Rick M. Zonts, Senior Vice President & Market Leader
St. Charles, IL
Direct: 224.269.1284 | Cell: 224.290.0666 | Toll-free: 800.209.2616 Ext. 3770
rzonts@blackhawkbank.com
Connect with Rick on LinkedInRick Knows Manufacturing
Rick’s ability to provide meaningful and innovative solutions to manufacturers, along with Blackhawk Bank’s Board of Directors comprised of leading manufacturing professionals, has made us the bank for manufacturing. Our clients take great comfort in the fact that Rick and the Blackhawk Bank team “get” the complexities of the manufacturing field.
Whether you plan to expand your business or grow your bottom line, Rick and his fellow business bankers can offer relevant solutions for today's manufacturers.
- Strategic Planning
- Growth & Innovation
- Workforce & HR Issues
- Process Improvements
- Product Diversification
- Owner & Succession Planning
- Reducing the Need for Credit
- How to engage Lean principles that improve cash flow
Areas of Expertise
- Business Owner Solutions
- Small to Mid-Size Privately Held Companies
- Commercial and Industry
- Manufacturing
- Service & Professional Industries
- Small Business Administration (SBA) Financing and Programs
- Economic Insight
Years of Experience
With a banking career that spans more than two decades, Rick understands the intricacies of day-to-day operations and client support. Starting briefly as a teller and banking representative, he quickly transitioned into a Loan Operations Manager. From there, Rick grew into the role of Small Business Lender and Senior Credit Underwriter. Continued growth led him into Commercial Lending, further advancing into the management and leadership of teams and markets.
Education
Rick is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, with a specialty in Finance.
Volunteer Efforts
Committed to Kane and McHenry Counties, Rick is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin, where he serves as Treasurer and is the Chairperson of the Finance Committee. In addition, he serves as a committee member for the Fox Valley Christian Action and their Riverwoods/Riverworks programs, handling fundraising efforts.
Previously, Rick was a member of the Board of Directors of the Neighborhood Housing Services of the Fox Valley.
Hobbies and Interests
For the last ten years, he has coached his two sons in both travel baseball and travel basketball. When not on the diamond or the court, they can be found out for a walk along the Fox River or out enjoying the restaurants and shops of his hometown of Geneva.
Rick and his family are avid Chicago sports fans, most notably the Cubs and Blackhawks. He also enjoys golf, though he admits his golf game "rarely enjoys me back."
Fun Fact
Rick's great-grandfather founded a bakery in Chicago's "Back of the Yards" neighborhood, before passing it along to Rick's grandfather. Rick believes he inherited his work ethic from his grandfather who ran the bakery for more than 40 years. His grandfather would wake up at 3:00 a.m. every morning to travel 30 minutes to the bakery and start work. Occasionally, as a boy, Rick would help bake the day's goods to put in the storefront or complete orders for banquets and special events.
What he enjoyed most of all with his grandfather was going to Chicago's lakefront and getting some late-morning perch fishing in, after the baking was completed for the day.
