Mover: Noah Wilcox, Minnesota Lakes Bank

A look at the people behind the numbers in area business:

Title: President and CEO (of parent company Wilcox Bancshares)

Age: 41

Noah Wilcox is marking a homecoming of sorts with the launch of Minnesota Lakes Bank, the new name for the former Crow River Bank locations that his family's fourth-generation bank company recently acquired in the west metro area.

Minnesota Lakes Bank has a mortgage division in Buffalo and locations in Delano and Mound, where Wilcox grew up and graduated from high school. The bank's parent company, Wilcox Bancshares, operates Grand Rapids State Bank, which began business 100 years ago as Warba State Bank.

"It's demographics-driven to a degree," Wilcox said of the acquisition. "The western suburbs certainly meet a lot of the profile characteristics that we're looking at. I didn't go looking to buy a bank where I grew up. In that regard it's a bit of a strange homecoming, but a welcome one."

The move also represents his family's commitment to independent community banks, Wilcox said.

"Getting beaten up for five or six years in the big bank world and seeing how they do things and then being able to see the stark difference in terms of [our] business model, it just made me wickedly passionate about community banking and the difference we can make," Wilcox said.

Q: Why should someone do business with Minnesota Lakes Bank?

A: We've got 100 years of experience to bring to bear on this. We're making investments in staff, education and technology. Our other organization [Minnesota Lakes Bank] is a legitimate commercial player. We have a wealth of experience in the market and anybody that's out there, small business or otherwise, that's looking for a great relationship with a bank would do well to come and talk to us.

Q: What do community banks offer?

A: We're inextricably tied to the communities that we serve. We're engaged with our customers, whether we bump into them at the grocery store, at school or at church.

A: I see the Minnesota Lakes Bank brand growing over time in a controlled, responsible way. We put a lot of work into developing that brand and part of it is we want to capture that iconic spirit of the state. Any future expansion, barring something close to Grand Rapids, likely is going to take place under that charter.