“Our community is amazing. We have kind people. I love it here.”
Brothers George and Tom Dinsdale, both farmers by trade, decided to work together with some friends to help the community by starting a new bank that would be responsive to local needs. When it opened in 1938, they gave it an inspiring name: Pinnacle Bank.
George Dinsdale’s sons, Roy and Jack, took over the family business in the 1950s and began expanding. Today, still family-owned and operated, it thrives as Pinnacle Bancorp and has expanded to 167 locations in eight states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and, beginning in 2020, five branches in Arizona.
The focus is still on community with core values that reflect hometown virtues.
Pinnacle Bank, with two branches in Prescott and single branches in Scottsdale, Sedona and Flagstaff, is doing well, say bankers.
Cheryl Rolland is right in the thick of this success as vice president, branch manager and business development manager, supporting both Prescott branch locations. “We’ve grown so much in just over four years,” she said.
“We’ve been very blessed by the communities where we’ve put locations. I think the success at all the branches boils down to a few things: doing the right thing; building trust with our clients; and operating with integrity. We spend the time to really get to know our clients, making sure we build the relationship and understand how they do banking so that the trust is built between them and us. People have to trust their banks.”
Clients enjoy the benefits of working with a long established, family owned and managed bank, including the attention given to their businesses by the Dinsdale family.
“The owners are highly engaged with the activities of all their branches,” said Rolland. “But they give us autonomy to run the business, so that decision making is quick and local.”
Team members (selected on a rotational basis) and owners all come together at a conference once a year to get information on the bank’s direction for the upcoming year and to celebrate new locations.
“They tell us if we operate with integrity, at the end of the day it will come back to you,” she added.
After starting with a tiny 100-square-foot rental location with no windows, the Prescott branch celebrated a grand opening this year with a brand new, state-of-the-art building on East State Route 69. The bank also has a branch downtown on East Sheldon Street.
“It’s been a fun journey starting a bank from the ground up,” Rolland said. “The owners already had institutions in Colorado and New Mexico and knew Arizona was the very viable stop for the next location. They knew Prescott is a community-involvement town. Prescott aligns with much of who they are as a company.”
One way the Pinnacle Bank shows community support is through its sponsorship of the Prescott-Area ATHENA Leadership Awards, an internationally prized honor that recognizes the achievements of businesswomen.
In addition to Prescott, the awards are given in multiple locations in Arizona including Flagstaff, Phoenix and Yuma.
“Again, community is so important to our owners and us locally,” Rolland noted. “We want to help recognize the success others have had and lift others up in our community. It is such a pleasure to hear the background of the candidates and how they got to where they are. It is inspiring for sure!”
Rolland, who was born in the small town of St. Johns in the White Mountains, moved to Prescott Valley in 1993 to finish high school. After attending Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and studying to be a physical therapist, she switched gears in 1997 to work at a bank in Prescott to help her then husband finish his schooling.
“’I’ll just work in a bank temporarily,’ I thought. And then, I really fell in love with it,” she said. “I love this industry. I love helping others and that every day is different. I get the chance to pour into others on a daily basis and be a support in things that matter to them. I love the team I work with and the staff we have.”
Rolland raised her three children as a single mother, working in managerial positions at several banks in Prescott. Today, her three children, two girls and a boy, are grown and are centered in the Prescott area, as are her mother and stepfather, as well as her brother and his wife and their family.
“I’m not planning on moving,” she said. “Our community is amazing. We have kind people. I love it here.”
Rolland has seen many changes in the banking industry during that time. “When I first started, we had lines of people in the banks. Everything was a manual process back then. Most everything is virtual now. People like the virtual piece of it, but they still like to have in-person communication as well in the branch. They still want a dialogue.”
The popular ATM system is now evolving to the higher-tech ITMs, which are now being used in some of the Pinnacle Banks, including the new location in Prescott on Hwy 69.
“You can speak to a person,” she explained. “Let’s say you’ve lost your card, they can log into your account and get cash for you.”
Live people are staffing the ITMs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday.
The movement from long lines to more electronic banking includes the “Positive Pay” system that “helps prevent fraud for our business clients, also remote scanners help business owners run deposits in the comfort of their location,” she said.
Rolland offers tips for managing finances. “Choose a financial institution where you know your banker. If a situation comes up – fraud, purse stolen, cards not working, etc. – you want to know who to call versus waiting on a 1-800 number. Lastly, use extreme caution when getting phone calls requesting your information. If you are unsure, hang up and call the company directly to confirm validity of the call.”
Aside from her banking career and with her youngest in high school, Rolland plans to get back into acting at the Prescott Center for the Arts, as well as upping her volunteer commitment to help nonprofits in the area. QCBN
By Betsey Bruner, QCBN
Courtesy Photo: Employees celebrated the grand opening of the new Pinnacle Bank building in Prescott with Vice President Cheryl Rolland (back row, third from the right), and a ribbon cutting ceremony.
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