Beneath the pristine logo of Alliance Association Bank, a national leader in community banking, lies a rich and storied past. AAB was the second banking institution brought forth by founder Craig Huntington. With deep roots in HOA management, his first venture was a fabulously successful HOA division at the bank where he worked. He brought a degree of technology and efficiency to HOA banking never seen before, gently revolutionizing the industry. Then, the 2008 recession brought the industry to a screeching halt, and the bank was sold.
After not gelling with the bank’s new management, Craig resolved to start again, this time, with a world of experience under his belt. It’s been over a decade since AAB was formed under the Western Alliance umbrella, and has since gone nowhere but up. After 10 years with the company, Stacy Dyer, Senior Managing Director of the East Coast, has a unique perch on which to observe the evolution of AAB. She sat down with The Pager to recount how the company continues to shape the financial leg of the community management industry.
Not only is half of the originating crew still on board with the company, some 11 years after its launch, but the company boasts a customer retention rate of over 90%. That originating crew has helped lift the company to 30x its original size from a business development perspective. Stacy had ample exposure to HOAs and community management in previous roles, which informed her eventual pivot to community banking. “It’s one of the best career moves I ever made,” she says. That casually accumulated expertise has been vital in her current position.
Over the years, one of the primary changes Stacy has observed is the gradual adoption of new technologies in the industry, including the practice of outsourcing certain tasks to more technologically equipped partners. For example, “When I see [management] companies that still do all of their printing in-house, I think to myself, ‘What the heck?!’” Stacy muses. Companies like Page Per Page have long been helping management companies offload their massive printing and mailing demands. According to Stacy, outsourcing the aspects of management that take time away from management itself, is essential – if not the crux of modernization. That’s why, when asked what defines a successful management company, Stacy states that the best management companies “understand the benefits of the service providers in the industry, and how it positively impacts his or her team. They’ll lean on technology and efficiency to put less pressure on their staff, so that they can become a powerhouse team to support their customers. When they forge strong relationships with HOA industry providers that have the best product… [it helps] the company run like a well-oiled machine.” She explains. AAB and Page Per Page are two such industry providers.
To that point, serving the HOA and community management industry comes with a few nuanced challenges, which mostly center on getting community managers’ buy-in on just how much specialized banking services can help their company. But AAB’s status as an outright industry leader, with ever-expanding technological capabilities, doesn’t make this too hard of a sell. Having integrated with software platforms like Vantaca and partnered with vendors like Page Per Page, AAB has won the business of countless management companies. The integrations and resulting efficiency have created a more fluid experience for homeowners. And at the end of the day, the AAB team works in service of the American homeowner and the communities in which they live.
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