Forty Under 40: Crandall Streett

Crandall Streett graduated with honors from the University of Central Arkansas in 2003 with a public relations degree and moved to Fayetteville a year later, intent on earning a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas.

A robust job market had other ideas, and Streett entered the workforce, initially with J.B. Hunt Transport Services and then for a construction company.

In early 2007, she seized an opportunity to join a startup bank while seeking a more long-term career path. Gary Head launched Signature Bank two years earlier, and Streett said the ground-floor opportunity appealed to her.

Her career since then embodies a strong work ethic and a competitive mentality ingrained while growing up on a cattle farm in Yellville (Marion County) and playing multiple sports in high school.

Streett excelled in various back-office roles at the bank before being promoted again six years ago to a customer-facing role as a lender. She now oversees the bank’s largest loan portfolio — about $350 million — and a team of about a dozen lenders.

“I’ve had great mentors here, and Gary pushing me to the front [of the bank] is a perfect example of that,” she said. “He saw in me what I didn’t recognize in myself.”

Streett is a graduate of both Leadership Fayetteville and Leadership Arkansas. She serves various community organizations, including the Children’s Safety Center of Washington County as a fund development committee member and the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce as a teen leadership board member. She’s also vice president of the Donald W. Reynolds Boys and Girls Club board of directors.

“That’s how I was raised: participate and give back,” she said. “I have three children, and it’s important to me to set that example.”

This summer, Streett enrolled in the Graduate School of Banking in Colorado.