Leading green execs: David Williams

After holding positions all over the world—ranging from high-school physics teacher to chief engineer to CEO for a variety of companies, including a Taiwanese boat builder, a robotics company, and an oil and gas company—David Williams never imagined that he’d be running a community-focused bank in the town his ancestors founded several generations ago. But when ShoreBank Pacific tapped him in 2000 to take over the bank, headquartered in Ilwaco, Wash., he agreed, eager to fully develop the bank’s sustainability strategy.

 The idea for ShoreBank Pacific was hatched by Spencer Beebe, founder of Portland-based nonprofit Ecotrust, who wanted to support rural industries, such as logging and fishing, that had a direct, vested interest in environmental responsibility. Beebe envisioned a regional commercial bank that could provide rural communities and their businesses with financial capital and a “triple-bottom-line” approach to business. When he began searching for capital partners he found ShoreBank Corp., a leading community development bank in Chicago. In 1995, Ecotrust and ShoreBank agreed to start a nonprofit focused on higher-risk lending, and two years later they started the bank.

“But the folks running it didn’t do what they were supposed to do; they just treated it like any other bank,” explains CEO Dave Williams. “So that’s when they brought me on. We put together a different group to run it, developed the sustainability strategy and really got the bank up and running.”

Williams has been leading ShoreBank Pacific ever since, adding new services and offices to grow the bank in ways that support its mission to build sustainable communities.

Williams has also led ShoreBank to profitability, something the bank struggled with in its initial years. With Williams at the helm, the bank’s assets grew from $10 million in 2000 to $155 million in 2006, and its loans grew from $2 million to $166 million in the same time frame, according to Williams. The growth helped put ShoreBank in a position to expand its services in 2006 to include paperless “EcoCash” checking accounts for individuals. Though bank staff and co-founders credit Williams with leading ShoreBank into the black, he attributes much of the bank’s success to its focus on community building, which has attracted many loyal clients.

The general “greening” of the banking industry has also helped ShoreBank to grow in recent years. Williams says when he started at the bank, its competitors were using its “green” cred against it. “Now they’re all trying to sell themselves as green banks,” he says.
Part of the shift is due to the success of various green businesses that ShoreBank has invested in. “The groups we started out with showed that you can generate revenue and make money by focusing on sustainability, and people are realizing there’s something here that’s worth listening to,” Williams says.