Feature photo, top: First Community Bank employees celebrate 25 years in 2022. (Photos provided by First Community Bank)
Ask anyone at First Community Bank in Batesville — or most any customer for that matter — about the institution’s “secret sauce,” its formula for growth and success, and they will likely provide a variation of the same response.
That would be something along the lines of:
• “Hire good people and good bankers.”
• “Build in strong communities.”
• “Take care of employees and customers.”
• “Treat ‘em like family.”
A recurring theme also reveals itself when glancing at the bank’s historical timeline: grand openings. The themes surrounding the bank’s secret to success seem to culminate in theme No. 2. First Community recently opened a branch in Harrison, its 35th location, while a 36th is on the way in Beebe, and land is under contract for a new standalone FCB branch in Rogers.
It really is as simple as relationships and communities, said Boris Dover, president and chief operating officer, one of the bank’s original 14 employees.
“We just try and roll out the red carpet of service,” he said. “It’s not a comprehensive business model — we just take care of employees and customers.”
Happy employees make good employees, and happy customers make stronger communities, he said. It is a formula that has resulted in First Community Bank becoming the seventh-largest state-chartered bank in Arkansas, boasting assets of roughly $3.5 billion and now up to 30 branches throughout northern and central Arkansas and five more in southern Missouri. Simple word of mouth from satisfied customers was a growth catalyst, as well.
Dover said strong community banks require both strong communities and strong banks, “but you’ve got to execute it.”
Any successful bank must offer the basics of good customer service and competitive products and rates. First Community has managed to maintain the personal feel of a small operation as it has grown to 670 employees.
“The bigger we get, the harder it will be to maintain it,” Dover said.
FCB may be climbing the Arkansas state bank charts, a major rising star on the state financial scene, but it started small in 1997, a virtual garage band of exceptional bankers eager to launch something new.
Dover was working with FCB founder and CEO Dale Cole at the former Worthen Bank in Little Rock. Cole, a Texas native, was transferred to Batesville by Worthen to lead its local operations. When that bank was sold to Boatmen’s, the buyer did not retain the entire Arkansas staff. That meant “nine or 10” former Worthen executives, including Cole and Dover, were free to pursue other opportunities.
Ribbon cutting at original Batesville office.
Dover said several of them went on to launch their own banks. Among them was Cole, who raised $3.4 million from 157 investors to launch the venture with 11 employees. One of Cole’s first calls was to Dover.
“Our philosophy was to hire those bankers who have local knowledge and who still believe in the community bank model,” Dover said. “Today, every new branch has a community room, a space for nonprofits and customers to use for community events. People are always using our community rooms on Saturdays and Sundays.”
Investing more than its competitors in marketing and business development helps, too. So does the bank’s extensive resume of charitable and philanthropic work across the communities it serves. That includes its hometown, for which the bank funds the annual Christmas lights and synthetic ice rink, among other things.
Dover said such endeavors, from the get-go, were considered investments rather than expenses.
FCB employees in 1998.
“There’s been a lot of giving from First Community,” said Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh. “It is definitely a credit to the community. I’ve been mayor for 20 years, and the bank has always been a partner to the city and entire community.”
Competitive salaries and benefits positively impact not just employees but local economies. A more physically tangible benefit was realized in 2003 when Cole had an employee lounge themed after Arnold’s Drive-In from the 1970s classic TV show, Happy Days built at the main office in Batesville. The “Arnold’s-Batesville” location even has a jukebox with songs selected by employees.
The bank also hosts employee picnics, and each month that budget is met, employees get a free lunch — all 670 of them. The bank values work-life balance and appreciates the pretzels into which working parents must sometimes tie themselves. In that vein, all FCB locations are equipped with after-school spaces for employees’ children, some of whom are even dropped off at bank locations by school buses in the afternoons. The 5-year-old FCB operations center even has its own playground.
That investment in employees pays off and stretches far beyond individual employees’ homes.
FCB’s original employees.
Crystal Johnson, president and CEO of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce, said she had had the unique opportunity to watch the bank grow right in her own backyard.
