New business bank planned for Lakeside Kenosha

Northwestern Financial Review, Sep 18, 1999 by Olmsted, Monte

A new bank serving small- to medium-sized businesses is being planned in Kenosha, Wis., the state's fourth-largest city along Lake Michigan.

Organizers for the Bank of Kenosha hope to raise up to $8.5 million in a private placement and be ready for business early next year, said Rick Bastian, a 28-year banking veteran who will serve as the institution's president and CEO.

Noting that more than 90 percent of Kenosha's commercial deposits are at out-of-town banks, Bastian said the city of 86,000 is in need of another community bank. He added that more than 190 de novo banks were chartered last year.

"It's clear to me that our decision has been validated by the 190 number alone, and there's a need and demand for personal service that community banks bring to the table," Bastian said.

The bank hopes to become a major lender to a number of Kenosha's more than 2,500 small businesses, many of which have 25 employees or fewer.

Once the Bank of Kenosha gets state authorization, plans include constructing a 5,000-square-foot building. Before completion, the bank will be housed in a temporary facility on the site. Up to 10 people will work at the full-service bank, and after three years the bank's goal is to reach $60 million in assets, Bastian said.

Bastian has worked for banks in Philadelphia, Oklahoma, Illinois and Wisconsin. He has served as president of a community bank in Tulsa from 1977 to 1982; president of First National Bank & Trust Co. of Rockford, Ill., from 1982 to 1993, and followed that with a year as president of Heritage Bank (now Johnson Bank) in Racine, Wis.

He had been out of banking for four years, serving as an environmental consultant in Washington, when Bastian was approached by Bank of Kenosha investors. Bastian is one of 11 organizers, who are led by Kenosha attorney David Barnes, the bank's chairman.

Other organizers are Ernest Celebre, a retired Kenosha pharmacist; Mary Karnes, a teacher and executive director at a local high school; Daniel Martino, local owner of a dry cleaning business; Robert C. Nelson, president of a local contracting firm; Jack Oster, a local accountant; John Proko, a local funeral home owner; Samuel Seavitte, a retired Bank One, Wisconsin banker with 25 years of experience; Jeffrey Valeri, owner of a local insurance agency, and Steven Zamora, a local entrepreneur with interests in business and real estate.

By Monte Olmsted