Forty Under 40: Luke Colley

Luke Colley’s career in banking started at age 25, when he answered an ad in the paper for an open teller position.

Colley had no experience in the industry. But several of his family members did, and he needed a job, he said. “I figured I’d give it a shot.”

In 2004, he joined Chambers Bank in Fayetteville and within four years rose through the ranks to become a loan officer.

After that, he worked for a one-year stint as business development officer at Arvest Bank in Centerton, before
rejoining Chambers, where he was named vice president and commercial lender.

That was also his job title at United Bank when he started in 2013. Colley became market president a year later and chief lending officer in May.

At United, Colley has grown the loan portfolio from $6 million to $39 million, according to president and CEO Nathan Gairhan.

For Colley, success comes down to values.

“I want to do right by the people who trusted me to do the job,” Colley said. “Work ethic was very important to my family growing up. A lot of the driving force in that comes from my faith background. Everything I do I try to do as if I’m working for God. I take that very seriously.”

Colley teaches Sunday school at First Baptist Church in Centerton and at one time was a full-time minister, after earning a degree from Williams Baptist in Walnut Ridge in 2002.

He is a graduate of Leadership Bentonville (2014), a member of Northwest Arkansas Emerging Leaders and coaches two Little League baseball teams in Bentonville.