Image via Tri-Counties Bank website

This March, Tri Counties Bank celebrated its 50th anniversary, and over the past decade has seen major growth across the Central Valley.

The Chico-based bank was founded in 1975 and has expanded from $1 million in assets and 21 employees to almost $10 billion in assets and over 1,200 employees across the state.

Its footprint now stretches from the Oregon border to Bakersfield, helping blend new age banking technology with a continued dedication to building local relationships.

“When I started with the bank [10 years ago], there was a group of about three people on the commercial banking side,” said Bryan Paulson, commercial regional manager. “Today in this office, we have about 35 people that sit in here — I would say that’s probably our biggest accomplishment since I’ve been here.”

Vice President and Regional Manager Dustin Koelewyn has also seen growth in Chowchilla and Visalia. He attributes the success to programs like the Small Business Empowerment Program, which supports minority-, veteran-, women- and LGBTQ-owned businesses.

“Those programs have been really well received,” he said. “Programs in the Central Valley to help our small businesses in the communities grow.”

Both Paulson and Koelewyn point to Tri Counties Bank’s decentralized decision-making as a competitive advantage over other banks.

While Tri Counties Bank has the scale of a regional bank, local managers have the authority to make case-by-case lending decisions for their specific markets.

“People bank with people,” Koelewyn said. “This great bank of ours allows us to really get to understand our customers and make decisions on a case-by-case basis, and I think that’s been really beneficial for us in our growth in the past 10 years.”

Over the past 50 years, Tri Counties Bank has had its fair share of notable acquisitions. One of the most notable recent acquisitions was Valley Republic Bank in Bakersfield in 2022.

In 2024, the bank partnered with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, raising more than $150,000 to help students with basic needs such as food and housing. Last year alone, employees accumulated 11,000 hours of volunteer service work.

With technology continuously evolving, Tri Counties Bank has made an effort to continue investing in new technology. However, the bank’s primary goal, as always, is to prioritize the person-to-person interaction.

That personal connection will be evident in a new bank in the Bay Area.

“We recently opened a new branch in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco, and it looks very different than your traditional branches, where you’ve got the long teller lines and tremendous amounts of spaces,” Koelewyn said. “Instead, our bankers are going to be able to service customers at their desks. We’ve got all the tools the big banks have with online banking, mobile banking and we continue to look at that in the future and stay competitive in that market. But I think really what continues to see our company thrive over the past 50 years again, is service, and that’s really where we set ourselves apart from the competition.”