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20 Hartford Business Journal • November 26, 2012 www.HartfordBusiness.com Celebrating 20 Years of Business News BANKING 20 Years of W hen I think back over the last 20 years or so, I think about the time we almost closed our doors. It was a time when the business environment was so stagnant that companies all around us were closing or being closed. Local banks were having it tough too and many of them were being taken over by larger institutions. That's what set the stage for that day. As I sat in my office, listening to my book- keeper "dialing for dollars" from clients who were also having a tough time keeping up with bills (including ours), I got a call. It was from Kevin Flaherty, a banker whose institu- tion held our line of credit. It turns out that my tiny line of credit was an anomaly in his department. They normally dealt with much larger businesses. Because the bank was con- sidering a merger, they were taking a good hard look at the books. My line of credit sim- ply needed to be cleaned up. Not right away. I'd have until Monday. Somehow I just didn't quite have that $15,000 in the drawer that I could send him by Monday. Somehow. So, I came in on Saturday to think about how I was going to close the business. I thought about how I'd tell my employees. And my parents. And all the people who looked to me as the small business owner who'd made it. I looked around the office. At the impres- sive stories we'd placed for our clients. At the wonderful sales materials and logos we'd pulled out of our creative minds. At the collection of awards that told us our peers thought we were worthy of praise. I thought about how I started the business with the goal of creating the best workplace I'd ever worked. I knew I'd created that. The empty halls rang with the laughter we indulged in every day; with the creative juices that fueled our work and with the teamwork that kept us looking forward to coming to work every day. I decided I wasn't willing to give that up. I knew I'd never find another workplace as good as this company. I decided to fight. Or, more accurately, to give up on fighting. First thing Monday morning I called Kevin. "I don't have $15,000. Do what you have to," I told him. There was silence and then he said, "Hmm, well, that's disappointing. I'll have to get back to you. Maybe we can put you in our Small Business Department." "Okay," I mumbled, shocked that the Bank Police hadn't swooped down to take me to the Bad Business Poor House on the spot. Two days went by and then anoth- er call from Kevin. "They don't want you," he told me, making me feel even lower. Rejected. Too much in the hole for even the Small Business Depart- ment to want us. "What happens now," I asked. "I'm not sure," said Kevin, "I'll have to get back to you." Well, two days later he did get back to me, with a miraculous offer to pay off the debt over time. In a business environment where banks were shutting businesses' doors for much less, Kevin took a leap of faith and believed in my firm. He threw us the lifeline we needed and changed the course of our firm's history with that one act of confidence in us. Fifty-three months later, I walked into that bank to personally hand them my last monthly payment. Kevin had since moved on to another institution. Nevertheless, I made an appointment with two bankers who were quite mystified by my need to personally bring in the last payment. I told them I had to. I told them that their institution took an enormous flyer on my company and that I needed to tell someone that face-to-face. When I placed the check on their desk, there was a moment of silence. All three of us stared at it. Finally, Anonymous Banker #1 spoke: "Hmm, well, thanks. Is there any- thing else we can do for you?" And feeling quite smug I answered, "You can validate my parking." And I floated out of that bank, know- ing that nothing and no one was ever going to shake my belief in my business like that again. Oh, and I should add one more thing: I did see Kevin again. He sat at my table when the then-Hartford Chamber of Commerce award- ed my company the Small Business Leader of the Year award in 1998. And we're still here. We celebrated our 30th anniversary on Nov. 15. Thank you, Kevin. g Andrea Obston is president of Andrea Obston Marketing Communication in Farmington. How one banker's faith saved a small business By Andrea Obston "Remembrance" 'Kevin took a leap of faith and believed in my firm.' The Fleet Bank branch on the corner of Park and Washington Streets in Hartford recently held its fifth annual Fun in the Sun community cookout. The event is held each summer to thank Fleet customers for their business and to demonstrate Fleet's support for the Park Street neighborhood. Working the grill, are, from left, Chandler Howard, president of Fleet - Connecticut; Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez; Julio Mendoza, executive director of the Spanish American Merchants Association; Calixto Torres, Hartford City Council; and Fernando Rosa, deputy director of the Hartford Economic Development Corp. In 2000, Brett Silvers was atop the world as chair and CEO of First International Bank and president and CEO of its publicly traded parent First International Bancorp Inc. The Hartford Business Journal honored him with an Accolades Award for turning a small community bank into a lender to an inter- national small business. P H O T O / S T E v E L A S c H E v E R