Kaw Valley Bank

Community First, Small-Business Fast

Supporting Its Customers with a Relationship Approach

With six branches in Topeka and a charter that stretches back more than 150 years, Kaw Valley Bank operates on a simple premise: a community bank is a small business serving other small businesses. “Our employees are our strength, our customers are our focus, and our success is tied to the success of Topeka,” says President and CEO Craig Heideman. That lens shapes everything—from how the bank underwrites loans to how it shows up at a Friday block party in North Topeka.

Kaw Valley Bank is a $315 million institution with about 85 employees. Nearly all of its business is in Shawnee County and northeast Kansas, skewing toward entrepreneurial and industrial small-business lending, with a consumer arm that includes mortgages and everyday banking. Agriculture is part of the regional story, but KVB’s book tilts toward the local shop owners, contractors, and service firms that keep Topeka moving.

Service you can Feel

Plenty of banks talk about service; KVB still treats it as a craft. Phones get answered. Calls get returned quickly. Problems get solved without handoffs. That responsiveness is rooted in the way the bank manages its people: employees are included in goal-setting, treated like owners of the client experience, and encouraged to push for better ways to help customers. The culture feels more like a family company than a financial institution—and that’s by design.

“Across industries, small businesses have a lot in common,” Heideman notes. “We run our bank the way many of them run their companies. It’s a natural fit.”

Lending Through Uncertainty

After a decade of ultra-low rates, borrowers today face a different cost of capital. KVB addresses that change without drama. The bank underwrites present-day repayment capacity and models what a two- or three-point rate increase would mean for coverage. Those “stress tests” aren’t kept in the back office—they’re shared with customers so owners can plan for repricing, prepayment, or refinancing windows when rates eventually move.

“We don’t guess the market,” Heideman says. “We help people manage it—so they avoid over-leverage and stay prepared for what’s next.”

That same realism shows up in consumer conversations. With insurance premiums, construction costs, and maintenance all trending higher, KVB coaches households to evaluate total cost of ownership—not just the headline rate—before making long-term commitments.

Digital that’s Safe and Simple

The bank has invested heavily in technology over the last two years, with a blunt priority: protect customer data while keeping everyday banking easy. A new managed service provider has helped KVB harden its cybersecurity, strengthen identity verification, and modernize infrastructure so clients can bank at any hour without sacrificing safety.

Artificial intelligence is part of the plan, not as a novelty but as a countermeasure. “Bad actors are using AI; we need to use it to defend our customers,” Heideman says. Early efforts focus on fraud detection and anomaly spotting—quiet tools that keep digital convenience from becoming digital risk.

Topeka, on Purpose

Kaw Valley Bank’s community footprint is visible and intentional. Just down the street from the main office, the NOTO Arts District represents one of Topeka’s most successful reuses of historic space. KVB helped catalyze the district’s rise by building a riverside park and stage that carry the bank’s name, and by hosting an annual First Friday summer block party.

Now in its tenth year, the event draws thousands to the bank’s lot before they spill into NOTO’s galleries, restaurants, and shops. It’s a simple mechanism for economic development: invite the community in, then send them down the street.

The bank also backs the institutions that give Topeka its magnetic pull. Washburn University is one of them. KVB funds scholarships, supports campus events, and champions the school’s role in recruiting students who often stay to build careers and families in the city. Another is the Greater Topeka Partnership, a consolidation of the region’s business, downtown, and tourism engines. Heideman lends time to the Riverfront Advisory Task Force there, helping set a long-horizon vision for thoughtful development along the Kansas River—a natural asset Topeka has never fully embraced.

KVB’s outreach extends where it matters most in daily life. A weekly Scholar-Athlete recognition program, run with a local media partner, spotlights high-school students across northeast Kansas and culminates in an annual scholarship. Project Topeka’s “Fun Food Friday” fills weekend food gaps for kids; KVB funds the effort and sends volunteers to bag meals. The Topeka Zoo—progressive and education-forward—gets support because it elevates family life and tourism alike. The bank’s yardstick is consistent: will this make Topeka a better place to live, work, and play?

Housing as a Near-Term Mission

Like many U.S. cities, Topeka needs more attainable homes. KVB is in active conversations with partners—nonprofits, civic groups, and developers—on initiatives that can add supply and stabilize neighborhoods. Details will emerge soon, but the aim is clear: blend private lending with mission-driven capital so more families can find homes they can realistically afford to own and keep. “Housing stability lifts everything,” Heideman says. “Schools, small business, neighborhood health—it all improves when people can put down roots.”

Teaching the Basics

Financial literacy has long been an underfunded part of the system. KVB staff teach in schools when invited and support community programs that help people build budgeting, credit, and risk skills early. The bank wants to do more. Prevention, Craig suggests, is cheaper—and kinder—than crisis response later.

What Endures

Asked what sets Kaw Valley Bank apart, Heideman doesn’t hesitate: “We care about our clients’ success.” That value predates him; his job is to carry it forward. In practice, it looks like picking up the phone, returning calls after hours, solving problems without passing the buck, and underwriting loans with the same discipline an owner would apply to their own business. It looks like investing in cybersecurity before it becomes a headline and in community projects before they become glossy renderings. It looks like treating employees as whole people and inviting them into the decisions that shape the bank they help build.

Kaw Valley Bank’s formula is not complicated. Serve well. Invest locally. Protect what customers entrust to you. Grow with your neighbors. In a town where relationships compound over generations, that approach is more than a brand—it’s how a community bank keeps earning its place.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Kaw Valley Bank

What: a community first bank with flexible financial options and a focus on relationship-based banking

Where: Topeka, Kansas

Website: www.kawvalleybank.com