Steven Bender

Hi, I'm Steven Bender, Manager of Dealer Services.

I choose to work at Commerce because they were willing to offer me a job!1 All jokes aside, what drew me to Commerce was the future opportunities that were offered as part of the bank trainee program.

As a young graduate, I was not sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The program offered the opportunity to learn the different facets of Commerce and banking ultimately finding a career that fits me best. It was a great steppingstone into my next role.  

What I like most about working at Commerce is the people. The people make the difference. It is what shapes our culture. It makes us who we are and separates us from our peers. 

I have met a lot of great people at Commerce, some of which I consider my best friends, especially my wife! She and I met in the trainee program over eight years ago! 

What I find most rewarding about my work again is the people and relationships.  I love meeting with our long time customers and hearing stories from when their parents or grandparents started banking with Commerce. Many times those relationships started years before I was born. 

I also enjoy the partnership our group has developed with different bankers across the bank. I work in the commercial dealer services group and our team is unique in that we cover the whole bank. If a local banker has an opportunity to work with an auto dealer, our team is involved. This has given me the opportunity to meet with bankers throughout our entire footprint. It has been fun to meet new people and learn about their communities. 

What would I tell someone looking to make a career change at Commerce? 
First of all, take a chance at something new, and see what opportunity it can provide. 

Commerce has a culture unlike any other. I started my career as a young inexperienced graduate that did not know much about Commerce or banking. Quickly I heard stories about employees who have worked at Commerce for 30-40+ years, and you wonder “wow this place must be great”. Everyone was saying Commerce had a great culture and I wondered if they were saying that because I was new to the bank. As time passed, I started to realize why we have such a strong culture. We treat people right, we treat them fairly. We make people feel welcome and part of the team.

Our strong culture became even more apparent to me when I started to hear stories from our customers and competitors. When you have a customer say that they are proud to bank with Commerce that's pretty special. 

I'm proud to say I work at Commerce and I want our customers to be proud to say they have partnered with Commerce, too.