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Our Story
We Hope Our Story Will Inspire Others to Pursue Their Dreams.
How it All Started
Joe Fazio of Cedarburg, Tom Hopp of West Bend and Dave Borchardt of Random Lake founded the bank. They met in 2003 and spent a year setting up the business. “You create your business plan and then it has to be submitted to the State and to the FDIC for approval,” Joe Fazio explained. “Each segment of putting the bank together was a full-time job.” Key executive, Kevin Volm of Hartford joined the bank sixteen months later.
Gathering the Team
“We began with ten individuals who provided the seed capital to fund applying for our charter, raising capital and preparing a location,” said Joe. If things did not go well, all that money would be lost. The startup group never considered that. “Failure was not an option. We just kept moving forward.” In eight months, they worked on getting their charter and raised $12 million of capital. “We had to gain the confidence of our investors and explain that there was a real opportunity to invest in a new bank.”
Open for Business
The bank opened in a small strip mall on Hwy. 33 on August 31, 2005 with eight employees. “We all took turns cleaning the bank on Fridays,” recalled Joe. In 2009, they moved to a new facility on South Silverbrook Drive. A second office opened in Cedarburg that same year. In 2015, full- service offices opened in Elm Grove and Sheboygan.
Focused for Success
Commerce State Bank focuses on doing four things well:
- Serving the needs of small and medium-sized businesses to help drive revenue
- Home loans
- Outstanding deposit rates
- Preserving assets and accumulating wealth with our Commerce Wealth Management division
The Value of Advice
“We have great products provided by knowledgeable, experienced advisors,” said Joe. “The advice is important. You can find a great rate anywhere. We believe in being responsive, fair and helping our clients grow. We live that every day. We love what we do and we can look at it as fun, too. No other Wisconsin bank that started when we did still has the original management team in place or has done as well financially.”
For Commerce State Bank, Earning Relationships started by following dreams. Let us know how we can help you achieve your dreams.