Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993 TAG: 9303260214
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
That year, Sam Tollison was named president and chief executive officer.
Now, with Tollison still at the helm, First National Bank is the county's largest bank, with 161 employees and $292 million in assets.
Ask anyone how this community bank with only six offices manages to compete with the huge chains that dominate the regional banking scene, and the answer is usually: Sam Tollison.
"One of the real reasons for the bank's success is that Sam puts the customers first," said Jim Rakes, president of the National Bank of Blacksburg. "He is always warm and friendly and enjoys talking to people and putting them at ease."
Lu Merritt, area manager for Dominion Bank, said Tollison was one of the first people to greet him when he was transferred to Blacksburg in 1984.
"A lot of people get nervous when they start talking about loans, but Sam is such a personable, likeable individual that he makes everyone feel comfortable," he said. Dominion Bank's Montgomery County assets were about $80 million last year.
Still, it takes more than a friendly disposition to run a bank successfully.
Merritt credits Tollison's immense knowledge of banking regulations.
"He knows the restrictions larger banks have to operate under," he said. "All banks are regulated, but community banks can do some things that others can't."
Even so, tougher federal regulations have curbed First National Bank's profit growth in the past several years, Tollison said.
"In my mind, many of the regulations are just too stringent," he said. "They put too much pressure on the bank . . . and make it harder for us to meet the customers' needs."
For example, banks used to be allowed to lend money to loyal customers, even if their credit profiles failed to meet some requirements. Such lending is commonly referred to as "character" loans. But in the wake of the savings and loan scandal, character loans now are prohibited.
Because of the ban, First National Bank lost one seven-year loan that never had a late payment, Tollison said. Regulators prohibited the loan because rental payments to the property owners weren't enough to cover the full monthly mortgage payment to the bank. It didn't matter that the owners were making up the difference from their savings account.
"That just doesn't make any sense to me," Tollison said.
Blacksburg developer Ray Chisholm couldn't agree more.
"Sam is a good, old-fashioned, smart banker," he said. "I just wish the feds would back down just a little bit so he could deal like he used to. These regulations just stifle development."
Tollison said he is encouraged because President Clinton is talking about restoring character loans.
Like most other banks, the First National Bank of Christiansburg has been hurt by loans made to developers who later filed for bankruptcy.
Several people, including Montgomery County developer Bill Matthews and former Roanoke City Councilman Hampton Thomas, have filed for bankruptcy and listed First National Bank as a creditor.
A modest, quiet man, Tollison downplays his role in the bank's growth. The secret to the bank's success, he said, is friendly, yet aggressive, banking.
"Bankers used to sit back and wait for the business to come to them," he said. "Not anymore. Business doesn't walk in the door anymore."
So Tollison and his troops seek it out.
The bank president said many customers are attracted to First National simply because it is a community bank.
"People know that decisions regarding this bank are made in this building, not in Richmond or Roanoke," he said.
\ Tollison's career in banking began by accident.
A Grundy native, Tollison was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1955. He and his wife, Marge, decided to settle in Roanoke so he could attend Roanoke College.
Marge Tollison set out to find a job.
Sam Tollison tagged along one day when his wife went to the Virginia Employment Commission to look at the job listings. While he was waiting, a VEC official mistook him for a job seeker.
"He told me they had an opening for a bank teller and said I looked like I might fit the bill," he said. "I figured I'd just go talk with them to kill some time."
From that interview he landed a teller's job with the First National Exchange Bank in Roanoke, and he's never looked back.
Tollison was named assistant branch manager after 2 1/2 years and a short time later was named branch manager.
When he left First National Exchange - which later became Dominion Bank and is now First Union - Tollison was a regional vice president.
He came to the First National Bank of Christiansburg in June 1970 as executive vice president, knowing he would be president in six months.
"That was just a short time for them to make sure they liked me and I liked them," he said.
When Tollison came to the Christiansburg bank, his biggest competitor was just across North Franklin Street. The Bank of Christiansburg - now Central Fidelity Bank - had about $4 million more in assets than First National bank of Christiansburg.
Tollison was determined to catch up within five years. He did it in four.
In 1976, First National opened its third office in Blacksburg to try and capitalize on the growth at Virginia Tech. Since then, branches also have been opened in the New River Valley Mall, Hills shopping plaza in Christiansburg and near the Food Lion Plaza in Christiansburg.
Over the years, several large banks have approached Tollison about merging with First National Bank of Christiansburg, but their offers have fallen on deaf ears.
"The senior officers of this bank have no interest in merging with a larger bank," Tollison said.
But that doesn't mean a merger is totally out of the question.
In 1991, First National said it would merge with the Bank of Tazewell County, a community bank that has six offices and about $154 million in assets. But the deal was called off last year because of poor economic conditions.
Tollison said, however, that once the economy improves, he's still interested in the merger.
Tollison, 60, said he plans to retire in five years and spend a lot more time playing tennis and working in the yard around his Riner home.
For now, though, he still gets excited about coming to work every day.
"I just love the challenge," he said. "It's an opportunity to get to know people, who they are and what they do."
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB