Banking on change

Jennifer Griffith, Commerce National Bank
Jennifer Griffith, President, Commerce National Bank

When the economy changed, Jennifer Griffith changed Commerce National Bank along with it.

“It has been necessary to focus on efficiency without adversely affecting our client’s experience,” says Griffith, who subsequently led an effort to build diverse focus groups and project teams that were instrumental in maintaining service delivery commitments and energizing their team to support the changes.
Griffith was named one of 2010 Smart Leader honorees by Smart Business and Blue Technologies. We asked her how she overcomes challenges, innovates and gives back to the community.
Give us an example of a business challenge you and/or your organization faced, as well as how you overcame it.
Stewarding change and consolidation requires that we keep the client’s perspective at the forefront of all our decisions. Building diverse focus groups and project teams was instrumental in maintaining service delivery commitments and energizing our team to support the changes.
In what ways are you an innovative leader, and how does your organization employ innovation to be on the leading edge?
CNB’s business model has always been to deliver great financial solutions without investing in retail branches. In recent years we have heavily invested in technology to bring our clients great products that allow banking to expand beyond any perceived geographic limitations. With remote deposit and online banking, our services have expanded throughout the Midwest.