Tom Whooley joined INB in 2017, but the lending business has been part of his entire life. His father owns a mortgage company in the Chicagoland area. Tom’s intentions were to go to college in Bloomington, Ill. then move back home and take over his dad’s business. But then he met a girl, and his life choices changed.

Tom says, “She’s from the St. Louis area and I’m from Chicago. So we chose to live somewhere in between.” That place ended up being Champaign, Ill.

Today, Tom and his wife, Stephanie, are parents to Collin, 7, and Blake, 3.

Just as the lending business has long been a part of his life, his banking career also goes back to his early years. While in high school, he took a part-time job as a teller at a Chicago-area bank. He continued to work the job into college, filling in for bank employees over school breaks and in the summer.

As a finance student at Illinois State University, he decided to concentrate on both small business management and entrepreneurship. That meant some additional time in school, so he took a job as a customer service rep at a Bloomington bank to help with expenses. After graduation, he and his wife, Stephanie, settled in Champaign, where he started at Bank One/Chase as a personal banker and investment representative. In 2006, he moved to Commerce Bank to serve as a private banking relationship manager and a mortgage officer. When a position opened up in Commerce’s commercial lending area five years ago, he made the switch to commercial lending.

Today, Tom’s job is to make sure Champaign-area business leaders know the INB story. He also makes time to participate in the local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club activities. He serves on the board for both the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club and the Champaign Parks Foundation.

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