Connecting the Dots

El Paseo Bank keeps growing and giving back to the community

El Paseo Bank celebrated the opening of its new Rancho Mirage branch last week with a lavish special event for customers, friends and community leaders. The new 16,000 square-foot facility is located in the Country Club Village center at 40-101 Monterey Avenue in Rancho Mirage at the southwest corner of the Monterey/Country Club Drive intersection.

The event, attended by more than 200 people, included a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an incredible presentation of checks worth a total of $100,000 to five desert area charitable nonprofit organizations. The donations of $20,000 each were presented to Community Blood Bank, American Friends of our Armed Forces, Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert, Safe House of the Desert and the McCallum Theater for the Performing Arts.

The bank’s Country Club Village branch, which includes drive through service, will be its third in the Coachella Valley. El Paseo Bank was founded more than seven years ago and now has branch locations on El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert and on Washington Street in The Marketplace center near the Del Webb Sun City Palm Desert residential community.

“We are pleased to make these contributions to such very worthwhile organizations,” said Andrew Montgomery, Chief Executive Officer and founder of El Paseo Bank. “It seemed like an appropriate way to kick off the opening of our third branch in the Coachella Valley and to share our success by giving back to charitable organizations that do so much for our community.”

Montgomery was beaming with pride as he talked about the great work that each of the chosen charities does in the desert community and handed out the $20,000 checks to board members and volunteers representing the respective charities. In particular, he noted that while his three young children love the Children’s Discovery Museum and he appreciates how much the organization benefits the valley’s growing population of young people, he also “couldn’t say ‘no’ to Betty Barker” who is the founder and major fund raiser of the organization.

“Another woman I could not say ‘no’ to is Patty Newman who has been a stalwart leader of the Community Blood Bank of the Desert for many years,” said Montgomery. “We all must do what we can to support the Blood Bank’s mission which is critical to the people of the desert; they keep our blood supply here in the community.”

El Paseo Bank president, Doug Allensworth, will be based at the new Rancho Mirage branch along with 25 employees in all. Both Allensworth and Montgomery pointed out how pleased they have been with the choice of location in Country Club Village since they established a temporary office in another section of the center approximately a year ago. “The temporary branch office was itself extremely successful, so we’re very confident that we have a lot to look forward to with this new full-service facility up and running,” said Allensworth.

“The new location is perfect for serving key residential segments of both Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert and the very important medical community in and around Eisenhower Medical Center just a short drive away from us,” noted Montgomery. “Considering what is going on at Eisenhower with its continued major facility expansion, and the medical office development surrounding it, we could not be in a better geographical position to serve our growing base of clients in the healthcare industry. In particular, we have found that physicians and their management staff members really need and insist on the kind of high touch service and range of services we offer to them as a true local community bank that cares about every detail and interaction.”

The branch will be managed by Kristen Seddon who has been with the bank for 6 years. “Kristen will do a great job for us in her role as branch manager,” said Montgomery. “She has long been a standout member of our staff and has always ‘got it’ when it comes to the special kind of approach we take to serving all of our customers. She has done an exceptional job during the construction of the building and the move in phase to make sure everything was done right.”

The very distinctive new facility was designed by local architect John Vuksic of Prest Vuksic Architects based in Palm Desert and built by Orr Builders. Montgomery noted that when Orr Builders president Brian Orr insisted during the planning stage that the facility could be ready for occupancy this spring he thought it was impossible. However as Montgomery said at the reception, “Orr made it happen; they completed the job right on time and on budget.”

Montgomery noted that beyond the new branch the bank has a lot going on right now in terms of future growth and expansion plans even in light of the economic challenges facing the local, state and national economies. “I can’t announce anything right now, but we are moving forward with some very exciting planning for future growth because our formula is really working well and striking a cord with both individuals and businesses,” he added. El Paseo Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Community Bancshares, Inc, a holding company with more than $300 million in assets with locations in California and Utah.