CEO John Steinmetz and Vista Bank Team Members Honored for Cultivating an Environment Recognized as a 2020 DBJ Best Places to Work

Dallas, TX, February 25, 2021 --(PR.com)-- During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies of all sizes and across multiple industries faced unprecedented challenges. Deemed essential services and tasked with being the Amazon Prime of the CARES Act, community banks found new ways to serve their customers during the economic lockdowns. Amidst the challenging 2020 environment, Vista Bank debuted on the coveted 2020 Dallas Business Journal's Best Places to Work Honoree's list. John Steinmetz, President and CEO of Vista Bank, credited this achievement to his dedicated team of 159 members.

With locations across Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and West Texas, Vista Bank exemplifies the community banking model. At the helm of the 108-year-old Bank, 42-year-old CEO John Steinmetz is quickly becoming one of the industry's rising thought leaders. Overseeing the Bank's responsible and organic growth - exceeding 550% in the last decade alone - Steinmetz helped Vista make the Top 100 Texas Banks list by asset size. Serving as a Regent for his alma mater, Texas Tech University, John Steinmetz is that rare combination of strong leadership, financial acumen, and EQ, ensuring Vista continues putting People First.

In a recent interview with Ollie Chandhok, Market President and Publisher of the Dallas Business Journal, John shared his views on the incredible success of Vista Bank. Post COVID-19, John plans to continue advancing the Bank's technology while not sacrificing the strong culture that helped Vista Bank win this coveted award. Despite many team members rotating and working from home during the lockdown situation, Vista Bank maintained an interactive environment using Zoom and WebEx tools, which Steinmetz credits for his team staying connected. Moving forward, he envisions increased investment in data and technology.

Steinmetz further noted that Vista Bank navigated the 2020 challenges by meeting the needs of current and new clients while ensuring team members, clients, and communities could bank with confidence during the lockdown period. An essential business, banking plays a vital role in society. When the whole world was on the verge of unemployment, alongside fellow community banks, Vista was on the front lines of small business assistance working in three-shift rotations for a time to serve clients 24 hours a day.

With the passing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) last year, Vista Bank participated in the Paycheck Protection Program, ensuring skilled employees could stay off the unemployment line. One of the first thirteen Texas banks participating in the Federal Reserve's Main Street Lending Program, Vista Bank provided access to this opportunity for local, qualified businesses of all sizes to help keep the Texas economy strong.

"We believe in culture and people. We are working from home but not at the cost of culture," noted John D. Steinmetz. "Culture makes a difference. It is something which separates Vista bank from its competitors."

Publishing a 2020 blog on gratitude, John Steinmetz encouraged his team to continue stepping up for clients in 2021, with a renewed zeal to serve others from a thankful heart. Promoting diversity by actively soliciting business from sole proprietors and minority-owned businesses suffering during COVID-19, as well as their #commUNITYbanking initiative and local clean-up efforts of a small business devastated by summer riots, Vista Bank continued to invest in underserved populations.

Inspired by the latest digital revolution and what it holds for the future of banking, John stressed the need to invest more in leveraging data and advancing technology to communicate with customers where they spend more and more of their time. Known for core values of anticipating and sacrificing consistently while always remaining hungry, humble, and smart, Steinmetz credited his team's implementation of those values as a means to deliver on their People First mission.

Watch the interview here: https://www.vistabank.com/newsroom/dbj-market-president-and-publisher-ollie-chandhok-catches-up-with-john-steinmetz

About John Steinmetz

President and CEO of Vista Bank, Steinmetz oversees all commercial and retail functions of the Bank and was recently noted for transforming the Bank's digital experience when clients needed it most. The first non-family member appointed to Bank CEO, the 108-year-old company was a West Texas bank domiciled in Ralls, headquartered in Lubbock, and focused primarily on agricultural lending when Steinmetz took the helm. Leading the charge on a rebrand that would encourage urban market expansion with small business and middle-market companies, John Steinmetz grew the Bank's capital and influence, expanding the footprint into the Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin markets. Serving on the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, Steinmetz was named a 2019 Most-Admired CEO by his peers.