Dave DeRose is based in Bend, Oregon.
Dave DeRose is helping shape how U.S. Bank serves its 1.4 million small business customers
Key takeaways:
Dave DeRose is applying his front‑line banking experience and passion for analytics to help U.S. Bank prioritize ideas that deliver the greatest impact for small business customers.
He helped lead a redesigned small business loan process and digital intake platform that significantly improved speed, convenience and ease of use for customers and bankers.
In his newest role, DeRose is focused on transforming sales strategy to expand bankers’ capacity and strengthen U.S. Bank’s support of the small business community.
Growing up in a small farming community in California’s Central Valley, Dave DeRose spent afternoons doing his homework in the breakroom of the bank where his father worked. The conversations he overheard made a big impression.
“I grew up seeing the impact bankers could make on their community by helping small business owners,” he said.
DeRose brings that perspective to his role today at U.S. Bank helping the bank’s 1.4 million small business customers. His 25-year banking career has included leading small business and business banking teams in California, much of Oregon and other parts of the bank’s West Division. That front-line perspective became the catalyst into more strategic roles to improve how small business customers experience the bank.
“So many people at the bank have great ideas, which can sometimes result in us having more ideas than we have capacity,” DeRose said. “I have a passion for analytics, and I love being able to help prioritize the ideas that made the biggest impact for bankers and customers alike.”
A game-changing loan process
In his prior role as U.S. Bank’s business lending product leader, DeRose spearheaded an initiative aimed at expanding the impact of the bank’s loans for existing and new customers. Working with more than 300 colleagues across the organization, the project helped redesign processes and technology to free up underwriting capacity and enhance turnaround times.
“For business owners, a loan is often the lifeblood of what the majority of business owners need. It provides them working capital, the ability to own real estate and hire new employees,” he said. “For small business owners, every second matters. Our goal is to move at the speed of our clients — because that’s what their success demands.”
DeRose also played a major role in delivering an enhanced digital platform that streamlined the initial business loan intake experience for U.S. Bank business customers. This innovation eliminated legacy paper processes, making it more convenient for business owners.
“We immediately saw the many customers engaging with the portal after normal business hours, which is when they have time to get to things like this,” DeRose said. “For them, accessibility matters. Simplification matters.”
Feedback from customers and bankers at U.S. Bank on surveys has been resoundingly positive, calling it a “game-changer” for its speed and ease of use.
“I sent my customer the invitation (to the portal) towards the end of the day – they completed everything at their convenience that night, and I came back the next day to find everything loaded directly into” the system, wrote one banker. “Definitely a time saver!”
"At U.S. Bank, we’re all about building a robust digital journey that makes life easier for small business owners so they can spend less time on financial tasks and more time running their businesses,” said Shruti Patel, chief product officer for business banking at U.S. Bank. “The foundation Dave and his team built has been critical to shaping this experience, and we’re already hearing positive feedback from clients."
Leading sales strategy and transformation
Today, in his newest role overseeing small business and national sales strategy and transformation, DeRose is committed to building on the strong foundation already established by the U.S. Bank sales teams.
The newly created position is designed to help bankers expand their capacity to serve more small business clients, creating efficiencies that allow the bank to extend its impact and provide enhanced support to the small business community.
“I lean on the word transformation when I think about what I want to accomplish in this role,” he said.
A commitment to community
Beyond his work inside the bank, DeRose’s commitment to his community remains central. For more than nine years, DeRose has served on the board of Kids Center, a nonprofit that’s the only child abuse evaluation and treatment center in central Oregon. He said he unwinds by working with wood and other materials, an interest that draws on his childhood growing up on a small hobby walnut farm with nearby grandparents who were dairy and fruit tree farmers.
DeRose said he is fascinated by the idea of transforming unrefined lumber into something with purpose and meaning.
“That is ultimately what I try to do with every job I’ve had the privilege of having in my time at U.S. Bank.”
More news
Latest News & Stories
Disclosures
Equal Housing Lender