Born and raised in Dallas, Sushil Patel, President of State Bank, was brought up in the hotel business until the family business turned to banking. 

The family business 

Sushil’s father came to the United States in 1965 as a student at Stanford University to study mechanical engineering and later earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. While not related to his education, Sushil’s father got into the hotel business in 1976 with the purchase of their first motel in Dallas. 

Over the following years they accumulated hotels in the same general area. Sushil lived with his family in the manager’s apartment at the hotels until they purchased a home in nearby Irving. 

Sushil’s family found significant success in the hotel industry, much like the large population of U.S. hoteliers with the last name Patel, a fact that the New York Times Magazine noted. The surname indicated they are members of the Gujarati Hindu subcaste in India. 

It was not long before 15 motels on one street were owned by Patel families. Not surprising, when the Asian American Hotel Owners Association claimed that roughly 70% of all Indian motel owners, or a third of ALL motel owners in America, are named Patel.

By the 1980s, Sushil’s family was established in their community, and other Indian families would come to his father for guidance. 

These family hoteliers all banked at the same local branch. Sushil explained that the bank’s leadership “knew my dad because he was a big depositor and the bank president would personally ask him to co-sign loans.” His father realized the need to start their own bank for this growing community.

Following in his father’s footsteps

“Growing up, we knew we had a substantial family business,” Sushil explained. His father wanted to groom Sushil and his brother to both be bankers and he recounted their Sunday lessons or Tuesday business teachings with their father on the value of money. 

Sushil would often accompany his father to his bank office to witness how they helped their community, and knew then he wanted to follow this career path. 

After earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas in Austin in 1999, he thought it was important to seek experience at other banks. 

“I would give this advice to anyone: working for someone else is very important,” Sushil said. “I learned how an organization is run and understanding Bank of America’s vision helped guide me when I came back to the [family] bank.” 

After working in investment banking for three years, he decided to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago and planned to return to the family business afterward. 

When he first came to work for the family bank, Sushil described the operations as very spartan. There were no computers, email or Human Resources. Sushil spent time in different branches learning the operations of the bank. Ultimately, he decided to focus on lending.

Regardless, Sushil saw an opportunity to grow the bank and fill the needs within their community. He recalls himself at nine years old when the bank opened, seeing the customers heaping trust and praise when leaving his father’s office. 

Staying true to what you know

“In the entire history of the bank, since 1987 when it started, it has maintained a specialty niche of working with hotels,” said Sushil. 

His father recognized the gap and need to financially support their community in this way. Today, this is still the focus for State Bank. Two-thirds of their loans are for hotels. State Bank prides itself on making good loans to good people, just like when his father was asked to co-sign loans, and what guided his father to start the bank. 

“As a banker you get to help people out that are in front of you,” Sushil said. “There are very few things you can do that provide this much satisfaction. People truly remember and value when you help them.”

Sushil attributes their success to being “hardworking owner-operators. The art of banking is character. And for us, we know who we are lending to and their families.”

Sushil explained that the normal banking playbook is to diversify, but for State Bank, their strength is their industry knowledge and experience. He said, “The hotel industry is so big and we are just a drop in the ocean. There is still room for us to find continued success.” 

More than a zip code

“In a traditional banking sense, community is a zip code but we don’t subscribe to that. As an Indian community bank, this is our community.” 

In the early 1980s, the local families would often gather, and fathers would play cricket. They would celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and weddings together at the local high school where they could rent space.

They all contributed capital to build a community center. Sushil’s father led the project to build a 15,000-square-foot building in Grand Prairie for their community, now called Surti Leuva Patidar Samaj (SLPS). As the community expanded in 2013, they outgrew the hall and built a 50,000-square-foot building in Irving that has a banquet hall, pre-function space, gymnasium and commercial kitchen. 

In the broader community, Sushil also plays an active role, including serving on the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Community Depository Institution Advisory Council, Chairman of the Las Colinas Association and the Board of the Baylor Irving Hospital. 

Community involvement is a priority for Sushil and his family. His parents and his younger brother, who also works for the bank, all live near each other.