Since he moved to Miami in1979, Rick Kuci has devoted hiscareer to banking. He is passion-ate about it and looks for thesame trait in employees. His jour-ney from Southeast Bank, wherehis professional path started, toothers such as Bank of Florida,County National Bank and KislakNational Bank, led him toCoconut Grove Bank in 2005.Since July, Mr. Kuci has beenpresident and CEO of the 87-year-old bank.

His main goals are growth anda successful move to the adjacentparking lot, where a new buildingis to be finished in 2016. Mr. Kuciholds the role of smaller banks tobe very relevant in the currentscenario, particularly to helprevive the economy.

Miami Today reporter VanessaZambrano interviewed Mr. Kuciin his office in Coconut Grove.

Q: Even though you were bornin Pensacola you moved aroundand you also lived in Virginiaand California. Did you live any-where else?

A: Yes. My dad was in theMarine Corps so every two yearswe moved around: we were threetimes in California, three times inVirginia, two years in Alabamaand two years in New York.

Q: How was the experience ofmoving so much?

A: I loved it. To me, it madeyou very adaptable, you madenew friends at each city and youcan familiarize yourself with anew town very quickly.

Q: And then after all that youwent to Alabama for school?

A: I went to Auburn inAlabama, correct.

Q: After that why did you

decide to move?A: I was recruited by Southeast

Bank, which was the largest bankin Florida, to come down into theirmanagement training program.That was in 1979. I came downwith Southeast Bank and never leftMiami, loved it.

Q: And you’ve been in Miamisince then?

A: The whole time, 34 years.Q: You studied international

business. What drove you to bank-ing specifically?

A: I was dealing with people,dealing with the finances, dealingwith small companies and seeingthem grow, being able to help themgrow and we’ve had many compa-nies that have grown to be largerpublic companies; so you’re a Jackof all trades, and helping compa-nies maneuver the tough financialsituations that come about in theeconomy.

Q: So you’ve focused on bank-ing the entire time you’ve been inSouth Florida?

A: Yes.Q: When did you join Coconut

Grove Bank?A: I started in 2005.Q: What positions have you

held since? A: I came in as executive vice

president, chief lending officer anda member of the board of directorsand recently was promoted to pres-ident and CEO at the bank.

I can’t say enough good thingsabout the bank. It’s the oldest bankin the tri-county area. We have agreat employee base – that’s one ofthe things I love about the bank –and we have one of the strongestcapital bases in South Florida.

Q: How many people do youcurrently have on staff?

President/CEOCoconut Grove Bank2701 S Bayshore DriveMiami 33133(305) 858-4006rkuci@coconutgrovebank.comAge: 56Born: Pensacola, FL, and grew up primarilyin Virginia and California Education: BS in international business inAuburn UniversityPersonal Philosophy: I’m passionate aboutlife and banking and I want employees thatare passionate about banking. You have tohave passion.

The Achiever

Rick Kuci

WEEK OF THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 SERVING SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST IMPORTANT AUDIENCE

MIAMITODAY30Years

A: We have 102 employees. Q: Have you seen growth in the

staff?A: Not until recently because, as you

know, the South Florida economy overthe past three years was hurt, veryslow, but we’re entering a new phasefor Coconut Grove Bank. We want toget more into organic growth so we seethat 102 number growing as we look tohire passionate employees and goodbusiness developers, both on the lend-ing side and in the trust and wealthmanagement side.

Q: You were promoted to presidentand CEO in July?

A: Correct.Q: What measures have you

applied since then or wish to applyhere at the bank the remaining of theyear?

A: First of all, we’ve got to finishcompleting, building the team. As Isaid we’ve got to bring on some goodproven business developers, and Ithink they’ll enjoy the atmospherehere. If they’re hard-working they’regoing to enjoy it.

Second, we’re going to be workingtowards a new building. We sold theproperty here. We’re building brandnew 30,000-square-foot building adja-cent to this building that we’ll occupysometime in 2016. So we’ve got to dothe space planning and start oversee-ing the construction of that.

Q: And meanwhile you’ll stay in thesame building?

A: We’ll stay here the whole time.The new building will be eight feetaway from this building, in the lowerparking lot that you see. That’s excit-ing because this building is 55 yearsold so we’re going to have a brand-new building, underground parking foremployees and a modern building.

Q: Is it going to be bigger?A: No, it’s going to be a little bit

smaller than this building. It’s going tobe two stories and 30,000 square feet.In this building we have seven floorsbut we have other tenants. In the newbuilding it’s only going to be bank,bank departments and bank employ-ees.

Q: What will happen to the ten-ants?

A: The tenants that are here willneed to find other locations in CoconutGrove because that will be strictly abank building.

Q: And the land itself was sold?A: We have 5½ acres which we sold.

We’re going to build 30,000 squarefeet on a little over an acre. When thebuilding is finished we will buy thatbuilding back and we’ll own the oneacre on the corner of Southwest 27thAvenue and Bayshore Drive.

