The Fabric

From an idea and a mission to reality, Old Glory Bank has accomplished in two years what no other bank has, with a lean, dedicated team who considers the opportunity a stewardship. 

The Early OGB Days 

I was the 19th employee hired by Old Glory Bank in Fall of 2022. Almost everyone holding the numbers 1 through 18 were part of the original team who came together to build OGB. Being close friends with some of those original team members, I knew about the mission, and I’d been eager to be involved. I had my own story about being shut down by a big bank, and that was only one part of it. On a personal note, I was also in a period of change, when God had made clear to my husband and me that it was time to close my small business after 20 years. I spent a few months wondering and praying, “Now what?” God was at work, leading me to Old Glory Bank.  

I’d always considered myself a patriot. When I was young, my father’s best friend was a man named Ben, who defected from the U.S.S.R. in the 1970’s, and had become a proud U.S. citizen. He used to tell me stories of his experiences in the Soviet Union, and I remember him saying, after one of the first election years when I actually began paying attention as a teen, “Live anywhere else in the world, and you’ll never again doubt that this is the best country on the planet. Freedom is something you can’t really comprehend until you have lived without it.”  

Our next-door neighbor, Rose Anne, was from Canada. She’d also become a U.S. citizen by choice. She loved her home country and often missed it, but she told me she’d never leave the U.S. and the quality of life we had here. Ben and Rose Anne were two of the many reasons I knew what an incredible blessing it was to be American. 

To have the opportunity to work for a mission dedicated to the freedoms we often take for granted as Americans felt like …. like a calling. It’s hard to put into words, actually. Those of us who work at OGB come from different spiritual perspectives, but many of us here are people of faith, and we believe God brought us here for a reason. His blessing on our work has been clear. (We even have a prayer team among our employees.) 

When I joined Old Glory Bank, the energy was already charged with anticipation, gratitude, and optimism. We knew what we were building was something America desperately needed. As I got to know this incredible team of business people and bankers who were already at work, I felt humbled to be a part of it all.  

The Word is Out. The Pace Picks Up. 

In late November 2022, we opened our reservation list. This was the chance for patriots to get in line to open their online accounts at Old Glory Bank. A few of us were in the office together one morning when our co-founder, John Rich, was interviewed at the Patriot Awards and told America about Old Glory Bank: the first cancel-proof bank for freedom-loving Americans. A bank that stood for Privacy, Security, and Liberty. A bank that believed in family, community, faith, respect for our flag, and support for our military and first responders.  

What started as a quiet, steady morning became one of rising heart rates and grateful awe as we saw our website traffic soar and those first reservations pour in. Within a few days, we had thousands of reservations.  

In the Spring of 2023, we began opening our first online accounts. With tens of thousands of people now on our reservation list, opening our virtual doors was exhilarating. Imagine unlocking the door of a brick-and-mortar branch, with 50,000 people waiting outside. That’s how it felt.  

As an employee helping test our systems, I already had my Freedom Checking and Freedom Savings account open, and I can truly say without bias that I loved our app, our account options, and most especially, our customer service team. I couldn’t wait for America to experience it. My young adult kids were as impressed with our app as I was, and that’s a tough generation to impress with technology. They willingly closed their accounts at our old bank and made OGB their primary account. 

Seeing our debit card pop up “in the wild” was especially thrilling. I was in line at the local coffee shop one morning on the way to work, when I saw the man in front of me tap his beautiful OGB debit card on the terminal! I remember laughing at myself as I wondered if I should introduce myself, or would that be invading his privacy that we work so hard to protect?  

Then, in 2024, we were able to answer the question we’d gotten from so many patriots since day one: How can I be a part of this? I was one of the employees answering the emails from our reservation list in those first days, and I can remember dozens of people asking how they could invest - Americans who believed in what we were doing and wanted to be a part of it. Finally, we got to welcome new owners through our first private-public offering, and then through our mini-IPO. The bank owned by Main Street, not Wall Street. Once again, it felt like answering a calling.  

Two Years of Incredible Growth 

This morning, I sat thinking on where we were two years ago, and how far we’ve come. In just TWO years, we opened almost 70,000 accounts! We’ve gone from roughly $10,500,000 in deposits to over $180,000,000. We’ve launched products other banks haven’t even thought of, like Cash-IN, which allows cash deposits at nearly 90,000 retail locations. Old Glory Protect, our $100,000 Line-of-Duty Death Benefit for Protectors. Old Glory Alliance, our cancel-proof, FDIC-insured fundraising platform.  

Every product launch generates that same anticipatory energy. How will our customers react? Will they be as excited as we are? What can we do next? Our latest upgrade, our new user interface, is a personal favorite of mine.  

As our marketing team observes, we don’t really have direct competitors. When it comes to Customer Service, we’re the small-town community bank that treats everyone like family. When it comes to technology, we’re the nationwide bank with online solutions that a community bank usually can’t implement. We’re FDIC-insured, something many of the FinTech’s can’t claim.  

Varo Bank is one we consider to be the closest comparison to what we’ve done. It’s taken them 4.5 times the employees and 10 times the capital to accomplish what we have. This is not a knock on them. It’s simply a testament to what can be achieved when a team of people is driven by passion for their mission.  

You see, this mission was and is incredibly personal to us. Our team is indeed made up of many successful bankers and businesspeople, but a passion for banking isn’t what drives us. It is a passion for freedom, for building a fortress in America’s financial system that will preserve and protect the Privacy, Security, and Liberty we all deserve.  

The folks who make up our Customer Service team aren’t just answering phones, answering a question, and moving on to the next caller. I’ve had a few opportunities to work in person with our team in Oklahoma. I’ve never met a team that cares more genuinely for the people they serve. They understand that they might be the person who turns someone’s day around, and they don’t take that responsibility for granted. It’s an honor to work with people with hearts that big.   

My husband made an observation recently. Certainly, he knows me better than anyone in the world after 25 years of marriage. He knows I am an introvert in every sense of the word. He commented, “OGB is different for you. You make it a point to never miss a work event. You never dread or complain about a business trip. Being with these people actually energizes you, doesn’t it?” It does. These are my people. This is our shared mission. We work incredibly hard and often long hours, but we somehow find the energy to do it all again the next day, because it matters that much. I am truly blessed to be a part of it.