On August 29, 2021 Geoff and Robbie Roerpstorff will celebrate 24 years running Edison National Bank. The husband and wife team is one of the best known couples in Southwest Florida, bringing style and panache to the normally staid banking industry.
They currently manage four community banks from downtown Fort Myers to the tip of Captiva Island, and were honored with the 2010 Florida Bankers of the Year Award.
“That statewide award didn’t just honor Robbie and Geoff. It also shined a spotlight on Lee County’s business-friendly infrastructure,” said Waterman Broadcasting Executive V.P. and General Manager Steve Pontius. “We can thank the Roepstorffs for that.”
The Roepstorffs are a throwback to the days of relationship banking when the titans of major banks cultivated long-term relationships with clients. When they opened their flagship bank, located on Route 41 across from Bell Tower Shops, they moved the suite of senior management offices from the top floor to the ground floor so they would be in the midst of their customers. They remodeled the building so customers, as they walk through the doors, would feel like they were entering the living room of a home as much as a bank. With comfortable sofas, a cup of coffee, and fresh baked cookies, many customers end up relaxing in the sitting area once their transaction is complete.
Geoff, Chief Executive Officer of Edison, is warm and fully engaged in day to day operations. Robbie, President of Edison, is bright, a master of detail, and the face of the bank at community events. Their conservative banking practices — especially Geoff’s expertise in risk management – allowed them to pass through the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent real estate downturn in good shape. Today, as the bank’s slogan states, they are “Standing Strong with Money to Lend.”
“We are relationship lenders, and the customer is part of a family here,” said Geoff. “I love to lend to people and see them flourish, and see that the dollars work as they are supposed to work.”
The day they opened their flagship office in 1997 it came to their attention that the community bank building on Sanibel was up for sale. They had told regulators in their business plan they did not intend to expand during their first five years, but this opportunity was right in their sweet spot. They believed in community banking, and it was likely that a national retail chain or other bank might scoop up the original Bank of the Islands building and alter its hometown character. After satisfying the regulators, they made a successful bid, completed another full-scale renovation, and reopened Bank of the Islands in its current location on Sanibel’s Periwinkle Way on April 15, 1999.
Beyond the many non-profit sponsorships and donations Edison has made throughout Lee County in the last two decades, the bank has also donated over $75,000 to island charities through its popular “We Love Our Islands” program.
“The islands’ non-profit organizations rightly view Bank of the Islands as a pillar of our community,” said Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation CEO Erick Lindblad. “The bank’s corporate philanthropy has had such a positive impact on so many worthy causes.”
In March, 2001 the Roepstorff’s opened their third office at 2105 W. First Street in downtown Fort Myers, not far from Thomas Edison’s estate, at the same time the City built the new parking complex. The location put them in the heart of the downtown business district, setting the stage for client relationships with many of the legal and financial firms headquartered in the River District.
Their most recent move came on February 2, 2012 when they replaced the only bank on Captiva Island in the office shared with the post office. They introduced an ATM machine and a community bank atmosphere. Captiva residents and businesses appreciate having a community bank on their island especially those who already had an account at Bank of the Islands.
The Roepstorffs each have more than 40 years of banking experience. Robbie started as a teller in Florence, Alabama in 1974, moving to Fort Myers in 1983 to become Senior Vice President of First Independence Bank.
Geoff got his start in 1973 at First National Bank of Sebring as a bookkeeper and teller and came to Fort Myers in 1980 as a Vice President of Commercial Lending at Lee County Bank.
The Roepstorffs, who live on Sanibel Island, attend St. Michael Lutheran Church. Their church affiliation is very important to them and Geoff is a past president of the congregation. “God, family, then business,” says Robbie, ranking their priorities in order. The Roepstorffs’ son, Matthew, is an attorney with Pavese Law Firm in Fort Myers.
This profile appeared in a prior issue of Island Scene magazine. ●