A Business for Businesses Lee Dunn, Bank of Maumee By Barbara L. Roose

“I was going to retire and my neighbor was Tim Alter, head of Rudolph Libbe incorporated. He said ‘you are not going to retire.’”

Lee raised 49% or $4.7 million of the required capital in six weeks and opened the doors in 2006. In this process of raising capital, Lee was also able to attract some highly qualified bankers in the process of raising capital.

It happened to be that a YMCA scholarship was just what Bank of Maumee president and CEO, Lee Dunn, needed to catalyze his future. At 13, Lee was accepted into the YMCA of Cuyahoga Falls Leaders Program. Only one thing was holding him back: ““I could not afford a YMCA membership,” remembers Lee. “So, I received a scholarship from Goodyear Tire and Rubber, which meant I received a pro-bono membership to YMCA. Later, I found out was if you were a volunteer leader, you could get a paid membership if you volunteered a certain number of hours per month. To me, it was a no brainer.” The YMCA provided an opportunity for Lee to grow and develop his leadership abilities and learn how to teach others.

Lee went to Kent State University and worked hard to complete his degree. During his senior year in college, a Navy recruiter asked Lee a life-changing question. “He asked me if I wanted to go to the Navy. Vietnam was hot and heavy during that time. I took the entrance examination and he called me up and said, ‘Mr. Dunn, you passed.’” While Lee’s grades weren’t stellar, the Navy recruiter mentioned that Lee’s YMCA experience was very unusual; especially the leadership component and that impressed the recruiter.

After receiving his commission from officers’ candidate school (OCS), Lee embarked upon his Naval career. As an officer in the Navy, he worked on some experimental activities, as well as managing others. In his final year of service, Lee came home to consider an eighteen-month extension to London. However, Lee happened to run into his director from Camp Y-Noah, who was now head of personnel and branch administration for a bank. By the end of their conversation, Lee was offered a position into Goodyear Bank’s management training program.

At the end of Lee’s three-year commitment to the Navy, Lee joined the bank and enjoyed his new banking career. Still, he missed the Navy and re-affiliated with them and continued to serve his country until retiring as a captain in 1993.

For the next few decades, Lee would build a successful career in the banking industry. In 2002 Lee left his position as president of Charter One’s Western Ohio Division. He thought he was going to retire, but it didn’t quite work out like Lee planned. “I was going to retire and my neighbor was Tim Alter, president of Rudolph Libbe incorporated. He said ‘you are not going to retire.’” Lee spent eighteen months working in business development for the large construction company before offers to re-enter the banking world began coming into this office.

In 2004, Lee took over as CEO of a troubled Genoa Savings. It took two years and many long hours for Lee to rebuild the trouble financial institution and that eventually was sold to another financial institution.. As a result of his successful efforts, his phone began to ring again. It was a phone call from Capitol Bancorp that ushered in Lee’s next business opportunity.

Back in 1982, Joe Reid, President and CEO of Capitol developed a concept whereby his company would partner with a CEO by providing 51% of the business capital and back office support. The CEO would run the bank. Joe’s idea intrigued Lee because of how larger banks tended to siphon away a bank president’s authority and with Joe’s model; the authority remained locally with the bank president.

In September 2005, Lee agreed to start a bank in Maumee, Ohio. “Joe wanted to know if I could raise capital, find a building and attract a good staff. And the answer was yes. That’s exactly what happened. In the Navy, I was the commanding officer of units. I liked being in command and I liked being able to help control my own destiny. I think with big banks, they have taken away authority from the local presidents and stifled entrepreneurship, What has evolved is a highly systematized type of a matrix management, where decisions are removed from the local area and centralized out of town.. However, with the Capital Bancorp model, that was not the case.”

Lee’s group raised 49% or $4.7 million of the required capital in six weeks and opened the doors in October 2006. In this process of raising capital, Lee was also able to attract some highly qualified bankers and directors in the process of raising capital.

The Bank of Maumee’s niche is small business banking, targeting companies that generate $20 million or less in annual sales. “Our average loan size might be $500,000 for financing commercial real estate and lines of credit for small companies. We make decisions locally and cater to small business. The bank is a preferred SBA lender offering a full array of business and consumer financial services including electronic banking and cash management systems. We have a courier service that is the arms and legs of our business since we don’t have branches. Customers have use of ATMs throughout the world and we reimburse them for their fees.”

Another main perk for Lee’s customers: “An 800-number doesn’t exist. We answer the phone personally. When people walk into a bank, they want to meet decision makers, not have the decision up streamed to a distant city out of the area., …here, the loan decisions are made promptly right here in this bank, right at our tables.”

By providing loans to small businesses, Lee believes that the Bank of Maumee plays an integral role in building our community. “We are Toledoans, serving Toledo people. Decisions on Toledo-based companies are not made in Columbus or Detroit, rather they are made here. We are very pleased to say that we have been able to put a lot of people in business and keep a lot of people in business.”

There’s one other business operation that Lee’s staff attend to personally each day…making the cookies. “Customers always have fresh cookies each day and a fresh cup of coffee. Why? For Lee, it is just another opportunity to showing his customers that Bank of Maumee cares about them and want to serve their needs.

BANK OF MAUMEE
Lee Dunn, President and CEO
3425 Briarfield Blvd. Suite 100
Maumee, Ohio 43537
Website: www.bankofmaumee.com
Email: lee.dunn@bankofmaumee.com