2026 Rising Stars in Banking: Jacob Reiter

Following in father’s footsteps, Jacob Reiter builds mortgage business for growing Minnesota bankJacob Reiter’s career in community banking came naturally, albeit with a few detours along the way. His forward-looking approach to banking is built on tradition, even as he embraces new technology that played a large role in successfully expanding Granite Bank’s mortgage business and the bank overall. Jacob Reiter, EVP-CEO of Granite Bank in Cold Spring, Minn., is being recognized as a 2026 “Rising Star in Banking.”.Born in New London, Minn., Reiter grew up on the lake. Like many Minnesotans, he learned to fish and play on the water. The oldest of four boys, Jacob also had a ground game and played football, basketball, baseball. He enjoyed competitive sports.Community banking was in the backdrop the entire time. His dad, Jerry Reiter, has more than 30 years of experience in various roles in community banks. While Jacob was working his way through school, Jerry was overseeing a regional branch network.“I got to grow up watching my dad be a community banker, and not just a leader for his bank, but a leader in his community,” Jacob Reiter said. “He served on all the civic organizations. It was pretty cool, because he still had the capacity and a schedule to coach me in baseball, coach my brothers in sports, and was always able to be there for all the important stuff.”Jacob Reiter attended college at St. John’s University in central Minnesota and majored in accounting. He spent those years figuring himself out, like every young person does in their own way. Seeking a community banking career path wasn’t a given. His dad’s career was a lesson in how local lending can be a rewarding and flexible way of life. But Reiter wasn’t yet convinced his talents were best used at banks with a small footprint. He took a few years looking for bigger fish at larger banks, working as a credit analyst and commercial lender. Then, the financial crisis of 2008 presented an opportunity that would bring together his ambition and a new family business..The First National Bank of Cold Spring, Minn., chartered in 1902, was struggling. Jerry Reiter was given the opportunity to become CEO of First National and steer it out of trouble. And he did. The bank rebranded to Granite Community Bank in 2013. After successfully turning the organization around and rebranding it, Jerry Reiter, along with a group of investors, purchased the bank in 2015 and shortened the name to Granite Bank in 2021.In 2022, Granite Bank acquired Maple Bank, Champlin, Minn., growing its total assets to $240 million. Jacob Reiter had joined the bank a few years earlier, attracted by the prospect of a family business where he could make a real impact. Since then, Reiter’s contribution has been enormous.After spending time at Granite Bank working with an independent mortgage company, Reiter saw a path where the bank could manage mortgages on its own. He became CEO of Granite’s stand-alone mortgage business in 2023.“We realized that you could take that model of what an independent mortgage company does and plug that into a bank and it would allow us to grow our non-interest income,” Reiter said. “We went from just a handful of employees, then to about 240 employees in our mortgage division today, spread across twenty-nine states.”Today Granite Bank sits at around $350 million in assets, with the remarkable growth of Reiter’s mortgage division contributing to the total. His embrace of remote work and other tech has made much of his vision possible. Finding the balance between taking some risks and being cautious was key to expansion, Reiter said.“Mortgage was able to scale because of our loan officers,” Reiter said. “It’s a commission-driven business, so there’s not the same overhead commitment. We don’t have a physical office in every place that we lend. A lot of this can be done remotely. Many of our loan officers work from home. And so that is how we were able to scale. We’ve got over 100 mortgage loan officers now, most of whom are in the Upper Midwest. More than half are in Minnesota, predominantly in the Twin Cities.”Reiter saw past the pressure rising interest rates were having on the mortgage business a few years ago. Large brokers were shedding seasoned lenders. Reiter saw an opportunity. “These lenders were tired of being looked at like a number,” he said. “We took the community bank way of doing things and infused it into the mortgage division.”Technology, including new AI tools, is a must for loan production today, Reiter said. “We embrace technology and look at it opportunistically. We don’t view it as a threat. In the end, it’s still about the bank. Mortgage has become a bigger part of our bank compared to others, but we’re still a community bank.”Today, the bank as a family affair grows. Reiter’s brother Luke is Granite’s CFO and brother Nick is a commercial lender. Jacob and his wife, Ashley, have three kids: Kale, Vincent, Rose—11, 9, and 6. “What’s pretty cool is I’m able to follow in my dad’s footsteps and be part of my kids’ life and help with sports and coaching, like he was when I was growing up,” Reiter said. “Community banking allows you to have a lifestyle that has the best balance of work and home.”