A Head for Business: Gary Head’s banking empire rests on relationships
In many ways, Signature Bank of Arkansas is just like many other financial institutions, offering checking accounts and business loans with a side of wealth management thrown in for good measure.
At its core, however, the northwest Arkansas success story is unlike anything to be found in the Natural State, or any other state for that matter. The bank offers a different kind of ethos — more relaxed, more congenial, more Arkansan — than most of the other guys. In a world full of well-cut suits and corporate boilerplates, Signature is not afraid to be itself and consistently so, whether among customers blue collar or billionaire.
A few minutes in conversation with Gary Head, chairman, president and CEO, quickly reveals why. Head founded the bank in 2005 after years in the industry with the steadfast belief that banking could be done differently than it had always been. In a world where technology continues to streamline and sanitize the banking experience, Head preaches employees get their hands dirty, figuratively speaking, by embracing clients as people first and problems as opportunities…