Pub. 3 2015 Issue 1

Issue 1. 2015 19 "The Bicycle Collective helps to provide bicycles to kids, families, and adults in need and who would otherwise be unable to enjoy them," said Beth Thomas-Rosswog with Wells Fargo Custom-Home Construction Finance in Salt Lake City. "Through its community education courses, they offer an Earn-A-Bike program where kids attend a six-week course to learn how to maintain, repair, and care for a bicycle. After completing the program, these kids each earn and get to keep a refurbished bicycle of their own!" The Bicycle Collective has six Utah locations. Three of its community bike shops – Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake City – offer full tool sets for bicycle repair at no charge. ZIONS BANK ZIONS BANK MARKS 21ST YEAR AS UTAH’S TOP SMALL BUSINESS LENDER Zions Bank is celebrating its twenty first consecutive year as the top provider of Small Business Administration 7(a) loans in Utah. During the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2014, Zions ap- proved 265 SBA 7(a) loans totaling more than $39.9 mil- lion. That represented 25 percent of the 1,049 SBA-backed loans approved in the administration’s Utah District. The capital provided through Zions Bank’s loans to Utah businesses allowed them to hire 873 new employees and maintain 2,689 positions, according to SBA data. Zions Bank also continues to be a leader in marketing SBA loans to women- and minority-owned businesses, which accounted for 27 percent of the loans approved by the bank during fiscal year 2014. The average loan size was less than $135,000, a strong indicator of the bank’s support for small businesses in Utah. SBA 7(a) loans are the most basic and most used type of loan in SBA’s business programs. The program offers up to 25-year, fully amortized loans that may be used for most business purposes, including the purchase of real estate for business operations, acquisition of equipment, and work- ing capital. ZIONS BANK SALES TEAMWINS THREE STEVIE AWARDS Zions Bank won three awards at the ninth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service held Feb. 27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bank’s Commercial Sales Team received a Gold award as Sales Department of the Year in the Financial Services category. It also took top honors in Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year. Rob Jeppsen, Zions Bank senior vice president of commercial sales, was honored with a silver award in the Senior Sales Director of the Year category. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is an international program recognizing sales, customer service, and contact center excellence. More than 1,900 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition. n