Heidi Stanley likes change. More specifically, she likes instigating it.


Thats not surprising, since Stanley had a hand in the evolution of a Spokane savings and loan association into an $11.4 billion financial institution, and has helped guide the merger of Spokanes two biggest economic-development organizations.


Stanley climbed the ranks to become a top executive at Sterling Savings Bank, now one of the regions largest institutions. As chairwoman of Greater Spokane Incorporated, shes helping chart the course of a new organization formed through the combination of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council.


Born in 1956 in Lake Oswego, Ore., Stanley grew accustomed to change at an early age. Her fathers job at Shell Oil Co. required the family to move about once a year. Stanleys mother, who stayed at home with the children, was a strong, passionate woman who kept a family together that was in total turmoil during those days, she says.


When Stanley reached high-school age, her dad, a Spokane native, decided to move the family back to his hometown. She graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 1975 then attended Washington State University, where she majored in business administration and met her future husband, Ron Stanley. She graduated from WSU in 1979, married Ron, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where they both worked for IBM.


Stanley started out at IBM as an accountant in a 12,000-employee manufacturing facility. Eventually, she shifted into a recruiting role at that plant, a job that she fell in love with, and that required her to travel 200 days a year. Ron, who was a mechanical engineer, was working on a project that required the couple to move to Tucson, Ariz. Once that project was completed, the Stanleys re-evaluated their lifestyles.


We were burning out in our late 20s, Stanley says. Ron was sleeping on the engineering floor, and I was traveling all the time.


The couple decided to move back to Spokane in 1985. Ron had grown up here, and his father, Larry Stanley, owned Empire Bolt & Screw Inc., a longtime Spokane business. Ron went to work for his dad, while Stanley made designs for a much different life than the one she leads now.


My intention was not to work, she says. I was planning to start a family, build a house, and have two dogs and a little white picket fence.


She also wanted to get involved in the community, following an example set by her parents and Rons. She accompanied Ron to an event hosted by the chamber, where she met a business executive who was trying to raise money to build a Ronald McDonald house here. Stanley got involved in the fundraising effort, and for one event, she needed bankers to help handle the money that would be raised. Her father-in-law suggested she ask employees at the then-fledgling Sterling Savings Bank for help.


Stanley was familiar with the staff at Sterling, because she and Ron had obtained a loan from the bank for the house they were building on the South Hillthe house they still call home. Stanley went to Sterlings downtown office and approached the banks co-founder, Harold Gilkey, about getting volunteers for the event.


That was the beginning of my connection with Sterling, she says.


Sterlings early days


In the summer of 1985, Gilkey asked Stanley if she would take a part-time position at the bank. At first, she declined. Later that year, though, she started getting the itch to work again, and accepted a position at the bank. Stanley became the 27th employee at an institution that now employs roughly 3,000 people.


At the time Stanley signed on, the bank was preparing to make its second acquisition. Since she was in charge of public relations, Gilkey asked her to develop a media plan to announce the deal.


He walked out of my cubicle, and I absolutely panicked, she says. I had no idea how to create a media plan.


Stanley sought help from a woman in charge of public relations at Old National Bank, a longtime Spokane bank. While the woman walked her through the process over the phone, Stanley furiously scribbled her instructions down on a note pad. Stanley accomplished the task, but more importantly, learned a valuable lesson from the experience, she says.


Dont be afraid to call on friends, and dont be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, or else youll never know what it feels like to conquer a problem, she says. Take advantage of every opportunity to learn.


Stanleys early days at Sterling afforded her plenty of learning opportunities. Also, in contrast to her experience at IBM, being involved in a young bank provided the chance to help shape the culture and direction of the company, she says.


At IBM, there was always a book in the cupboard to tell you what to do, an answer to whatever question you asked, she says. When I opened the cupboard at Sterling, there was nothing there. We had opportunities everyday to create something.


Stanleys role at Sterling developed as the bank grew. She held positions in human resources and marketing, investor relations, and back-office operations. In 2003, she was promoted to chief operating officer and vice chairwoman of the bank, which is a subsidiary of parent Sterling Financial Corp.


Although Stanley says her experience as a woman banker in Spokane has been positive, she realized her situation at Sterling was unusual when she participated in her first national banking event and was horrified to discover she was the only female in attendance.


Balancing act


One of the biggest struggles female bank executives often face is trying to balance their career ambitions with family obligations, she says. Stanley doesnt have children, and says that her life, and her job, would be much different if she did.


The fact is, I dont have balance in my life, she says.


Stanley says, though, that she juggles time with her family, her community involvement, and the moments she steals away to play golf, work in her garden, or read a good mystery novel.


She credits her equally busy husband for supporting her in her endeavors. The couple now own Empire Bolt & Screw, and Ron has been involved in community organizations as well.


In addition to Greater Spokane Incorporated, Stanley also serves on the board of directors of Avista Corp., the board of governors of the WSU Foundation, and the Eastern Washington advisory board of the Washington Policy Center. She also is past chairwoman of the Washington Association of Business and YMCA of the Inland Northwest.


Rich Hadley, president of Greater Spokane Incorporated, says Stanleys vision, and her ability to communicate and implement that vision, help make her a valuable asset to the organizations she helps lead. She also is a quick study on issues, and is good at facilitating discussions about those issues, he says.


When Greater Spokane Incorporated launched, the board set certain benchmarks it would measure itself against continually. Stanley always brings the board back to those benchmarks and how they relate to the issue at hand, he says.


At the executive level, she has the necessary qualitiesgreat integrity and accountability, Hadley says. And, she loves Spokane and shes good at having that passion come out in the work she does on behalf of the community.


Stanley says shes gotten involved in civic organizations partly because her parents instilled that in her, and partly because its an important aspect of working at a community bank. She also is a self-described public policy junkie.


At age 50, Stanley doesnt plan to slow down anytime soon. Sterling is continuing on an aggressive growth path, with its fourth acquisition this year in the works. Stanley says part of her job is to look into the banks future, develop a long-term growth strategy, and prepare the company for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.


Theres just so much work to be done, she says. From where I sit, I can clearly see what its going to take to execute our plans, and I want to be a part of it.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.