Independent Banker - March 2021 - 70

CONNECTIONS TRAILBLAZER
The Craft Bank team includes (from left to right) Ross Mynatt, president and CEO; Beth Martin, chief experience officer; Mike Cullinan,
chief credit officer; Brandy Harris, loan servicing manager and compliance manager; Kitty Kendrick, chief financial officer; Patsy
Templeton, group operations manager; and Greg Griggs, chief lending officer.
an ATM, a drive-thru or a night
drop, which had been the plan
pre-pandemic as well. Craft Bank
employees are empowered to grab
a laptop and meet prospective and
current customers where they want,
be it at a park or a coffee shop.
" We will make all the decisionmakers
available [to customers] in
one sitting, " Mynatt says. " Because
everyone is local, we can make that
decision or craft that proposal very
quickly. We do not need to explain to
someone else what Piedmont Park
is. All of our folks live here, work and
play here. "
The bank's name reflects this
approach. Chief experience officer
Beth Martin, who had worked with
Mynatt at a different community
bank, came up with it while driving
her car. She had been thinking about
the kind of relationships they'd be
building, allowing customers to craft
how they wanted to be banked. And
that was it. Like craft brewing or
arts and crafts, the name is meant
to signify that the bank can tailor
products and services to customers
and their needs.
" The word 'craft' implies great care
70 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q March 2021
being taken, " Mynatt says. " Not only
are we trying to craft solutions; our
clients or customers can craft the kind
of experience they want. "
Craft Bank is primarily a
commercial bank, working, in
particular, with fintechs and other
small and medium-sized businesses.
" The word 'craft'
implies great care
being taken. Not only
are we trying to craft
solutions; our clients
or customers can craft
the kind of experience
they want. "
-ROSS MYNATT, CRAFT BANK
It also serves individual customers
and reaches out to those who are
unbanked and underbanked within a
seven-mile radius.
Mynatt says the bank's size-no
more than 40 staffers and an eventual
goal of $500 million in assets-will
allow the community bank to be
nimble. Craft Bank's business plan
projects operational profitability by
the second quarter of year two and
cumulative profitability by the end of
year three.
To get there, Craft Bank promises
customers the best of both worlds:
modern, convenient banking with the
hands-on approach of community
banking and the freshness of a new
organization. The community bank
is busy offering demos to potential
customers interested in its digital
banking platform.
" Customers are coming to us and
saying, 'You are a new bank, prove to
me that your platform is as robust as
you say it is,' " Mynatt says. " So, we
show it to them. I don't know of other
banks that will do that. "
Margaret Littman is a writer
in Tennessee.

Independent Banker - March 2021

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