How FIBT Helps Charter One Support Schools and Families

Since its founding in 2015, the education management organization Charter One has experienced rapid growth. “We’ve grown about 30 percent year over year since we started,” explains Charter One CEO Bill Guttery. “That’s why we need good bankers.”

Charter One is the management organization that supports American Leadership Academy, a nonprofit school system that serves about 28,000 K-12 students across Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina. “Charter One provides all of the HR, IT, and support services that are necessary to run a school,” Bill says. “We take care of that day-to-day business so that ALA can take care of the kids.”

First International Bank & Trust (FIBT) began serving Charter One in 2017, two years after its founding. “They’ve helped us with lines of credit. They’ve helped us with commercial loans. They’ve helped us with business strategies,” Bill says.

“We’ve banked with larger banks, and we were never able to find what we found at First International Bank & Trust: a relationship,” Bill continues. “It’s odd to go into a business today and have people know who you are and call you by name.”

Bill says his confidence in that relationship goes beyond business. “It’s so valuable that the four of us on our executive team all do our personal banking at FIBT because we love the relationship that’s there.”

Watch the above video to learn more about how First International Bank & Trust collaborates with Charter One – and the power of our relationship-based approach to business banking.