First Interstate Bank now has a branch in Columbia Falls and there’s some familiar faces at the bank.

Demari (DeReu) Walter is the branch manager and has been in the banking industry for nine years now, including 3 ½ years of managing the bank’s Evergreen branch. When this position became available she was definitely excited.

“I was the first to raise my hand,” she said.

 She and her husband, Cody, have two young children and live in Columbia Falls.

The branch here had its grand opening on May 19. Included in the festivities was a $10,000 donation to local nonprofit Land to Hand, which does a world of good feeding less fortunate children in the Columbia Falls area through its weekend backpack program and Wildcat garden at the junior high, among other programs.

“With First Interstate one of our pillars is making sure our communities are fed,” Walter said.

Walter is joined by teller Linda Wilbur, financial services representative Glenn Morden and financial services representative Madi Kesterson as well as other support staff from the bank who split time between the bank’s other eight branches in the Flathead Valley and surrounding area.

Walter is also the president of the Wildcat Athletic Endowment Fund. 

She said one of the best ways to get to know a bank’s customers is to work the teller line, which is where she started her career and she still experiences now and then.

Walter spent a year out of banking working for an eye clinic, but the medical field wasn’t for her, as you’re not always giving patients news they want to hear.

Banking is different.

“You’re able to tell someone their dream is coming true,” she said.

First Interstate offers a full suite of banking services, including home, personal and commercial loans. Unlike some other banks, it also offers in-house financial planning services for things like retirement and investment accounts, whereas most banks use a second party.

It also offers mortgage loans that are administered in house, so a borrower can pay through all the ways they would normally access their bank, such as in-person or online.

First Interstate has more than 300 branches across the West in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming,  and is headquartered in Billings.

Walter is happy to be working here.

“It’s amazing to be able to work in the community I grew up in,” she said.