A new local financial institution is set to begin operations next week, and a team of established Dubuque banking officials will start new positions at the bank.
The Dubuque branch of Capra Bank, which will also be Capra Bank’s headquarters, will open Monday, April 3, at 955 Washington St., in the former Dubuque Food Co-Op space. The full-service branch comes after Tut Fuller — who will serve as the bank’s CEO and chairman — acquired a bank in Montezuma, Iowa, last year with his brother Thomas J. Fuller, who will serve on the bank’s board.
“We think great clients deserve great bankers,” Tut Fuller said. “We think great bankers deserve a great bank. Our version of banking, Capra’s version of banking, is a relationship-based bank, and you need great bankers to do that.”
Last week, 15 individuals resigned from their positions at Dubuque Bank & Trust and HTLF, the holding company for DB&T. Those 15 people will be working at Capra Bank, and their names and Capra Bank roles are below:
- Tyson Leyendecker, president
- Duane Frick, senior vice president, commercial banking
- Josh McQuillen, vice president, commercial banking
- Keith McGinnis, vice president, commercial banking
- Dee Crist, senior vice president, private banking
- Carissa Clinton, assistant vice president, private banking
- Michele Blum, assistant vice president, private banking
- Michelle Hager, assistant vice president, private banking
- Jeff Travis, senior vice president, treasury management
- Aaron Skrocki, executive vice president, operations
- Megan Michel, senior vice president, operations
- Andrea Haeffner, senior vice president, operations
- Beth Rowe, senior vice president, marketing
- Jason Schauer, CPA, chief financial officer
- Tamera Netsell, SHRM-SCP, vice president, human resources
“We have always had a client- and community-centric vision since we decided to start out on this adventure,” Fuller said of Capra Bank. “To do the best things for your clients and your community, you have to have great bankers that are empowered and work together as a team, that can actually make great decisions, and I couldn’t be more excited to bring that to Dubuque, my hometown.”
Drew Townsend was announced as the new president and CEO of DB&T on Friday, when HTLF officials also confirmed Leyendecker’s resignation. Ryan Lund, director of corporate communications for HTLF, referred to the Friday news release on Townsend’s new role and said the company does not comment on personnel changes.
“I’m very excited to be joining Capra Bank as president,” Leyendecker said in a statement to the Telegraph Herald. “My wife (Jennifer) and I are active members of the community, we could not think of a more fitting opportunity. We relocated to Dubuque six years ago, both of our children were born here, and now go to school here. Dubuque is the place we call home and we look forward to helping this community grow and thrive.”
Fuller noted that he has previously worked with the new members of the Capra Bank team. Fuller left HTLF last year after having served as Region 1 president of the company. He also previously served as DB&T’s president and CEO.
“As funny as this is going to sound, this is my second time recruiting almost all these folks and assembling the team, and it was a lot easier the second time,” Fuller said. “Obviously, I really like the team, and they have a track record of success.”
Fuller added that, with the 15 additional team members joining the bank, Capra Bank has grown from six people to 24 people since September, showing that bankers resonate with Capra Bank’s focus on community banking.
“Just to be clear, in this process, this is not a case where we dished out handfuls of incremental cash to 15 people to quote-unquote buy talent,” Fuller added. “We made 15 offers and had 15 accepted. … And I know this is the team that’s joining us, but there’s also an entire team that has been working extremely hard to make sure there is a bank that’s excellent.”
Fuller said Capra Bank is fostering an environment where employees can thrive and are motivated in their work, as well as a place where an employee’s personal brand aligns with the brand of the bank.
“We’re trying to make Capra a place where bankers that actually care about their community and want to grow their community can call home, and we’re all bonded by that,” he said. “I think another thing that bonds all of us is we believe banking and doing business is a team sport, and all of us are very firmly united in that philosophy. It’s not about individualism. It’s truly a team sport, where we empower the people.”