Bigger Than Banking

Dedicated to serving those who live and work in central and northern Indiana, the Lake City Bank team feels strongly about putting community first. 

“We don’t look at giving back as something we have to do,” says Lake City Bank President Kristin Pruitt. “We have eight core values at the bank. One of them is community service. It’s not community service that’s done just to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act. It’s community service because we understand that as a community bank, we’re lucky to get to do this kind of work.”

For more than 150 years, Lake City Bank customers have enjoyed all of the same services found at larger regional and nationwide banks — things like checking and savings accounts, loans and mortgages, investments and wealth management, and more. Its experienced bankers can help with personal, small business and commercial banking needs. With 54 convenient locations and easy access to a robust digital platform, banking at Lake City Bank has never been easier. 

But what really sets it apart from competitors, executives say, is a culture that promotes philanthropy and community service.

“It certainly isn’t a requirement, but the type of people we hire at every level of the organization are people who believe in our core values of stewardship and community service,” explains Chairman & CEO David Findlay. “That really goes hand in hand with the importance of taking care of the communities we are lucky to serve. That’s an idealistic-sounding statement, but it’s true. At every town hall meeting we have with all employees, every officer meeting, every Senior Leadership Council meeting, we talk about our engagement in the community. It’s certainly good from a business sense, but more importantly, community banking is about community.”

Findlay says as banks get bigger, it’s very easy for them to become disconnected from their communities. That doesn’t happen at Lake City Bank, stresses Pruitt, because of an ingrained commitment and dedication to service. “Community Reinvestment Act compliance is almost an afterthought. We receive positive Community Reinvestment Act ratings because we have community service as a core value and not the other way around,” she says.

It’s a philosophy that starts at the top. All of the leaders at Lake City Bank give back by serving on the boards of nonprofit and economic development organizations across the region. Findlay, for example, chairs the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership board and serves on the boards of Parkview Health and Trine University. Senior Vice President and Chief Wealth Advisory Officer Jon Steiner serves on the governing board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Indiana and previously served on the Questa Education Foundation board, both of which help young people reach their full potential. “With Questa, it’s rewarding to be able to help provide scholarships for local students so they graduate with less debt while growing the workforce within our region,” Steiner says. 

“And it’s not just serving on boards,” says Steve Schumacher, Vice President and Retail Banking Regional Manager. “We’re always encouraging our employees to get out and volunteer in any capacity. We had over 30 people recently volunteer for the United Way Day of Caring in Allen County.” 

This past summer, Lake City Bank was presented the prestigious U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Bronze Award for the second consecutive year, one of just 69 companies across the country to be honored with the award. The bank earned the recognition because employees contributed 1,385 volunteer hours to Junior Achievement during the 2022-2023 school year. It’s an achievement Findlay is especially proud of. 

“That is on par with some much larger companies. Fortune 500 companies like Caterpillar, General Motors and General Electric are in the same category as us,” Findlay notes. “So, when you think about the scale of Lake City Bank compared to some of those companies, that’s just incredibly impressive. It’s a little overwhelming.”

In fact, Lake City Bank’s commitment to Junior Achievement spans decades. Senior Vice President and Commercial East Regional Manager Cammy Treadway has volunteered with Junior Achievement for 38 years, and Eric Ottinger, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Banking Officer, is a current board member.

“Junior Achievement is kind of a no-brainer for us to be involved in. There’s so little financial literacy education happening in K-12 schools and we can bring a lot to the table in that regard,” says Ottinger. “We look at those students as our next generation of customers, our next generation of business owners, our next generation of employees or employers in our community. We think, fundamentally, the skills they can learn from Junior Achievement are really foundational to a very healthy relationship with their finances and are crucial to their financial success.”

In addition to volunteer hours, Lake City Bank gives monetary support to local organizations, especially focusing on those that are important to its 670 employees.

“We contributed about $650,000 back to the community last year,” Pruitt says. “Companies take different approaches to their community support. Some companies will pick a couple of organizations and give a lot of money and all their volunteer time to them. We don’t do that. We want to support our employees by giving back to what they’re passionate about.”

That employee involvement is to be celebrated, says Findlay. “We ask people to share with us their community service involvement because we want to recognize people for the good things they do in all of the communities we serve. Diving in and engaging with our communities will always be a fundamental part of who we are.” 

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