TAMPA BAY/CORAL GABLES, Fla. | September 27, 2021 – After announcing an expansion into the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville markets earlier this summer, Professional Bank has hired new team members and leased space for loan production offices (LPOs) in both regions.
In Tampa Bay, the growing financial institution is doing business from coworking space in the Thrive DTSP building at 136 4th St. North in downtown St. Petersburg. Executive Vice President/Regional Market Executive Darren Lydting, who oversees the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville markets, is based in the St. Petersburg office. He is joined by associates Mike Ludwig, Melissa Salamanca and Danielle Hanko, who are all responsible for new loan originations.
“When we enter new markets with loan production offices, we focus on hiring the right people versus making commitments on particular physical branches,” said Daniel R. Sheehan, Professional Bank Chairman & CEO. “While our team in Tampa Bay came on board with strong relationships in hand, strategically, we thought the collaborative nature of coworking space gives us an opportunity to jump start business development efforts in the region.”
Tampa Bay has proven to be a hot spot for small businesses to start up and prosper. A 2020 report by LendingTree concluded the area ranked as the No. 3 place in the country for small businesses, surpassing all Florida metro areas. More recently, a report from Paychex shows the region has the best small employment in the U.S. among companies with fewer than 50 workers.
“With the growth of small business in our backyard, this is a perfect opportunity for us to tell our unique story and understand the needs and challenges of these businesses,” said Lydting. “We know many of these companies are operating from coworking space to collaborate with others across multiple industries – especially in St Petersburg, in the downtown scene.”
In Jacksonville, Professional Bank leased space at 12724 Grand Bay Parkway West, Suite 432, Jacksonville, FL 32258, also a coworking space concept. That office is led by Brock Martin, who is joined by associate Jessica Newman. “Jacksonville is hungry for a new name in banking,” Martin said. “I believe Professional Bank’s culture is going to be a great fit.”
Professional Bank was established in 2008 to provide a private banking experience for small-to-mid-size businesses, and individuals. The institution experienced tremendous organic growth over the next decade by focusing on building strong relationships and offering customized banking solutions.
In February 2020, Professional Bank went public through its holding company, Professional Holding Corp. Weeks later, it completed an acquisition of Coral Gables-based Marquis Bank, adding new customers and branch locations in South Florida. Through its Digital innovation Center in Cleveland, Ohio, the Bank continues to make significant investments in technology to find new ways to make the handling of cash more frictionless.
For Professional Bank, the move to Tampa Bay and Jacksonville marks the first time it has expanded within the state outside of the South Florida region.
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About Professional Bank and Professional Holding Corp.:
Professional Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PFHD) is the financial holding company for Professional Bank, a Florida state-chartered bank established in 2008 and based in Coral Gables, Florida. Professional Bank focuses on providing creative, relationship-driven commercial banking products and services designed to meet the needs of small-to medium-sized businesses, the owners and operators of these businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Professional Bank currently operates its Florida network through nine branch locations and two Loan Production Offices in the regional areas of Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Duval (Jacksonville), Hillsborough and Pinellas (Tampa Bay) counties. It also has a Digital Innovation Center located in Cleveland, Ohio and a Loan Production Office in New England. For more information, visit www.myprobank.com. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
Forward Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this presentation that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements preceded by, followed by or including words such as “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “plan,” “seek,” “project” or “expect,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “could” or “should” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements represent the Company’s current expectations, plans or forecasts and involve significant risks and uncertainties. Several important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include, without limitation, current and future economic and market conditions, including those that could impact credit quality and the ability to generate loans and gather deposits; the duration, extent and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the governments’ responses to the pandemic, on our and our customers’ operations, personnel, and business activity (including developments and volatility), as well as COVID-19’s impact on the credit quality of our loan portfolio and financial markets and general economic conditions; the effects of our lack of a diversified loan portfolio and concentration in the South Florida market; the impact of current and future interest rates and expectations concerning the actual timing and amount of interest rate movements; competition; our ability to execute business plans; geopolitical developments; legislative and regulatory developments; inflation or deflation; market fluctuations; natural disasters (including pandemics such as COVID-19); critical accounting estimates; and other factors described in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements included herein to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, except as may be required by law.