When I met with Joseph Reid and learned
about the business model for Capitol Bancorp
Limited in June 2004, I felt it would be a great
fit for the banking environment and economy
of the Pacific Northwest.
One of the core values of Capitol Bancorp is
entrepreneurship. The Greater Seattle and
Puget Sound Regions of Washington state
have had a long history of great entrepreneurs
starting with Boeing and Weyerhaeuser, and
more recently with Microsoft Corporation,
Costco, Amazon.com and Starbucks, among
others. Developing local community banks
built with a similar entrepreneurial spirit is
a natural. We have opened four banks in
Washington, all named for their cornerstone
communities in the Region.
The state of Oregon holds some compelling
demographics for community banks. This
is especially true for the city of Bend and
Deschutes County, where the population has
more than doubled in the last eight years. We
have successfully launched one bank in the
state, High Desert Bank, which opened in 2007.