Banking on Relationships
How Bank of Central Florida Developed from Small Beginnings into a Community Cornerstone
PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL | DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BANK OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
Front: Paul Noris, Bank of Central Florida CEO and Chairman of the Board
Back: (Top row first, right to left) Randy Estrada, Alexandra Lee, Kim Knaisch, Clint Tedder, Dawn Lyons, April Mullins, Emily Jesse
Eighteen years ago, Paul Noris set out with a bold vision—to build a community bank that would do more than manage money; it would empower growth. Today, as CEO and Chairman of the Board, he reflects on the tangible impact Bank of Central Florida has made through building relationships.
As he drives through the region, the milestones are unmistakable. He passes thriving local businesses that once needed help to secure their first property. He sees nonprofit organizations that the Bank has championed, and he frequently crosses paths with entrepreneurs who have flourished under the guidance of his team of dedicated Relationship Managers. For Paul, these aren’t just success stories—they’re daily reminders of why the Bank was founded in the first place.
“All of our people take a great deal of pride in the responsibility we feel to make sure that the community starts to grow,” Noris says. “If you would’ve asked me back in 2007 whether the bank would’ve survived for 18 years and grown to the level that we’ve grown, I would’ve probably thought you were a little crazy, to be honest.”
Paul Noris, CEO and Chairman of the Board for Bank of Central Florida, founded the bank more than 18 years ago with a vision to serve the community with personalized banking solutions. Today, the Lakeland-based institution has more than $1 billion in assets.
“If you build your community, you’ll build your bank. If we help this community, whether it’s through capital allocation or charitable contributions, or actually just rolling up our sleeves and working hard alongside other people in this community, we will make it happen.”
The honest truth is Noris never had a career roadmap that culminated with him as the chairman and CEO of a flourishing bank. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from University of Florida, tried his hand at construction work after graduation and quickly realized that wasn’t for him. He took a friend up on the offer to get into the mortgage industry, and almost four decades later—including a stint of nearly 10 years serving as the local president of SunTrust Bank—he is the leader of a bank that employs more than 100 staff, that has more than $1 billion in assets and is committed to continually evolving to serve clients’ ever-changing needs.
In a city that was home to primarily larger regional banks and only a couple of community banks, Noris saw the opportunity to build a homegrown entity that could become a financial partner that would grow right alongside local businesses. In essence, he and his team had to personally go through the entrepreneurial process that they are now dedicated to helping others go through.
“We were building a company just like all of our clients do,” he explains. “We decide what our growth targets [were] going to be, where we (were) going to go…I joke all the time that, around here, if you identify a problem, you better help us identify a solution because there is no one to turn to in Atlanta or Charlotte or wherever to send us some answers.”
One of the goals of the bank from 2020 to 2025 was to expand its presence along the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Orlando. Bank of Central Florida now has six locations, including two in Tampa Bay, which benefits a lot of Lakeland based companies who do business in the metro area.
As the bank’s footprint continues to grow, its leadership team meets weekly to keep aligned and stay focused on helping business owners and prospective entrepreneurs navigate the realities of the market, the trends that are informing development, etc. It’s all part of what Noris refers to as servant leadership—i.e. using your influence and abilities to empower and develop others.
“He thrives on the concept of servant leadership and will go out of his way to encourage, support and lift up the people in his life - from employees and clients to friends and family,” says Paul’s wife, Lynn Noris. “Paul has a great deal of determination, work ethic and vision.”
Paul says that the purpose of Relationship Managers requires Bank of Central Florida to find, hire and empower staff who truly love serving others and seeing them succeed.
Relationship Managers focus on understanding each business’s unique vision and determining how the bank can be a supportive partner in both prosperous and challenging times.
He noted that about 80 percent of the bank’s revenue comes from commercial accounts, and their sweet spot is truly working with small to medium sized companies.
“We really want to understand sort of what their business is doing today, but where they’re trying to go and how they’re trying to grow their company so that we can be there, be supportive for them,” Noris says.
That nurturing character flows naturally into the bank’s involvement with the community. Paul has served on the board of directors for Lakeland Chamber of Commerce and Explorations V Children’s Museum and currently serves on the board of overseers at the Barney Barnett School of Business at Florida Southern College, as well as the United Way of Central Florida board of directors, where he and Lynn co-led the organization’s annual campaign.
Since 2020, Bank of Central Florida has provided more than $700,000 in sponsorships and donations to local non-profits.
“Paul Noris inspires many through his leadership and spirit of giving back to the local community,” says UWCF President and CEO Christina Criser Jackson. “I am grateful for the privilege to work alongside and learn from such an incredible leader. I know many of our team members have benefited from his insight and mentorship.”
Noris said one of his greatest joys is helping local businesses transition from one generation of leadership to the next, especially as part of a community that is so tight knit. Those types of partnerships are the win-win scenarios the bank thrives on.
“If you build your community, you’ll build your bank,” a mentor once told Noris, a philosophy he wholeheartedly embraces. “If we help this community, whether it’s through capital allocation or charitable contributions, or actually just rolling up our sleeves and working hard alongside other people in this community, we will make it happen.”