“I’ve seen firsthand the care and concern that they have for their people and the communities they serve,” she said. “Time and again, they have proven to be a dependable and trusted partner. Batesville would not be the successful community we are today without First Community Bank’s leadership and presence.”
In the current banking environment, Dover said FCB must be deliberate to maintain the community-bank model. There are regulatory burdens related to compliance and oversight, and it does not get cheaper to run a business with each new day. Plus, the banking landscape has changed drastically since 1997. Banks now compete for deposits with fintech and payment apps such as Venmo, in addition to other financial institutions.
Dover said the United States was home to about 12,000 banks in the early 1980s. Today, there are fewer than 4,000 with 77 state-chartered banks in Arkansas. Though it may seem like smaller banks are popping up everywhere, and many are, the consolidation that engulfed the industry 20 to 30 years ago left its mark. The COVID-19 shutdown challenged all industries, banking included, but ultimately helped illustrate the importance of local bankers dealing with local people they know in person.
FCB headquarters under construction in 2003.
“Some thought that physical branches were going away,” Dover said. “Overall, banks may be smaller and look different, but we’re still here.”
He added that it has become harder for small banks to get the resources they need.
“The community-bank model is still alive, but we have to be very deliberate to keep it,” he said.
Boris Dover, president and COO
Dover said the original core group of employees were prepared to measure success by hitting $250 million in assets. FCB surpassed that figure long ago. Sticking to the tenets of staying up to date on technology, offering red-carpet customer service and growing deposits has kept the bank strong in a volatile industry.
Dale Cole, founder and CEO
“Banks that take deposits and don’t redeploy them to help grow local businesses are not community banks,” he said. “We take a lot of pride in what we’ve been able to provide our [employee and community] families. We try to help everybody. We walk the walk, and ‘community’ is more than just a part of our name — we live it.”
First Community Bank Timeline
1997
• First Community Bank opens for business at
710 St. Louis St. in Batesville
1999
• Loan production office opens in Searcy
• Grand opening in Southside
2002
• Grand opening of two new facilities at West Beebe Capps Expressway and Race Street in Searcy
• Eagle Mountain branch opens for business in Batesville
2003
• Groundbreaking for headquarters at the corner of St. Louis and Harrison Streets in Batesville
2005
• Cave City branch opens for business
2007
• Three new locations open — Bald Knob, Highland and Cabot
2008
• Mortgage loan office opens in Jonesboro
• First Community acquires Goodman State Bank, resulting in the addition of branches in Goodman and Neosho, Missouri
2009
• Purchased a branch of Community First National Bank in Mountain Home
2011
• Grand opening of second full-service branch in Neosho
• Goodman branch relocates across the street
2014
• Full-service branch in Jonesboro on Caraway Road opens
• Fourth Searcy branch opens on East Beebe Capps Expressway
2015
• Bay branch opens for business
• Northeastern Arkansas region headquarters opens on Southwest Drive in Jonesboro
2016
• First Community acquires Little River Bank in Lepanto, resulting in another branch
2017
• New Little Rock branch opens at the corner of Kavanaugh and Cantrell
2018
• Opens second location in Cabot on Prospect Court
• Newly renovated historic branch opens in downtown Neosho
• Ribbon-cutting ceremony for new branch at East Main Street in downtown Batesville
2019
• Newport branch opens for business
• Second location in Little Rock at Ranch Boulevard opens
• Third branch in Jonesboro on East Washington opens
• Branch opens in Conway on Front Street
• Full-service banking center opens in Harrison
2021
• 28,809-square-foot operations center opens at headquarters in Batesville
• Harrison celebrates grand opening after being delayed due to COVID-19
2022
• Groundbreaking for new Conway banking center
• Grand opening for Little Rock banking center at Chenal and Rahling
• Full-service branch in Beebe opens
2023
• Grand opening for NWA branch in Rogers
• Grand opening for Joplin, Missouri, branch
2025
• Grand opening for Fayetteville branch
• Grand opening for Lead Hill branch
• Grand opening for Greensborough Village branch in Jonesboro
SEE THE FEATURE BELOW AND IN THE SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE OF ARKANSAS MONEY & POLITICS
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