Sarah Wolak: It’s been almost a month since APM announced leadership transitions and both roles were impacted. Tell me what that was like.
Ned Payant: Succession planning is pretty much what we do at APM, and while we’re a month into this, the reality is that this is probably five or six years in the making. APM has been around for 29 years, almost 30 years, which means Dustin will only be the fourth CEO of this company. I’ve been here for 16 years. As for my new role, that is to support Dustin and maintain APM’s legacy.
Bill Lowman was last our chairman and he recently retired. But before he became chairman, he was CEO, and before that he was president, and he started as a branch manager about 20 years ago. That is the DNA of our organization; we let people grow in that regard.
Wolak: What was it like navigating this transition? Has your role changed much, or are you stepping into an advisory role for Dustin?
Paid: To be honest, it’s not much different. [My role] is about supporting Dustin and the leadership team, but I am very active and very involved in the organization, in the day-to-day organization. Frankly, Dustin and I share a lot of the business that goes on within this company, and that will continue to be the case. And we will also continue to improve the leadership in this company, as well as bring in leadership from outside with new ideas and thoughts.
Dustin Sheppard: I started at APM when I was 24 and was the LOA to the founder. My desk was a filing cabinet in Kurt Reisig’s office, and I sat listening to his conversations with clients and referral partners. And one day I asked him how he got into his position. He said, “Go get your driver’s license.” And so fast forward 24 years later, with great friends and mentors, with Kurt and Bill and Ned and the other founders I came into contact with. I have to pinch myself sometimes because throughout my career I have been very fortunate and had mentors and people who have guided me.
I come from a manufacturing background, and that’s the one thing about APM: that’s our North Star. Our branch managers and loan officers are our customers and we are 100% focused on making them look good at all times. And if you keep that as your North Star in a retail banking environment, everything else becomes pretty simple, because if you make all your decisions through that lens, you’re taking care of your people.
Wolak: It’s interesting that Dustin taking on the role of CEO was an internal, previously discussed decision and that many of APM’s leaders grew through the ranks rather than being external talent. Does that add any benefit or benefit to APM and its legacy?
shepherd: To me, culture is No. 1. And when you have leaders who have come through the ranks of this company, from all different backgrounds and different walks of life, but they’ve been here, they know that we have a very strong culture, and that’s a competitive advantage for us. And that doesn’t mean we’re not open to new ideas, because I also think there’s a yin and yang to that as well. You also have to bring in new blood and new ideas, which we are very open to.
Paid: We have brought in incredible talent from outside the organization, but often in a leadership role like this you want to maintain the good DNA. Dustin talked about the culture and how important the culture is in the organization. Sometimes bringing in someone from outside can mess up your culture. The other thing is that we are an employee-owned company. We have 2,500 families to care for. So when we talk about leadership, we have to remember that we have 2,500 owners of this company, and we want to make sure we get it right with them.
Our core values are transparency, respect and carelessness, which means we are transparent with our employees every day. We treat everyone with respect, not just our employees, but everyone in the community. And then lastly, when it comes to sloppy… that just means that we’ll do whatever it takes to support our team, and we’ll do whatever it takes to support our loan officers and our branch managers.
Wolak: As we approach the end of 2025, what are the biggest opportunities for APM right now? What are some of the challenges?
shepherd: We will continue to grow as a company. We want to grow with the right people. We want to grow with people who value what we have to offer and who appreciate our culture. And so it is growth, but not growth for growth’s sake. We are not obsessed with a particular number or rank. We want to run a solid company where our employees enjoy doing good work every day. We provide high quality loans and run a profitable organization. That is the true measure of success.
The other side is that there will still be margin compression. Everyone is also talking about AI. You have to be really technically progressive and look at how you can reduce your production costs using technology like AI, which I think really unlocks the opportunity to drive down production costs with technology. That’s a big one. And of course there will be twists and turns in the market. Everyone feels like we’ve weathered the storm a bit and we can see better days ahead, but you have to be prepared to turn on a dime at all times.
Paid: As we look to 2026, we want to continue the momentum we had in 2025. It’s been tough for a few years and really a tip of the hat to all our competitors who are still in it and still waving away because it’s not easy. We’ve had nice growth in 2025 and we’ve also really leaned on innovation, but also reduced our costs to get started. The cost of just manufacturing continues to rise, and we’ve done a good job in 2025 of actually lowering our production costs. And so a big part of our 2026 strategic plan is to continue to reduce production costs so that we can be competitive next year and for years to come.
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