Jonathan (Jon) Williams

Early in my career, I was a financial consultant who analyzed businesses’ structures, regulations, and legal issues. Doing this left me with the ability to quickly discern the difference between great and good credit; I quickly know whether an investment is worth pursuing. With this skill, I have become an executive within the commercial banking field over my 20+ finance career. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤, 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 I began working at Commerce Bank in 2006 and was progressively promoted until I became President of the Peoria Market in 2018. During my tenure, I have brought unprecedented profitability by developing a talent pipeline and executing a strategy that focuses experienced bankers on accounts with multiple points of engagement. As a result, the Peoria Market has grown significantly over multiple years. 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 Alongside my day job as a banker, I co-founded J.K. Williams Distilling, a family-owned and operated business built using the whiskey recipe that kept my great-grandfather’s family afloat during the Prohibition Era. From 2012-2019, I served as President and Managing Member, responsible for raising capital, launch coordination, market penetration, and scaling the business. In 2019, we sold the business to an equity partner. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 To take some liberties with the words of legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, I believe that leadership is getting people to do what they want to do, but don’t yet know how and lack the internal courage to push themselves to accomplish. As a leader, I supply that courage and discipline to push my team to where they want to be. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 I serve the Peoria community through engagement in a number of civic organizations. I have a particularly longstanding involvement with the Heart of Illinois United Way. There, an objective application scoring system I helped to create increased ROI, grew contributions, and has improved community outcomes. 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 ✔ Expanded Peoria Market’s profitability and revenue over multiple years. ✔ Successful succession planning utilizing a long term bench strength approach. ✔ From 100% response rate, received 92% Employee Engagement and 91% Employee Enablement scores. 𝐄-𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥: [email protected]