Jake Crews, 32

Jake Crews represents the fourth generation of his family to work in the family business, banking, but his path there took a detour.

That was when he worked for three years as a bank examiner for the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. A recent graduate of Washington State University, Crews spent most of his Friday nights during that time, in the late 2000s, helping regulators shutter banks statewide.

That experience has been an asset for Crews in understanding the nuances of banking and working his way up the ranks of Crews Bank Corp., based in Wauchula, Hardee County. Crews Bank Corp.’s holdings include Wauchula State Bank, Charlotte State Bank and Trust, Englewood Bank and Trust and First State Bank of Arcadia. The assets at all the banks, each of which have their own presidents who make decisions based on the local market, total more than $1.3 billion.

Crews, a Miami native, worked summers in high school at Wauchula State Bank. He came back for a job at the bank, after the stint with regulators, in 2010. He has since worked on a variety of projects there, including several that helped advance the bank’s technology products and services. With $636.4 million in assets through June, Wauchula State Bank is the largest one in the holding company.

A member of the Crews Bank Corp. board, Crews was named president of Wauchula State Bank earlier this year. The bank also moved ahead on a major expansion in 2016, opening its first office in Polk County with a branch in Winter Haven.

— Mark Gordon

Q&A

Name: Jake Crews

Age: 32

City of residence: Wauchula

Twitter handle:

Employer: Wauchula State Bank

Title: President

Birthplace: Miami

Years on the Gulf Coast: 22

Marital status/children: m/one

Alma mater: Washington State University

Best place to network: Anywhere

Coolest business experience: Everyday getting to see our family’s business grow and evolve

Messy desk or clean workspace: Clean

Best business lesson ever learned: Change is constant

A website that makes your job easier: Google

Community group you’re most involved with: Jimspace playground in Arcadia

Favorite off-hours activity:  Playing golf

Two people, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with: George Washington, Eckart Tolle

What you would be doing if you could pick another career: hunting guide out west

Top item on your bucket list:  I don’t have a bucket list    

Skill you’d like to learn: how to build apps

Who would play you in a movie about your life: Tom Hanks

If I had a magic wand I’d: throw it in the garbage. I don’t like black magic.