Earning our reputation that we help our clients attain financing for any need their business may have is something Miller is most proud of. We are passionate about helping community banks attain their goals. When EF Group facilitates a new relationship between their commercial clients and a partner bank, “It is so much fun to watch the two organizations attain their goals together”, Miller said.
We get the same feeling when we begin a relationship with an equipment vendor. “When a vendor allows EF Group to play the roll of their financing arm for their potential equipment buyers; it’s really fun as well. We know that that their sales are going to increase. It is what we strive to create and be a part of; a “win win”. Our commercial clients, our community banks, or our equipment vendors; it is fun, and we are honored to be a part of helping them attain their goals.”
He is a native of Hot Springs where he grew up, graduated from Lakeside High School, and attended his first year of college at what is now Hot Springs National Park College. He transferred and graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He met his wife, Debra while at the U of A. They got married and stayed in Northwest Arkansas. He worked, part time, at a bank while in college and started his full-time career in banking upon graduating.
In 2004 Blake relocated his family from Northwest Arkansas to be the Chief Lending Officer and equity partner of a team that structured the purchase of the Pine State Bank. They moved the charter for the bank to Little Rock, AR from Kingsland, AR and the name of the bank was changed to Centennial Bank. Over the next 2 and a half years, Blake help grow Centennial bank from $18M in assets to $199M in assets. In 2007, Centennial Bank sold to Home Bancshares. At the end of 2008, the ownership transition was complete with total assets just shy of $230MM.
Miller continued to work in banking until March 2014. This is when he became an equity partner and began working full time at Enterprise Financial Solutions, Inc. The company grew and developed additional financing products upon Blake joining the team. Now doing business as EF Group, they have continued to grow. Blake purchased the remaining shares of the company from its founder and his partner, Jack Harvey in December 2017.
When asked what the EF Group team does every day, Miller said, “We must earn our client’s, our banks, and our vendor’s business every day. The only way to do that is to work hard and help them attain their goals.”