helped hundreds of business owners while generating new business for the bank.

“It’s genuinely fun to part of a team who all feel we are making a difference in the lives of our community,” said Nate. “It drives excitement as we see businesses grow.”

Many of the businesses who were introduced to Grand Rapids State Bank during the pandemic went on to develop permanent banking relationships. They appreciated the consistency of the bank’s customer service, as well as the bank’s longstanding commitment to the community.

“This bank gets involved in the community in many ways beyond loaning money to businesses,” added Nate. “From Shred Day to funding youth programs and everything in between, we are intertwined in the community in many ways. It helps us maintain those relationships, and that’s what makes community banks special.”