John Heaps Jr. to Come Full Circle in Banking in Hampden County
WEST SPRINGFIELD—John Heaps Jr., President and CEO of Florence Bank, has a long and deep history in Hampden County.
He grew up in Springfield, lives and raised three children with his late wife, Jane, in Longmeadow and began his banking career at Valley Bank & Trust Co. in Springfield. And it was in Springfield, in 1987, that Heaps was first named a bank president; at 37, he was reported to be the youngest bank CEO in Western Mass by the Springfield Union News.
In August, Heaps will come full circle in banking in Hampden County when Florence Bank opens its new, full-service Hampden County Banking Center on Memorial Avenue.
“The timing is right for us,” Heaps said, noting that with the mergers and buyouts that have defined the banking landscape in past years, there is no longer a community bank headquartered in Springfield. That is a major reason why the expansion is appropriate now.
“There’s a real need for a community bank there,” he said.
Expanding in West Springfield
In 2007, Florence Bank opened a loan production office in West Springfield, the success of which is responsible for transforming the bank’s total commercial loan portfolio to more than 36 percent from Hampden County-based businesses.
“As a result of this accomplishment, and the fact that West Springfield is centrally located in the county, it became clear to us that we needed to open a full-service branch,” Heaps said.
In the next three to five years, Florence Bank plans to open additional branches in the Greater Springfield area. “We are making a commitment to Hampden County. It’s a major strategic direction for Florence Bank to build a presence there,” he said.
Between the loan center, a visible ATM in Springfield, a relationship with the Basketball Hall of Fame and employees—like Heaps—who live in Hampden County, the bank can already boast of nearly 3,000 personal banking customers and over 400 commercial clients in the Greater Springfield region. The bank also has a relationship with 97 nonprofits in Hampden County that have received over $300,000 in grants and gifts in the past five years.
Heaps, Hampden County connection
Heaps’ banking career began in marketing in 1971 at Valley Bank & Trust Co. in Springfield, located in what is now known as MassMutual.
He later worked for Old Colony Bank, which became Bank of Boston-Western Massachusetts, in 1982; in 1987, at 37, Heaps was named that bank’s president and CEO.
Heaps took over the helm of Florence Bank in 1995, and since that time, the bank’s assets have grown from $250 million to $1.2 billion and its capital from $25 to $130 million.
He continues to live in Longmeadow and is an active resident of Hampden County, where he has sat on boards for dozens of organizations; he currently serves on the executive committee for the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts and on the Board of Trustees for Bay Path University.
The Hampden County Banking Center
All of Florence Bank’s services will be offered through its new Hampden County Banking Center in West Springfield, scheduled to open in August in one third of a 9,000-square-foot plaza that will also hold other commercial tenants.
Located on Memorial Avenue and Bridge Street at the former site of St. Ann Roman Catholic Church, which closed in December 2008, the Hampden County Banking Center will have eight employees including: Maureen Buxton, Branch Manager; Stephanie Moore, Assistant Branch Manager; commercial lenders James Montemayor, Henry Downey and mortgage loan originator Susan Seaver, and John Ernst of Florence Bank’s Financial Group will also be available by appointment.
Florence has branches in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Northampton and Williamsburg and is headquartered in Florence.
