Bank builds brand through charity support, commercial focus

Tradition Capital Bank of Wayzata, Minn., has expanded its support for a golf-themed charity event to Arizona to boost the community as well as its business..Taste Fore the Tour, started seven years ago in the Twin Cities, completed its second year in Scottsdale, Ariz., in conjunction with the PGA’s WM Phoenix Open. The event brings in top chefs who raise money to fight hunger. This year, the event supported the Boys & Girls Club of Arizona which will use the funds to pay for a summer lunch program.“We helped start up Taste Fore the Tour in Minnesota, which was part of the 3M Open,” explained Brad Losee, Tradition’s Arizona market president. “It is a great event for the community, but also to broaden and deepen our relationship with our clients, prospective clients, centers of influence … A lot of the celebrities who attend have Minnesota roots, because they are involved with Taste Fore the Tour up in the Twin Cities. It is fun to have been involved with it initially in the Twin Cities and now to curate the event with an Arizona flair here in Phoenix.”.Losee, a Minnesota native, called Arizona a dynamic commercial and private banking market. “I think there is a huge growth opportunity for us in the market,” he said. Losee had been a commercial banker in the Twin Cities for a decade before joining Tradition Capital Bank and working in private banking for about a year. Then he got the opportunity to return to commercial banking, heading up the bank’s Arizona efforts which began when the bank opened its branch in Scottsdale.“Some of our clients have business in other parts of the country,” Losee explained. “They appreciate us when they are visiting here. They can walk in and see us. And, of course, there is a snowbird aspect.”“We have had great traction through some of the contacts established early on, from before we even had a physical branch here,” Losee commented. “Adding value in the lower-middle market and identifying growth opportunities to help them from a working capital standpoint, equipment, owner-occupied real estate, very similar to what we do on the commercial side of the business in Minnesota.“A lot of our Minnesota clients are down here on a regular basis. It is helpful for them to be able to walk in. It might not be all the same faces, but across the company, the values are the same, service quality is the same, whether it’s Minnesota or Arizona.”