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JOHN A. SANDER

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMERCIAL BANKER

Meet John Sander, a commercial lender and community leader with over 30 years of municipal and business financing experience.

John joined Village Bank two years ago by saying goodbye to a large national bank. At Village Bank, John quickly discovered the community bank difference: local ownership. “Having the ability to talk about a customer’s or entrepreneur’s small business financing needs by walking two offices over to engage the bank president, or by taking a few steps more to meet with the bank’s owner, makes all the difference in my ability to provide creative financial solutions,” John said.

Having access to an experienced lender with in-house decision-making authority, as opposed to relying on decisions made in another time-zone, is a huge benefit for commercial customers. Even more valuable than proximity to decision-makers, however, is the knowledge of our local communities that John (and his Village Bank colleagues) brings to the table. Here’s a banker who knows the intricacies of Twin City neighborhoods. He grew up in Roseville, attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, he lived for 15 years in Hugo and recently moved to Lindstrom. John serves his community through a leadership position at the Downtown Minneapolis Rotary Club. John embodies the very essence of “local.”

“Rotary helps keep me grounded, both with work and personally,” said John, who will become president of the Minneapolis Rotary Club in July 2023. Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self,” and Rotary involvement conveys insights into the character of its members. “It says something about what kind of person they are, that they give back, that they work toward the greater good and know that serving others is more important than serving self,” he explained. “I’ve met so many good civic and business leaders through Rotary; they help me stay connected and that helps me help my clients build their networks. Connecting business and community leaders is one of John’s strengths.”

John says he loves helping small businesses succeed financially, and though he’s relatively new to community banking, he’s seasoned in all types of commercial lending, including SBA lending, equipment finance, business acquisitions and commercial real estate. His approach to serving is to provide customers with enough information about their options so that they can make an educated decision in their own best interests.

“I am blessed to have a 30 year career in finance so I am able to explain the benefits of conventional financing versus SBA loans, for instance,” John said. “Because Village Bank is a Preferred SBA Lender, we are able to make loan decisions in-house, which benefits our customers with a faster loan approval process.”

John’s approach is to inform and be a trusted advisor. “I had a longtime client who recently told me, ‘One thing I’ve always loved about working with you is you’ve never pushed things on me; you’ve always provided clear options and let me decide which solution is the best for my business.’”

Serving is about being helpful and supportive, John said. And the community banking difference in approaching commercial finance was illustrated to him early at Village Bank. “The big banks try to ‘outlocal the locals,’ but there is a disconnect between their leadership and the communities they try to serve,” John said. “They have ‘boxes’ and if your financing need doesn’t fit tidily into one of those boxes, the answer is usually NO unless it can be proven a YES. But at Village Bank, I was told by bank leadership that with outside-the-box financing, the answer starts with YES and has to be disproven to get to a NO.”

“It doesn’t matter how many arrows you have in your lending quiver,” John said. “You need the personal touch and the understanding of local markets to get the financing right for your customers.”

John is thrilled to be at Village Bank, where he can truly support local businesses. “I love seeing the fruits of my labor. That is, seeing a customer I have helped open their 3rd location, or seeing a young entrepreneur start their first business.”

 

 

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