Even after 23 years as a commercial banker, Stacia Peterson still feels the same sense of excitement each time she meets and forms a banking relationship with a business owner. “Businesses are like people: each one is unique,” says Peterson, who is the senior vice president of The Business Bank of St. Louis. “They all possess a different personality, and what’s important to one business is not necessarily important to another. As a commercial banker, you have to engage yourself as a strategic partner of the company you are working with to fully understand the needs you are trying to help the business meet.”

To meet the needs of her clients, Peterson regularly makes herself available to business owners. “It is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction to see how appreciative a business is when you are the banker that has formed a trusted relationship with the ownership and helped them reach their goals,” she says. “It is this accomplishment that drives me to dedicate myself as a banker to every new and existing client.”

On top of helping business owners with their banking needs, Peterson also serves the community by volunteering on the Blue Ribbon Committee of United Services, the Steering Committee for Youth In Need and the Advisory Board for the Lindenwood University School of Business.