CEO has career, Nevada State Bank on the right road

Dallas Haun was spending a lot of time on the crowded freeways of Southern California five years ago. As an executive with City National Bank, Haun would commute daily between his Long Beach home and offices in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles.

Not an easy task. But after 10 years of running commercial and private banking in California for City National, and the previous 20 years working his way up to CEO of Harbor Bank in Long Beach, it was time for a change.

"I really wanted to run my own company again, and this opportunity came up," Haun said. "When I came here, I hadn't changed jobs in 30 years. I hadn't been to Las Vegas in 25 years."

The opportunity here was to replace William Martin as president and CEO of Nevada State Bank.

"I met with Bill Martin, and there was something about the (bank)," Haun said. "I liked the smaller area. It was something of a change of pace, and running your own company was very attractive to me. So I made the move."

Haun took over Nevada State Bank in September 2007.

"Did I know what was coming here with the economy when I took over the job? No, I did not," said Haun, who recently sat down for an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He said it became apparent in the first quarter of 2008 that Nevada faced economic problems, and the bank "basically stopped making real estate loans."

"By the end of the second quarter (of 2008), we really put the brakes on," he said.

The bank never stopped issuing small business and consumer loans, however. For the next three years it focused on reorganizing its loan portfolio and expanding its lines of business. Haun said the bank was finally able to turn it around last year by lowering credit costs and improving loan quality.

Nevada State Bank posted net income of $46.6 million in 2011, compared with a $70.3 million loss in 2010. It ended 2011 with a loan portfolio valued at $1.5 billion, and finished first-quarter 2012 with reported net income of $6.9 million.

"This bank, like most of the banks in the valley, was driven by real estate loans," Haun said. "So over the last (few) years, we've spent a lot of time developing our other lines of banking. We are trying to find other engines of revenue."

Haun reorganized the bank into five lines of business: retail banking, small-business banking, corporate, real estate and private banking. He also described it as niche banking. To be successful, he said, was "all about hiring the right employees with the right skill sets and having the technology and products to fill each niche."

Haun said customers have embraced mobile banking, with 30,000 people in the past four months signing up to get statements online. He said the bank is "a few months away" from offering remote deposit capture.

"I think we are in the midst of sort of a technology shift here," Haun said. "The question is, how do you offer technology that allows people to bank and use your services on their time, not on our time?"

The recession also presented the bank with opportunities to grow its customer base and branch network with the purchase of two banks seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Since September 2008, Nevada State Bank has acquired Silver State Bank and Great Basin Bank of Nevada in FDIC transactions. The bank was chosen in August 2009 to assist the FDIC in closing Community Bank of Nevada.

While Haun has led the bank during one of the most difficult times ever for the banking industry, he's quick to credit employees with turning around Nevada State Bank.

"For a company this size and in this economy, it's about the team of people working (here)," said Haun. "There are a lot of talented people in this company."

Celebrating 53 years in business this year, the Zions Bancorporation subsidiary's $4.2 billion in assets and 59 offices make it the oldest and largest state-chartered bank in Nevada.

"I really like the size of where we are now," Haun said. "You know, we could grow this place by 50 percent and that same (culture) would remain in place."

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.