Shelley Evans has built a successful 24-year career as a commercial lender by letting others do the talking.
“My role is to listen,” says the senior vice president and commercial relationship manager with Guaranty Bank, “to assess (the customers’) needs and find an optimal solution to aid the business in achieving goals. Many times it is my job to advocate for the client and to be his or her voice to others at the bank.
“However, it has also been my job to offer guidance and advice that was contrary to the client’s thought process.”
It’s this combination of commitment and candor that has developed relationships with clients so strong, many have stayed with Evans as her career led her to positions at three Springfield banks, most recently with Guaranty Bank for the past 14 years.
Ray Forrester is one of those loyal clients. Forrester opened the Forrester Group Inc., an environmental consulting company, in 1994 with help from Evans.
“Shelley, whom I had not previously met, volunteered to fill out the approximately 90-page small-business loan paperwork and then gained approval of the loan so I could get into business,” Forrester says. “That was the beginning of a 20-year relationship that has only grown stronger over time.
“I have followed Shelley to two other banks. Shelley has always been there as a sounding board with honest and sometimes contrary opinions to mine. Her advice and counsel has been invaluable.”
For Evans, that commitment goes both ways.
“My customer base has been very supportive and loyal,” Evans says. “I am also thankful to have worked with multiple generations of family members as their banker.”
Evans currently has 60 client relationships in a portfolio of more than $80 million. She describes the relationship with those clients as “transactional” at the beginning, “typically lending- and/or depository-related,” Evans explains.
“However, over time working together, a relationship forms which changes the dynamic from a short-term need to long-term source of support, honest answers and financial assistance,” she says.
Forrester credits Evans’s “sound and beneficial financial advice” as invaluable to the launch and success of his next business venture, ForresterTech LLC, which is under the operation of his oldest son, Ben.
“Ben has relied on her advice and support for many aspects of running ForresterTech, which just celebrated 10 years in business,” he said.
Forrester’s other son, Thad, relied on Evans for assistance and advice in establishing his business, Hudson Hawk Barber and Shop, which will soon have three locations in Springfield, according to Forrester.
His daughter, Leah, and her husband, Chris Allison, also turned to Evans when they started their accounting firm A2 Financial LLC.
“Shelly really cares about our family,” Forrester says. “Whenever I meet with her, the first thing we talk about is my family and then the business we need to transact.”
Evans’s caring nature and “servant’s heart,” according to Forrester, extends to the Springfield community. She has served as the immediate past president and vice president for The Victim Center, and she also has served the United Way of the Ozarks as a campaign committee chair, as well being involved with several local networking groups.[[In-content Ad]]