Q: When was the deal finalized?A: Aug. 1.Q: Are you going to follow the

direction that the bank has had so faror are you planning on taking differ-ent steps?

A: The new direction now is growthbecause, again, our bank like mostbanks had a tough three years. Theeconomy in South Florida wasn’t themost conducive to growth, but we’vestarted to see the economy turningaround.

We’ve started hiring new people.We’ve had some sales training for ourfolks and again looking to bring onproven business developers. So you’llsee the bank go from a $620 millionbank and start growing from there.

Q: When you say growth, does thatalso include new branches?

A: We’ll take a look. Once we startthe internal growth sometime in 2014we may take a look at acquisition

opportunities if they present them-selves.

Q: What about online banking? Isit also targeted for growth?

A: Definitely. Christine [Woll] is incharge of the online banking and thatwas an initiative we started about ayear ago and we’ve staffed the depart-ment. We got a state-of-the-art systemand we’re trying to have all the deliv-ery channels for clients, whether theywant in person, teller, in the branch,ATM, online banking that they can do24 hours a day.

Q: Coconut Grove – as a name andas a brand – is localized. If you doexpand and grow, would you changethe name of the bank?

A: We have found, since we’vebeen here for 87 years, that a lot of ourcustomer base has migrated to otherparts of Florida, so the name is stillfairly well-known in Broward and alittle less known in Palm Beach.

I think if we went to Broward youmay not necessarily need to do a namechange because, again, most peopleknow Coconut Grove Bank. If you goout of Dade or Broward counties youmight need to visit that, but initiallythe first step for growth would be intoBroward County.

I don’t see us going statewide. Ithink we’d stay in the tri-county area.

Q: Do you have a particular goal innumbers of employees that you’re

“I think the revival of the economy is dependent on the smaller banks,” says Rick Kuci, who

became president and CEO of Coconut Grove Bank in July after eight years there.

Photo by Marlene Quaroni

Rick Kuci plans to build Coconut Grove Bank team as he...

pushing to get to?A: It’s depending upon the right

employee with a good loyal following.To me we always have an opening forgood proven producers who want tojoin a bank that’s well capitalized,strong, one of the strongest in DadeCounty, and want the challenge ofbringing a portfolio over and growingwith the bank.

Q: Can you tell me some of theniche areas that the bank focuses on?

A: Sure. We deal a lot with smallbusinesses. We deal a lot with owner-occupied real estate, investor realestate. Then we have a great trust andwealth management department, andwe have a retail wealth managementbrokerage division.

And for larger accounts we handlethem up in our trust and wealth man-agement department, where they havea dedicated trust administrator invest-ment advice and we match right upthere against all the large trust compa-nies out there from Northern Trust tothe Bank of New York Mellon [BNYMellon], to the Sabadell [UnitedBank], all of them.

Q: How is the interface with theboard?

A: The board and shareholders, wefeel very much aligned. We have somegreat board members on there. If youtake a look at them we have peoplethat are experienced bankers that haverun successful banks in Dade Countyfor many years. We have the chiefadministrative officer of BaptistHospital. We have some accountants,we have some attorneys, we have pri-vate investors. So we’ve got a greatboard, wealth of knowledge and arevery much aligned together.

Q: What do you think has nowbecome the role of smaller banksafter the 2008 economic downturn?

A: I think the revival of the econo-my is dependent on the smaller banks.They’re the ones.

Miami is a little bit different becausewe’re such a large metropolitan com-munity, but if you look throughout thecountry, there’s a lot of small commu-nities that a large bank isn’t going tobe interested in going in. There $100million banks out there that have been

in the that community for 50 or 80years that have started, funded, estab-lished a lot of the businesses, financeda lot of the homes. So to me, commu-nity banking is the backbone ofAmerica, the backbone of the econo-my to get it jump-started.

Q: How’s your client base?A: Very loyal. We have second and

third generations that have bankedwith us. It’s always pleasing to go outand visit with a client and they may bein their 50s or 60s and they say “myparents first opened my first bankaccount at Coconut Grove or mygrandparents banked at CoconutGrove.”

This bank played a very instrumen-tal role in developing Coconut Grove,a lot of the houses that were built. Wehave a long history with University ofMiami and it was very vital in thedevelopment.

We’re very much relationship driv-en. We get to know our customers. Welisten to them in good times and in badtimes and we try to be there for themwhen they need us.

Q: What kind of changes have youseen since you got into banking in thearea?

A: When I first got into bankingMiami didn’t have what was calledbranch banking, so if Coconut GroveBank had five branches, each one wasa separate bank, a separate board ofdirectors and a separate CEO. So thefirst step in the early ’80s was bankconsolidation where you rolled thecharters into one bank. Second wasthey didn’t used to pay interest onchecking accounts, so that put a chal-lenge out there to the bank.

In South Florida you’ve seen manyreal estate cycles, ups and downs, andeach one you think is going to be theworst ever. I will admit this last one isthe worst that I’ve seen, but one nicething about Miami is the internationaleconomy that we’ve got. The influx ofdollars from overseas from Central,South America, and from Europe thatare coming in, it quickly buoys theSouth Florida market.

