Retention, training, and employee integration are the key focal points for Wheatland Bank President and CEO Susan Horton during the first 100 days following Glacier Bancorp's acquisition of the Spokane-based community bank.

In the coming weeks, she says, Wheatland will continue building relationships with customers in the communities it operates, add new technology, and pursue loan and deposit growth.

"This first year, we're going to be extremely busy," says Horton. "Wheatland Bank is doubling in size and moving forward on a very aggressive growth path."

Wheatland became a division of Glacier Bancorp on Jan. 31 through an acquisition valued at $80.6 million, as previously reported in the Journal. Glacier's Chelan, Washington-based North Cascades Bank division is combining with Wheatland to add about $750 million in total assets under Wheatland's management.

Overall, Kalispell, Montana-based Glacier Bancorp now operates 17 individual bank divisions—including Wheatland Bank—in eight Western U.S. states with over 200 branches. 

Horton says the acquisition and combination with North Cascades Bank has increased Wheatland's capacity for growth.

With the combination of North Cascades Bank and Wheatland Bank, Wheatland's assets have doubled to $1.6 billion, its workforce has grown 67%, and it operates nine more branches in Eastern Washington in the 10 weeks following Glacier Bancorp's acquisition, Horton says. 

"We'll be able to continue to serve Eastern Washington in an even bigger and deeper market penetration than before," she says.

About 100 employees from North Cascades Bank converted to Wheatland's division in March, joining Wheatland's staff of 150. The total number of employees at Wheatland Bank post acquisition is 250. Horton says her responsibilities are evolving as the company grows. 

Some of her previous duties have shifted to Glacier's corporate departments, where the holding company has dedicated teams for compliance, legal services, and information technology.

Horton is already "more present in the community, more engaged, and more available to our employees," she says. "We don't have to do another FDIC exam. ... There are resources at the holding company level that will handle that."

"I'm just honored that I get to be the one to continue to lead as CEO and president of Wheatland," Horton says.

As a publicly-traded company with $28 billion in total assets, Glacier's financial resources can support higher lending limits for customers who need more funds than what Wheatland could offer previously.

"One of the things that can hold back a community bank today is their lending limit," she says. "We have the lending limit and resources and tools to do business with this whole other layer of customers and serve our existing customers and communities with more tools and more resources than they had before."

Upgraded technology, such as an automated teller capture program, is helping to increase transaction efficiency and accuracy and helps reduce rejected items at branches. Other software programs are available to help improve construction financing and general loan processing functions.  

"There's a lot of technology that we are going to have access to that we didn't in the past that's going to really benefit customers," she says.

Wheatland can now provide instant-issue debit cards, and through an updated online banking system, person-to-person payments are available to the bank's customers for the first time. Business banking, which comprises about 25% of Wheatland's deposit customers, also will improve with the implementation of Glacier Bank's Treasury Management System, says Horton.

"It's got everything from cash management to remote deposit capture, to automatic payroll deposits, and positive pay," she explains. "There's a lot of economies of scale and purchasing power when you're working with a big company like (Glacier)."

In March, Wheatland's data processing systems converted to Glacier's banking platforms. So far, customer feedback has been mostly positive regarding all of the changes, she says.

"We really haven't seen anything negative at all from customers, or shareholders, or even employees," she says. "As (customers) grow, they know that they won't outgrow Wheatland, and we'll have the resources to take care of them. They want to make sure they can still deal with the same people and have the same branches in the same markets."

Glacier's employee-centric culture already is impacting recruiting efforts, she says.   

"Glacier has very little turnover, and that's pretty consistent with Wheatland, where we have a lot of employees that have been around 20 or 25 years, which speaks highly to the culture."

As a division of Glacier, Wheatland's employees are eligible for profit sharing and a bankwide bonus program based on the success of individual divisions and Glacier's performance as a whole. Previously, Wheatland wasn't able to extend bonuses to all employees as an independent community bank, Horton notes.

Glacier also has the resources to invest in advanced training and education for employees to attend the Pacific Coast Banking School, in Bellevue, Washington.

"It's about a $25,000 investment for an employee to go through the program, and last year, Glacier had over 30 graduates," she says. "It prepares younger bankers to one day be the people running and leading the bank."

Wheatland's physical presence in Eastern Washington has grown to 23 branches.

In downtown Chelan, Washington, Wheatland will move into North Cascades' recently completed three-story financial center and will sell a 2,000-square-foot branch located about a block away.

In Wenatchee, Washington, where both Wheatland and North Cascades divisions operate branches, Horton says the North Cascades branch will be converted into a commercial lending center, and Wheatland's branch will continue as a retail bank.

Wheatland also will close its Spokane Valley branch, at 14732 E. Indiana, after leasing the space for about 25 years. Coeur d'Alene-based Mountain West Bank, which is also a division of Glacier Bank, will serve Wheatland's customers from its two-story branch at 12321 E. Mission.

Beyond the first 100 days, Horton says Wheatland's credit card portfolios will be converted to Glacier's banking platform, and in September, Wheatland will host Glacier Bancorp's annual board meeting. Wheatland's executive staff also will attend regular meetings with Glacier's 17 other bank divisions throughout the year.

Wheatland Bank first opened in Davenport, Washington, as an independent community bank in 1979, and Horton has been working for the financial institution for 25 years. 

"It is somewhat of a natural evolution of a community bank's life cycle to consider combining with a partner that can bring more resources," Horton says. "Our vision all along was that if we were going to do that, it had to be with a regional bank that shared our common vision and had an appreciation and focus on community banking."