Meet Royal Bank's Mike Stevenson by Luke Babich

Mike Stevenson, Senior Vice President and head of Retail Banking at Royal Bank, Chamber Director, and  resident of St. Louis all his life, discusses  running and building businesses, and what it means to be a bank committed to community. 

Chamber of Commerce: First, can you tell us a bit about the background and history of Royal Banks?

Mike Stevenson: Royal Banks will be celebrating our 50 year anniversary next spring. The bank was founded in University City in 1964 by a group of local businessmen. Over the years, there were a couple acquisitions, and now we have five full service locations and two limited-hour locations in retirement centers. So we’ve grown.

Chamber: What does your business offer that other banks don’t?

Mike: Well, I think most banks offer pretty much the same stuff: checking account, savings account, loans. What we offer is that we are committed to the St. Louis community. We are a community bank; we invest in St. Louis. We invest in the communities we are in. We do programs with the University City schools such as giving savings bonds to the district’s merit scholars every year. We’ve created a scholarship fund and each year we award three students a one-thousand-dollar scholarship to help them as they’re going off to college.

Chamber: You’ve already touched on this, but what does the Bank bring to the community?

Mike: A lot! We’re part of the community, we lend in the community, we want to see the community around our branches thrive and survive. So that’s a big thing. We bring customer service. We know our clients and our neighbors, and we know them on a very personal level.

Chamber: On a more personal side, what motivates you to do what you do? What are you excited or passionate about when it comes to your work?

Mike: It’s great to help people. It’s great to help somebody start a business and see that business grow and prosper. That’s what motivates me. Plus, the staff! I love working with the staff. It’s great to see the young people that come here as they’re going to school and watch them become part-time tellers, and then full-time tellers to personal bankers to maybe branch managers or they move to different areas of the bank. So, it’s pretty exciting.

Chamber: Did you grow up in U. City?

Mike: No, actually I grew up in South St. Louis and St. Louis Hills.

Chamber: Do you have any key mentors who deeply influenced who you are, what you believe in, and what you’re committed to with your work?

Mike: Both of my bosses. I work for two brothers. They don’t own the bank, but I work for Steve Baden and Mitch Baden, and I have learned a lot from the two of them, just listening to them and watching them and how they interact with clients or work up a loan deal or structure a deal or look at the financial aspect of the bank. I would say I’ve learned from both of them.

Chamber: If I were a new client, what would you want me to know?

Mike: What I’d want you to know is that we will know your name. We will be here to take care of you, and that we want to see you grow and prosper, and that not only are you our client, but your children will become our clients and their children become our clients, and so on. And when you think of something you need, whether it’s a checking account, a mortgage when you buy your first house, or you want to add on a room because you’re now having another child that you weren’t planning on having—that whatever life throws at you, you can turn to us. And when it’s time to maybe get the kids off to school and a college education, or help them get married, you turn to us. And we help you walk your daughter across that stage or down the aisle.