As part of our ongoing series, we spotlight one of our associate members in each issue of the magazine. In this issue, we are getting to know Alexis Simons, VP of Institutional Relationships at BHG Financial Institutional Network.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at your firm.

I am newer to my position as VP of Institutional Relationships, but I’ve been at the company collectively for about seven or eight years. I worked for BHG in 2016 on the front end where we originate the loans and was there for about five years. I had a brief hiatus at a big tech company and realized the grass is much greener on this side, so I made my way back. 

The beauty of BHG is that we have a lot of people who come back to the company after trying something else. They realize our clients and the type of work we do here are very different. We have special relationships with our clients, many of whom have been here since day one, who still come to national events and are in touch with the same representative they had at the beginning.

As VP of Institutional Relationships, I work with over 25% of community banks in Colorado ensuring they have the resources through the BHG Financial Institutional Network to diversify their loan and investment portfolios while increasing NIM. Continuously educating our bank partners on BHG’s industry-leading technology offerings, fee income opportunities and services designed to support your bank are key in how we’ve been able to partner and maintain our relationship with over 1,650 community banks since 2001.

What makes your company unique? 

We have created a business model that works for and with our community bank partners. The great thing about BHG is not only how we interact with them, but how we work alongside them. We want to be a partner; if we succeed, they’re going to succeed. What I have found is that most places treat clients like clients. They want customers to go through a transaction and they check in when the next one is going to occur. I want to know about your family and your life. I want to know what makes your bank great so you can understand what makes us great. I want to have a personal relationship with everybody.

Aside from that, we also have a unique credit scoring system that goes in-depth versus your typical surface-level credit. With the changing economy and how people are buying and selling these days, it makes sense to have a much more in-depth analysis of our community bank partners.

I learned at a young age that everybody knows their community banker. Ours was named Marty. I’ve known Marty since I was a little kid. I always thought he was just my dad’s friend. Turns out he was our banker, but he became a friend. One year, he even had Thanksgiving with us. We always went to Marty because Marty happened to be our guy. And that’s how we try to operate. Community banks are the backbone of our communities, so we want to help them thrive.

What do you love about your job? 

I have an incredible team, most of whom have been here for 15-plus years. We also have a direct line of contact with our co-founders. I can pick up the phone any day and call Al Crawford or Eric Castro and say, “Hey, I have a question,” “I have an idea” or “I heard this from our community bankers at this conference.” They encourage it and they will not only hear it, but they’ll retain it and decide if it’s right for us. 

They’re also involved in educating our bankers and making sure there is direct communication with them. We hold regional and national seminars where the executive team not only talk to the bankers, but talk with the bankers, mingle and get involved in every activity.

We function like a family-run company, but we are the size of a corporation.

Why is being a member of ICBC important to you?

It’s so different being at the ICBC conference than if I were to go to any other state. It was like being at a family or college reunion. They’ve all known us forever and everybody’s running up, hugging each other and saying hello. You can also tell that there are generational employees with ICBC. I think there were at least nine people who came over and said, “Hey, I’m retiring next week. This is the person who is taking over for me, get connected with them.” The relationship dynamic of the ICBC team and membership makes it exciting to become a part of it.

Anything else you’d like to add?

As I mentioned before, we have an open-door policy, and I want that to extend to me. So, if there is anyone who has questions, if there’s anyone who has anything they want to talk about, you can reach out to me at any time.