JOHN COFFELT Contributor

Small enough to know your name, big enough to serve your needs, Coffee County Bank has been a service to the community for 50 years.

CCB Chief Executive Officer Carter Sain said that he was one year old when the bank was formed.

“I was probably born about the time that founders decided this community needed another community bank option, so local business folks entered these discussions and started getting serious about capitalizing a new community bank,” Sain said.

Those founders included names well-known in Manchester like Dr. Ewing Threet, Ed Henley, Buster Bush, Bud Riddle, Alford White and the Powers family in the mid-seventies.

“I think in their wildest dreams, they thought this would be a $25 million bank at some point,” Sain said. “It has grown beyond what their imagination had held.”

CCB was originally envisioned as a consumer orientated bank helping people of all walks of life, yet about 20 years ago the bank was able to grow to over $100 million asset mark.  

About 10 years ago, the bank made a move toward expanding into commercial banking. At that time Sain was welcomed into a leadership role with the bank.

Sain said that despite the bank’s growth over the years it has remained true to its immediate community of Coffee County while eyeing the opportunity to help with the banking needs of those in Tullahoma in 2017 and then just over three years ago, opening a full-service bank in Warren County.

In Tullahoma, Coffee County Bank has recently closed on property across the street from its Jackson Street location as the possible location of a new building. 

The term “community bank” is everywhere, but often the term is more promotional than a practical definition. As the expression goes, the test of a good community bank is how many banners do they have hanging at the local high school. It’s a measure not of size or number of branches, but how the bank interacts with the community.

“Hearing what our community needs and responding (is the definition of being a good neighbor),” Sain said. “It means supporting them both through banking practices and giving back. Our organization has done a very good job with that.”

Sain said the measure of the quality of a bank is directly tied to the people who work within its walls.

“We believe we have a fantastic team within our organization that makes us who we are – makes us connect with our clients and makes us special.”

At 50 years, CCB has grown to become a $400 million asset size organization, which for context makes it a midsize bank.

“We are comfortable in our own skin,” Sain said. “We like the fact that we are small and are responsive to our people’s needs. When one of our clients calls in, the answer they need is either on the phone with them or no more than a phone call away.”

CCB prides itself on having all the technology that banking clients have come to need. That could range from mobile banking to remote capture of deposits, debit card and merchant services, and CCB-branded credit card.

On the commercial side of things, CCB has added to its real estate lending abilities by adding New Haven Mortgage. The New Haven team consists of the finest mortgage people recruited from across Middle Tennessee. 

A celebration 50 years in the making

Coffee County Bank will expand its annual customer appreciation day this year with music, prizes and food. To further commemorate the occasion, CCB will give back to the community throughout the remainder of the year $1,000 for each of its 50 years in existence.

“We are gifting back to the communities that we do business in a total of $50,000,” Sain said. “Earlier this year, we kicked that off with at $10,000 donation to (Manchester’s) Park Partners for the new playground.”

The list of recipients has been finalized, and donations will be distributed in the coming months.