Bank president Bruce Schultz believes in community

NANCI THEORET / FLORIDA WEEKLY Bruce Schultz, Tom Fuess and David Robbins - the leadership team of SW Capital Bank Bruce Schultz, president and CEO of Southwest Capital Bank, is involved in a number of Lee County groups that promote a better way of life for all residents and help build a better community — from education and child advocacy causes to agencies that provide the basic necessities. It's no surprise he's at the helm of a local, community bank — stressing the word "community."

"The United Way and the agencies it serves make a tremendous impact on the quality of life here," said Schultz, who serves on the organization's board of directors. "Their work affects everybody — my family, my employees and their families and the entire community."

Building community is the driving force behind Southwest Capital Bank, which Schultz and several business associates founded in 2006 to serve small- and medium sized businesses and personal banking customers. The bank is locally owned and its executives "live, work and play in Lee County," Schultz said. "We're not owned by a large financial institution. We know our community. Our board members work in various industries and they have their fingers on the pulse of what's happening in the community."

Schultz, 47, has worked with the big guys during his lengthy career in the banking industry. But it's the smaller, locally owned banks like Southwest Capital that really know their customers and their communities, he said. They can look beyond the information on a loan application or a business proposal and see a vision that will shape the community.

"We know the market because we live in it, we're part of it," he said. "An out-of-state bank doesn't understand the nuances of the community. We know the people and can look at the character component of a borrower. That weighs a lot with us. We see these people at church on Sunday, at the grocery store and youth sports games."

Southwest Capital's top executives, David Robbins, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Tom Fuess, the senior lender and chief credit policy officer, have each lived in Southwest Florida for 30 years, Schultz said. "This kind of knowledge about the community is invaluable."

Schultz, himself, arrived in Fort Myers six years ago, after tenures at larger Florida banks. A Florida native from the St. Petersburg/ Clearwater area, he took the "logical" route after graduating from Florida State University with a finance degree. "I thought I'd try banking for a couple of years," he said. "In college, I thought banks were for making car payments. I didn't know much about what banks offer and the services that help small businesses and help people manage their wealth. I had no idea how a bank impacts the community."

That sense of community has kept Schultz in the banking world for 25 years. "It's been my entire career because I discovered that I really like working with people," he said.

In early 2005, Schultz, Robbins and Fuess started talking about going into business themselves — a daunting proposal, to say the least. "Dave, Tom and our executive management team left their jobs," he said. "It was a tremendous leap of faith, and a chance to take care of the people in our community."

The numbers also indicated a need for a community bank. "When I first started, there were 15,000 banks chartered across the country," Schultz said. "Now, because of consolidation, there are only 8,000. To me, that shows a need for local community banks."

Thinking — and helping — locally, he said, will also help the country out of tough economic times. "It's that old banking mantra: Build your community and you build your bank."

To that end, Schultz invests personal time in the community. He's the president of the Children's Advocacy Center, which is currently involved in a capital campaign to raise money for a new building. He's also president of the Uncommon Friends Foundation and serves on the board of directors of the Lee County Public Schools Foundation and the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce.

Education is another passion, and Schultz, a father of two, is the district president of Edison College Foundation. "Edison State College is one of those institutions that probably has had the most impact on the local quality of life," he said. "People in construction and other industries who have lost their jobs can gain new skills in technology, nursing or as an EMT or dental hygienist and other fields. That family stays within the community and their new skills increase our quality of life here."