Zions Bankers Recognized for Excellence

Zions Bank’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications Rob Brough received the Roy W. Simmons Community Service Award for his dedication to service and nonprofit leadership. Whether he’s in a stadium cheering for a local sports team, seated in a theater supporting performers on stage, or teaching students the importance of saving money, Brough demonstrates a deep commitment to bringing value to the local community. 

The advocacy and vision he brings to nonprofit boards strengthens local organizations. He has served as chair of the Hale Centre Theatre Board of Trustees for the past 13 years and is also chair of the South Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He also serves on the National Advisory Board of the Utah Valley University Woodbury School of Business, the BYU Athletics Advisory Council, and on boards of directors for the Arthritis Foundation and the Fredette Family Foundation. 

Mary Bendio-Whitaker exemplifies the heart of Zions Bank’s brand because she is someone who truly never forgets who keeps us in business. She and her Office of the President team manage an average of 200-300 client issues per month, most of which are complaints as well as complex issues. She responds quickly, researches background, solves problems and leaves the client feeling satisfied that we did all we could to help. Over her 26-year tenure at Zions, Bendio-Whitaker has helped forge important relationships with colleagues across the company, helping her find answers quickly for her clients. Despite the pressure involved in her role, she approaches work with a positive attitude, is an upbeat manager to her employees and cares for clients with sincere empathy. 

Bevan began his career at Zions Bank in 2003. After working in Commercial Banking for 13 years, he made the move to the Business Banking division as a lending manager. He found joy in working with employees and assisting them in implementing both relationship management and analytical skills to become more proficient in their roles. Last fall, Bevan assumed his current role as Western Idaho Commercial Banking regional director, where he works closely with region leadership toward a common goal of demonstrating to the community the benefits of developing a relationship with Zions Bank and its employees. Bevan is proficient in managing and structuring complex credit relationships and working with his colleagues to enhance the overall client experience.

As manager of Enterprise Retail Initiatives, Bushman’s responsibilities include identifying broken or missing processes that branch bankers need to be effective in delivering a good client experience. He then develops long-term process improvements to resolve the issues. After joining the bank in 2017, saw a need for better documentation of current procedures and stepped up to create a solution. Bushman’s proposal resulted in the Bank Employee Service Tool, and he wrote the first 600+ procedures for various departments himself, including for Bankcard, Consumer/Retail Banking, Digital Banking, the Business Banking Loan Center, the Direct Consumer Loan Center, and more. His hard work cemented the format and style that would best meet front-line banker needs and is consistently used to this day.

Dawson began his career with Zions Bank in 2009 and has continually demonstrated great service to his clients, who include some of the largest developers in Utah. Dawson started the Real Estate Banking Group’s syndications group, which has accumulated over $500 million in syndications since 2016. He is considered one of his team’s most seasoned corporate real estate bankers and is recognized as the same in the Salt Lake commercial real estate industry. He is the director of the Ivory-Boyer Real Estate Center in the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and has been an adjunct professor for 11 years in the Master of Real Estate Development program at the U.

Over the past two years, Doebler has worked tirelessly to build a strong Cybersecurity Operations Center team that responds to 24/7 cybersecurity threats, ranging from attempts to defraud our clients to potential network intrusions. She has focused on the operational impact of new cybersecurity tools and processes to ensure they are sustainable. Doebler has also implemented new technology capabilities to dramatically improve our insight into current cyber events and to respond quickly to ongoing cyber events. This is above and beyond the typical responsibilities for what is widely known as one of the most demanding jobs in an incredibly stressful profession. 

As director of Municipal Finance, Harris is an outstanding leader, a skilled relationship manager, and a thoughtful and caring colleague. For the past four years, he has led the company’s efforts to grow its municipal portfolio in a strategic initiative started by Zions Bancorporation Chairman Harris Simmons. Harris is most passionate about strategic building, whether it be new relationships, product lines, teams or divisions. His approach has always been to truly understand and meet the needs of the client. His high level of skill and dedication is evident as he works on complex structures and with clients. 

Hatch is an expert at knowing and understanding her Private Banking clients and continually receives compliments and emails thanking her for all her hard work. Hatch believes in the value of a true relationship with a client and does not hesitate to make sure clients know she is there for them. She focuses on creating trusting partnerships with her clients and banking partners. When you are Hatch’s client, you get her full attention. Three years ago, Hatch moved into management as a senior vice president and regional director. She has served as the co-chair and chair of the Women’s Business Forum, as an employee mentor, and as co-chair of the Regional Executive Management Committee. 

Help began her career at Zions in 2001 and has been manager of the Payroll department for the past three years. In this role, she has worked hard to help maintain compliance with IRS standards and was a key participant in helping to consolidate payroll processing to one main system for more than 10,000 employees. During the current pandemic, Help and her team have continued to help ensure employees are paid on time while transitioning to remote working. She sets high standards of excellence for herself and motivates others to achieve higher levels of performance. She is known as a go-to person who takes the time to listen and understand what is being requested and then works until an answer is provided. She loved being a mentor through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program where she made lifelong friendships. 

One of only 28 Certified Emergency Managers in the State of Utah, Longman brings a high level of expertise to preparing for and managing emergency events at Zions. He demonstrates grace under pressure, and is calm and supportive to those around him. Longman has developed an outstanding response team which is a reflection of his excellent leadership skills. He has served on several local and industry-wide boards and steering committees related to emergency preparedness, incident response and resiliency including the Utah Governor’s Emergency Management Advisory Council and on boards of directors for the Utah Emergency Management Association and the Utah Association of Continuity Professionals.

Mulford joined Zions Bank’s Small Market Commercial Real Estate group in August 2015 and was made the manager of that group in 2019. Under his leadership, the team has grown steadily and thrives. Mulford not only has great technical lending knowledge and experience, but incredible common sense that allows him to provide outstanding service to the bankers and borrowers that he serves. He is a helpful and calm manager who brings out the best in the teams he leads by making sure they know he wants them to excel both professionally and personally. Mulford has fostered an environment in which his teams enjoy working, achieve great results and are loyal to Zions.  

Oudrhiri and his team provide support for many of the bank’s critical client-facing systems, enabling digital access to banking services. His method has always been to deeply understand the systems he works with so he can provide the best service possible. He has been personally involved in creating new opportunities for the bank, always looks for better ways to deliver top-level service, and works to instill the same philosophy in his team.