Nalezny brings 20 years of financial services experience to this new venture. Most recently he was president of Community First National Bank of Fort Collins/Greeley. He has been in banking in Colorado for more than 10 years and also worked with Key Bank in various capacities throughout the country with a focus on commercial lending. Nalezny holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Carleton College in Minnesota.

“It is the right time to bring this type of banking to Fort Collins,” said Nalezny. “Both Mark and I believe that the keys to success in any business, including banking, are the 3 P’s- people, place and partners. With our location in Fort Collins, we have place dialed in and we are close to finalizing our key people and partners.”

Kross joins Fort Collins Commerce Bank (in organization) from Community First National Bank where he was senior vice president and senior lender for the bank in Northern Colorado. He spent six years with Bank of Colorado, during which time he served as branch president and director, and worked with Hewlett-Packard as a senior financial analyst for several years. Kross holds an MBA from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s of business administration from the University of Iowa.

“There is tremendous opportunity to provide a high-touch, relationship-based banking experience to people in Fort Collins,” said Kross. “We intend to be an integral part of this community and that means we will make our loan decisions here, draw our directors and staff from the community and will continue our involvement in community and civic groups.”

Fort Collins Commerce Bank (in organization) will focus on providing personalized banking services to small to medium-sized business owners, real estate professionals and individuals within Fort Collins and the surrounding communities via a full range of loan and deposit products.

“Our strategy is simple. We will do the right thing for our customers, our employees, our community and our shareholders,” said Nalezny.