Todd Baker is the vice president of commercial lending at Atlantic States Bank on San Pablo Road.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Commercial lending and business development. “Even though I’m a banker, I am a sales guy at heart. Banking is what I sell. I developed a referral network made up of real estate attorneys, real estate agents and CPAs. I get out and meet them and let them know who I am and who Atlantic States Bank is.”
HE HANDLES
THE BIG DEALS
“I don’t handle the little deals. I won’t look at anything under $250,000. I’ll refer that down to a business banker. But anything from $250,000 to $10 million, I’ll handle.”
HOW LONG HAS BANK BEEN OPEN?
A year and a half; the San Pablo Road location opened recently. “Part of our market strategy is medical banking. With the Mayo Clinic right here, we thought this would be a good place to have a branch.”
HOW MANY LOCATIONS DOES the BANK HAVE?
Three: Ponte Vedra Beach, Baymeadows and San Pablo Road. Another office in Ponte Vedra Beach will open soon.
IT WAS A GOOD DAY
Baker moved here from Virginia to get his master’s degree in business administration from the University of North Florida. While in school he was waiting tables at Applebee’s and met John Baker, president of Florida Rock Industries. “John came in with his family. His son was visiting from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. I recognized the name and told them how I had moved here from Virginia after college. We got to talking and he wanted to know what a University of Virginia graduate was doing waiting tables. I told him I was working on my MBA. He asked me if I had ever thought of going into banking after I finished my MBA and I said yes. Then he drops the bomb — he sat on the board at SunTrust and I should really think of a career in banking. After that, he just dropped it and I thought nothing more of it. The next Monday, I came into work and I get this call from John Baker’s secretary. She said that he was very impressed with me and they needed more information on me because he was writing a letter on my behalf to some of the human resource directors at the banks in town.”
HOW WAS THE LETTER?
“He had only met me for the night, but this was the most complimentary letter you’ve ever seen. It went out to the presidents and heads of the human resource departments of Barnett Bank, First Union, SunTrust and all the top banks in town. I started getting calls for interviews with, not just middle managers, but presidents of companies.”
YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL?
“It says a lot about the guy that he would even take the time to do that. He did that out of the kindness of his heart and it’s interesting how it affects someone’s career. I wrote him a letter once, but I have not seen him around town since.”
WHERE DID HE END UP?
He had a couple of offers asking him to leave school and start the job immediately. Barnett Bank was his choice, and he worked in the commercial credit department where he learned to underwrite larger commercial loans. He was promoted to business banker, which is someone who handles smaller deals. He was later hired by SunTrust to work in its commercial lending department.
LEFT LENDING?
“I took a brief respite from banking to work as director of sales and marketing for Decade Systems, a local technology company. I traveled the country, selling technology in the mortgage industry. In banking, you get a certain type of sales training that personally I don’t find a tremendous amount of value in. When I spent that time away from banking I got some real high quality sales training, like the stuff that IBM and Xerox send their executives to.”
HOW DID THAT HELP WHEN YOU WENT BACK TO BANKING?
“Coming back into banking with a fresh pair of sales eyes, I’ve been that much more productive and more efficient, so it’s been even more fun.”
HOW DID YOU GET BACK INTO BANKING?
“One of my old bosses at Barnett knew I had gotten out of banking, but knew what I could do from a production standpoint.” Barnett tried twice to re-hire him and the second time he agreed because he was tired of traveling and wanted to take a job that would allow him to spend more time with his family.
HOW IS THE COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY IN JACKSONVILLE?
“The commercial real estate industry is doing extremely well. I‘m driving around Jacksonville all day, dropping in on people. It’s like I have a whole lot of friends throughout town. There has been a warm reception in Jacksonville and demand for what we are offering.”
AGE
34.
FAMILY
He has been married to Tamara for six years. They have one son, Nicholas, 4.
— by Michele Newbern Gillis