Q: What would you consider to beCoconut Grove Bank’s principalcompetitor?

A: Unfortunately, every bank…from the aspect that we all offer thesame products and services. Theremay be a little differentiation betweenthem all but the only difference is theservice that we deliver.

We all have wire capabilities. We allhave online banking. We all have billpay services, are all priced about thesame, but to me it’s the people part ofthe business, and that’s why I wantemployees that are passionate about itbecause that’s what may set us apartfrom a larger institution or the institu-tion on the next corner.

Q: Is that how you wish to keepCoconut Grove Bank positioned?

A: We’re going to continue to be outthere to deliver the best service withthe best product.

Q: How many branches do youhave right now?

A: We have five offices total. This isthe main office in Coconut Grove andwe have four other offices in Aventura,Coral Gables, South Miami andPalmetto Bay.

Q: You also mentioned capital.A: Our capital today is about $95

million, which is a strong capital ratiofor our size in South Florida, and I’vegot room to grow and I’ve got substan-tial shareholders and access to capitalif we need additional capital.

Q: How do you see the future ofCoconut Grove Bank?

A: I’m excited about the future ofthe bank because, as I said, today aswe sit we’re the oldest bank in the tri-county area. Out of 200 banks inFlorida we’re the eighth oldest bank.

If you look at our capital we’re thesecond or third best capitalized bankpercentagewise in South Florida. Allmy ratios that regulators look at aresome of the strongest ratios in SouthFlorida, so we’re poised for growth.

So with the change we said we justwanted to start organic growth, bringon proven producers, so to me this isthe best opportunity, the best bank towork for going forward. We’re poisedfor growth and we’re continuing tolook at new products, new services,and I’m looking for those passionateemployees out there that enjoy bank-ing, that want to have a challenge.

...prepares for move to new headquarters building next door

Q: How have you found CoconutGrove Bank different from otherbanking institutions?

A: I like the rich heritage of 87years. During the downturn in theeconomy we had many customerscome open new accounts with us andwe’d ask them why. They said, “weknow you guys have been the rock ofages. You guys have withstood somuch over 87 years.”

This building is a landmark, peoplerecognize it, know that we’ve beenhere so we’ve weathered the storm andwe’ve got some great passionateemployees on staff already. The teamhere is great. I think our oldest tenuredemployee has been 35 years with thebank and we have a lot of employeesthat have been here 20, 22 or 25 years.It says something about the bank, theculture and the service that they likedelivering.

We don’t tend to have the employeeturnover that some of the larger insti-tutions have and everything is localdecision-making. We have local man-agement here. Our board of directors islocal. Loan decisions are made locally,so we don’t have to wait for a decisionout of California, New York or NorthCarolina.

Q: Yet Miami is a very internation-al city. Do you have many clientsfrom Latin America or elsewhere inthe world?

A: About 10% of our deposit base is

international, from every country youcan almost imagine. You can’t be inMiami without having an internationalflavor to you. That’s part of the joy ofMiami.

Q: Are you a member of any organ-izations in Miami?

A: Yes there are two. One is calledWorld President’s Organization[WPO]. The second, I’m chairman ofthe board of Neighborhood LendingPartners, which is a consortium oflocal banks to provide financing todevelopers of affordable housing andcommunity revitalization projects. It’sa very worthwhile organization.

Q: How long have you beeninvolved?

A: In World President’sOrganization for about 12 years and inNeighborhood Lending Partners prob-ably about the same time.

Q: Tell me about your family.A: I’ve been married 26 years now.

My wife Renee and I have two chil-dren. One just took off to college. Myson is 18 and I took him to theUniversity of Wisconsin two weeksago, so that was an interesting chapterin life. Then I’ve got a 10-year-olddaughter, so a wide age difference…Of course, now she misses her bigbrother.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?A: I’ve got two that I enjoy doing.

One is road bike. On the weekends Iput in a lot of miles on the road bike,

early in the morning as you see every-body up and down the streets, I’m oneof those.

Q: In Coconut Grove?A: No, I live a little bit south of here

but I’ll put in 30 or 40 miles on eachday and the other.

I also love fishing, whether it be off-shore fishing or what they call backcountry fishing.

Q: Around here, or do you go to theKeys?

A: Miami and the Keys, and what’scalled Flamingo for backcountry fish-ing. In South Florida, that’s the beautyof it, being able to be outdoors all yeararound.

Q: Do you plan to stay here? A: This is where I plan to stay. I love

Miami. I love the culture, the weather,and especially from January to Mayyou can’t find a better climate any-where in the country.

Q: Did you adapt to other places justas well?

A: Oh, yes. Definitely adapted tothat surroundings, the people, the cul-ture. Coconut Grove and South Floridaremind me a lot of SouthernCalifornia. The weather is very similar.Southern California doesn’t have thehumidity that we have here, but still,the sun, the ocean and the water.