Check them out: www.oneunited.com. They have gorgeous ongoing photos of their customers, staff, board members, and management on the right hand side.In the company summary, Kevin Cohee, chairman, outlines that the bank is "fulfilling a 100-year old civil rights dream of garnering spending power of Black community and re-channeling it back into Black community."
The bank holds over $550 million in assets and is a member of the FDIC.
How does the bank fulfill the civil rights dream? As an African-American managed and African-American focused bank, they have the ability to target where they will concentrate their lending. In the last two years they have been able to help homeowners and merchants with $350 million+ in mortgages, predominantly in "low to moderate income communities such as South Central, Compton, Liberty City and Roxbury."
The opportunity to return capital to the African-American community is a fantastic one that I hope all of us may learn from.The story with the recent rise of this company began more than ten years ago when Cohee and his wife Teri Williams deposited $1 million into the black-owned Boston Bank of Commerce. Their money brought more decision-making power to both spouses, who started to play management roles within the Bank with the vision of becoming, as Williams stated, "the largest and most profitable African-American-owned financial institution... We would like to create a national network of customers which supports the economic development and empowerment of African-American communities nationwide."
By 2000 Cohee was CEO of Boston Bank of Commerce, Williams was the marketing head, and both were in the midst of a single-minded strategy to acquire Black-owned banks nationwide.
In 1999, they purchased Peoples National Bank of Commerce of Miami. In 2000, they bought Founders National Bank in Los Angeles. In 2002, they acquired the LA-based Family Savings Bank and in January 2003 they unveiled their new identity, OneUnited Bank, on MLK Jr. Day.
Williams and Cohee's vision is being achieved, and you'd better believe, as I choose to ;-) , that Williams is a powerful source of inspiration for her husband and business partner.According to her bio, Williams' 25 years of experience includes time at Bank of America and American Express. She received her bachelor's from Brown and holds an M.B.A. with honors from Harvard University. She also is active in community work, including serving as treasurer for a community health center in Roxbury, Massachusetts and serving with the Urban League, the NAACP and the National Black MBA Association. You go, sister in biz!
All of us may learn from the Williams-Cohee's example.
Set the goal! Work towards it! Believe in what you're doing and Never let up!
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