Luci Scott, of Wallowa, works at her desk as the new branch manager at Umpqua Bank in Enterprise on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. She took over the post Sept. 12.

ENTERPRISE — There’s a new manager at the helm of Enterprise’s branch of Umpqua Bank, but she’s anything but new to banking.

“I’ve been in banking for 17 years, so I guess experience,” said Luci Scott of her greatest qualification for the post. “I’ve been doing it a while.”

She replaced Mark Piper, who left in March to take a position with the Educational Service District.

Scott, who lives in Wallowa, grew up in Union and graduated from high school there. She took college classes in business at Eastern Oregon University and Blue Mountain Community College and she’s still working on her bachelor’s degree, which she expects to receive in business management.

“That’s my ongoing educational goal,” she said. “It’s a slow process.”

While she’s the mother of a 10-year-old son, her boyfriend, Pat Salmon, has four kids. Salmon drives a log truck and is a loader operator for the Joseph-based Pro Thinning Inc.

Fortunate turnScott said it was a fortunate turn of events that got her into banking. She was about 20 when she took her first banking job as a teller at a bank in Hermiston in 2007. She later transferred to La Grande, at what was then Sterling Bank. She was living in Elgin when her son started school and an opening came up at Community Bank there.

“So I thought what a better time than to come work in Elgin for a while,” she said.

She worked there six-plus years and then heard about the job in Enterprise.

“I thought it would be fun to try something new,” she said.

Scott said she then moved to Wallowa, though her son still goes to school in Elgin because his dad lives there.

“I had no idea I was going to apply for the job,” she said. “I just applied and got it.”

GoalsScott said her major goal is to rebuild trust in the bank, which currently has assets totaling $30 billion and will increase to $50 billion once a planned merger with Columbia Bank comes through.

She sees some of her own qualities as key to achieving her goals.

“I’m not much to boast on myself, but I do work very hard. I try to tie up loose ends and I don’t like to leave customers hanging,” she said. “I know they’ve had a lot of short-staffing here … so we have a new (teller) hired as well as myself. We’re still looking for another teller.”

She currently has four employees at the Enterprise branch.

Working with the public is what Scott likes most.

“The customers make it fun,” she said. “Everybody has a different story and it’s fun to help them. That’s another of my skills at being a manager, solving problems. It’s been fun and I enjoy it.”

She also wants to grow the bank by expanding its customer base and she plans to help out at local nonprofit organizations. Right now, she’s on the board of the Elgin Food Bank and may take part in something similar here.

Scott learned Umpqua is not directly involved in helping with Wallowa’s recovery from the Aug. 11 hailstorm, as another bank is, but she said it’s something she plans to investigate.

“That would be a good thing to look into,” she said. “I know it’s really terrible for them (in Wallowa). … That’s another thing on my goals list.”

As for her personal goals, she doesn’t envision moving on from her current post.

“I like the idea of staying here,” she said. “I like seeing the people and doing the banking and helping the people succeed.”

Who: Luci Scott, branch manager

Where: 205 W. Main St., Enterprise

Phone: 541-426-3124

Email: luciscott@umpquabank.com

Online: umpquabank.com