Bank of Nevada was founded by several prominent business people, including John S. Gaynor, vice chairman, president and chief executive officer, whose banking and financial career spans more than 35 years. With a vision to create a bank that would not be all things to all people, Gaynor and 44 full-time employees credit the bank’s target marketing and personalized services as the factors that have brought Bank of Nevada successfully to its fifth anniversary.
With three branches in Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite and nearly $300 million in total assets, the bank focuses on its niche market, small- to medium-sized businesses, with 70 percent of those companies involved in the residential and commercial real estate industry.
With such a large percentage of his customers in the real estate industry, Gaynor might be expected to be apprehensive about all the talk of a “real estate bubble.” However, he does not foresee a drastic drop in the market anytime soon. “I think the real estate market will eventually level off,” he said. “As interest rates increase, we will start to see a waning of demand.”
The 2005 Legislature imposed a new set of taxes on financial institutions in Nevada, including a higher percentage of payroll taxes than other businesses pay, and a separate tax on each bank branch. “We are working together with the Nevada Bankers Association to educate and lobby legislators on the impact this has on financial institutions,” said Gaynor. “Legislators singled out our industry, and we want to ensure that legislation passed is fair and equitable.”
Bank of Nevada is looking ahead to the next five years of serving its customers, with plans to remain a small bank to ensure personalized service. “All banks are made of brick, mortar, vaults and cash. We have to look ahead to the next five years and ask how big we really want to be,” said Gaynor. “We want to remain small enough to be able to maintain relationships with our customers.”
Looking at technology, the bank also recognizes a need to service clients who are more “tech savvy” and want more convenient services along with personalized attention. “We recognize that the needs of the next generation of business owners will require different services and new means of delivering those services,” said Gaynor. “Wealth changes hands from one generation to the next, and banks have to look at the new generation and ask themselves, “What services do they require and how can we efficiently deliver them?”
Among other notable accomplishments, Gaynor was appointed to the board of directors for the Pacific Coast Banker’s Bank last year. He is the 10th director on the board for the organization and the only one representing Nevada. “Pacific Coast Banker’s Bank is where banks do their banking,” Gaynor explained. “It is an honor to be Nevada’s representative on the board.”
Over the last five years and through the next five, Bank of Nevada remains committed to serving the community that has been instrumental in its success. The bank supports several non-profit organizations, and employees are involved in philanthropic efforts throughout the community. It supports the United Way, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, YMCA and Ducks Unlimited, and recently donated clothing and water to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Gaynor personally volunteers as a pilot for the Angel Plane Program and serves as treasurer for Opportunity Village. In addition, he has served as an adjunct professor at the Community College of Southern Nevada, where he has taught finance, personnel and management classes for over 20 years.