After bigger banks, Panther CEO focuses on Lehigh community

EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Karen Makowski Karen Makowski led the planning and helped raise $16 million to open Panther Community Bank in Lehigh Acres in late 2007. But the recession began and the national media pegged Lehigh as ground zero for the housing bust.

But that didn't stop Ms. Makowski from growing the hometown bank's capital to $62 million without acquiring even one non-performing loan.

She used her experience at large banks — she has been a banker for more than 30 years — to make Panther work even in the middle of a housing bust. The bank's small size allowed her to focus on banking fundamentals, she said, like loan underwriting and helping small businesses in the community.

"I truly believe in sticking to the fundamentals and we've done a good job of that," Ms. Makowski said.

The bank will merge with First National Bank of the Gulf Coast next month and change its name, but not its focus on being an "old-fashioned community bank," Ms. Makowski said. She will also remain there as president of the Lee County branch.

After holding leadership positions at larger banks such as president of Key Bank of Vermont with 14 offices and $680 million in assets, she said opening a new bank was a first in her career.

"I thought it could be a capstone," she said.

At Panther, there are 14 employees at one location on Joel Boulevard in Lehigh.

Mrs. Makowski and her team have been involved with the community in myriad ways since opening: hosting a book swap for Lehigh residents on the last day of every month; donating the parking lot to a high school carwash; getting shoes to more than 1,000 needy local schoolchildren; or holding an ice cream social. Mrs. Makowski prefers getting to know her staff and customers on a more personal level than she could before.

"Big jobs and big companies allow you to deal with big issues," she said. "Starting and running a community bank is back to basics. It's much more hands-on. Everything you do has an impact."

She has become a member of Lehigh Acres Rotary Club since coming to town and is also in line to be the next president of the Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Makowski said she admires the community, which has struggled to find itself among the sprawling neighborhoods still dotted with foreclosed homes.

"Lehigh (Acres) has a tremendous sense of self, an identity," Mrs. Makowski said.

"Because of the national recession it's facing difficult issues. But I'm especially encouraged by the spirit and fortitude of our community as we come together again and again."

She lives in Lehigh with her husband Len. They have three daughters, Marlene, 12, Sondra, 22, and Lauren, 24.

Mrs. Makowski, 53, grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., one of three siblings. After high school, she had her sights set on traveling to California, but her parents convinced her to go to nearby Canisius College of Buffalo instead. She majored in business management and finance, planning to become a traveling saleswoman and see the world.

"I wanted to be a saleswoman selling diapers for Kimberly-Clark or bleach for Procter & Gamble," she said.

Instead, she got a job at a bank and worked her way up from management trainee to administration. She became the first female commercial lender in the Buffalo, N.Y., office of Key Bank of New York. She later became senior vice president and executive officer of acquisitions of the statewide commercial bank, overseeing $13.5 billion in assets and 8,500 employees.

Starting in 1996, Ms. Makowski left banking and spent six years running her own consulting company in Vermont. In 2002, after having her third daughter, she went back to work as a banker for South- Trust Bank in Birmingham, Ala., before coming to Florida with her family.

In her time off, Ms. Makowski enjoys reading fiction. "I'm notorious for grabbing beach books and going to the beach or pool," she said. And she enjoys gardening, but hasn't gotten used to the black racers that are common in Southwest Florida flowerbeds.

She plans to stay in Lehigh, where she has a reflective attitude about her career and travels.

"At this age, it's great to look back at wonderful places and people we've met," Ms. Makowski said.