Business View Magazine | November 2020

129 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2020 team, we continue to meet those goals.” Lisa R. Cisneros, Executive Vice President of Retail Banking states, “I lead the retail side of American River Bank, which includes the branch teams, our client-facing teammates. It has always clearly stood out to me that the bank’s differentiator is our people; we have a service- oriented culture of teamwork and accountability. Additionally, our team is empowered to make decisions when helping clients, which means they don’t have to ask permission to do the right thing for our clients. When you tie all that together, it creates a successful work environment where people know what they’re expected to deliver, and they’re committed to doing it.” That commitment remains steadfast during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ritchie, the bank initiated its pandemic plan in March. “American River Bank had 40 to 50 percent of AMER I CAN R I VER BANK our staff working remotely within 24-48 hours,” he recounts. “As an essential business it is critical to our clients and our communities that we keep business functions going, without interruption. At the same time, our priority is to keep everyone healthy and safe and keep our branches open during the pandemic. Due to the commitment of our exceptional teammates combined with our digital and electronic capabilities, we have accomplished this.” Cisneros continued on that vein, “2020 has been very challenging. Not only have we battled COVID, but our clients and communities have been impacted by fires, evacuations and PG&E power outages, and despite all this, our team’s commitment to our clients never wavered. We send out client satisfaction surveys every month and we get a 26 percent response rate, and in the survey world, that’s off the charts. For the last ten years, we’ve consistently been at over 90 percent positive client satisfaction. That is President & CEO, David E. Ritchie, Jr. Executive Vice President of Commercial Banking, Gregory N. Patton