Published December 2001

First Heritage, Tulalips develop ‘win-win situation’

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

Almost three years ago, Greg Sheldon decided he wanted to buy a franchise restaurant that was up for sale in Mount Vernon. It was “kind of an impulse deal,” said Sheldon, who had been in retail for 12 years up to that point.

But the Tulalip tribal member had a bank in mind to help him with financing, the same bank that worked with him on a car loan, then a home loan, then a loan for his pull-tab business: First Heritage.

“I’ve kind of been dedicated to them,” said Sheldon, who received a $50,000 loan guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration. “It dates back to the car, when I wanted to establish credit. I’ve felt they’ve been very fair to me.”

That sense of trust is what First Heritage has worked hard to establish with the tribes, said Shelley Herman, Senior Vice President and Manager of the Marysville branch, adding that the impetus came in 1988, when Bob Bryce came to work as bank president.

“He’d had experience with the tribe prior to that,” Herman said. “And we opened the Marysville branch in ’89 ... and we’ve been encouraging the relationship ever since, and it’s grown and grown.”

Along with offering free check cashing to tribal members, First Heritage has gotten involved in loan programs offered through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and has made it a point to support tribal programs and scholarships for continuing education. There is a tribal liaison, and Stan Jones Sr., Vice Chairman of the Tulalip Tribes, serves on the bank’s board.

The bank also has taken the time and effort to understand the workings of transactions, such as home loans, that deal with trust land. Such transactions tend to take longer as they wend their way through the BIA system, said Herman, who serves on the Board of Directors for the North American Native Bankers Association and on the Puyallup Tribe of Indians’ Permanent Trust Fund Board.

“Most lenders are not at all interested in going there. It’s a tremendous commitment,” Herman said, adding that “oftentimes, it takes maybe longer to work through a transaction, a deal, but that’s part of being committed to doing business in Indian country.”

But nurturing the relationship between bank and tribal members has been beneficial to both sides, said Lori Zue McNeil, Vice President of Marketing.

“It’s such a win-win situation — that’s a little bit of a trite phrase, but it really is,” McNeil said. “Because they’re getting the financing that they wouldn’t necessarily get elsewhere, because elsewhere isn’t necessarily interested in investing the time and the energy and resources into (learning the tribes’ culture and legal processes).

“And it works best because we can really develop a relationship and relationship banking like it’s supposed to be done,” she said.

In Sheldon’s case, his relationship with First Heritage has led to success with his Port of Subs restaurant. Since starting, his sales volume has steadily increased, with the shop showing a 17 percent increase in sales during the first quarter of this year compared to the same time in 2000, he said.

Now, he’s planning for a second franchise in the Quil Ceda Neighborhood Shopping Center. Again, First Heritage will help with financing.

Another bank had approached him, Sheldon said, but he didn’t have the lease worked out. And though he and the tribe are still working out the details, First Heritage understands that it takes time, especially in a culture that values consensus — making a project official only “when all the entities agree with it,” Sheldon said.

“Port of Subs (corporate) has trouble understanding that,” he said. “First Heritage understood that process and has much patience with it.”

As Quil Ceda Village grows — and especially the Neighborhood Shopping Center, with its emphasis on small businesses — First Heritage may find its business banking operations growing, too.

In the past, the bank has financed restaurants, espresso businesses, a flower shop, fishing vessels, fireworks operations and a construction company for tribal members, Herman said. And already, the bank is working on financing an espresso shop as well as Sheldon’s establishment in Quil Ceda Village.

“I’ve been in contact with the tribe, the Economic Development Department, and told them, ‘Send the tribal members our way; we’d be happy to help them with their financing,” Herman said. “So, hopefully, that will develop as well.”

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