Dennis Mikelonis, 2019 Accomplished Under 40

Dennis Mikelonis

27 •Vice president of private banking and wealth management •

Idaho Trust Bank • Boise

Dennis Mikelonis is set to attend the Emerging Leaders Forum next spring as the state representative from Idaho. He’ll most likely be one of the youngest attendees at the American Bankers Association event. The forum is set in Washington, D.C., and will be full of experience and savvy, but those who know Dennis expect he’ll fit in like an old pro.

“He works likes someone with 10-15 years of experience,” says Joel Hickman, chief banking officer at Idaho Trust Bank. Mikelonis is in his sixth year on the job.

The truth is, Dennis wasn’t even set on banking until he took an internship the summer before his senior year of college. Tom Prohaska, CEO and co-founder of Idaho Trust Bank, recognized Mikelonis’s potential and his knack for succeeding, no matter the task in front of him.

“He had the drive, the initiative, the talent,” Prohaska says. “It was clear Dennis was going to be an asset for us if we could keep him on, which we were fortunate to do.”

Whether it was sports, school or anything else, Mikelonis has always been competitive. Not just to win, but to see how good he could be at anything he set his mind to. When he found himself as the summer intern, every day became a job interview in his mind.

“Everyone was my boss at that time, and today it’s no different,” he says. “I really can’t do anything without the team around me, and I try to do all the little things that help them.”

The story of his first professional job parallels his time as a collegiate basketball player for College of Southern Idaho. Even when he experienced a season-ending injury one year, he showed commitment to the little things to help his team. And what should come as a surprise to no one, that team won a national championship in 2011, a feat he remembers most for the collective joy and not as an individual accomplishment.

“I’ve always felt if everyone in my life is not being taken care of, I cannot enjoy life,” he said. “Therefore, I am always striving to make everyone else better.”

Dennis has quickly learned how to use his platform as a banker to drive community development and social progress. He’s helped secure sponsorships for local sports tournaments, arranged programs to help college graduates buy suits for job interviews, oversees the financial stability of the United Way and even pulls out his own wallet to buy new shoes for kids at the local YMCA.

“He has a contagious enthusiasm for life,” says Colby Blaine, who coached Mikelonis in college and is the current head basketball coach at College of Idaho. “If he wasn’t playing basketball, he was volunteering at a Red Cross event or at a food bank. These acts don’t go unnoticed and really show his unique ability to connect with anyone he meets.”

Looking ahead, Mikelonis wants to continue helping others achieve their goals, and his role as a community banker for Boise’s only headquartered bank could be influential to the city’s economic growth.

“Young leaders like Dennis represent homegrown bankers,” Prohaska says. “I expect he’ll play in a big part of our city’s and our industry’s future.”