Partner Spotlight: Harvey Brookins of National Bank

RAMP mentor Harvey Brookins is a commercial banker with the National Bank where he serves as the executive for the Roanoke market. He was tapped to lead the first full-service branch in Roanoke where built a great team of banking professionals and lives out his passion for helping businesses and individuals with their lending needs.

That passion for service is what led Brookins to become an integral part of the Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation ecosystem. He has served as a mentor with RAMP from the very beginning and watched entrepreneurs take ideas and nurture them into thriving businesses.

“The ecosystem model is very relationship-oriented and connected to the community,” Harvey said. “Tech and biotech aren’t my background but I love being part of this ecosystem—I get to learn a lot and also add value.”

Harvey was introduced to RAMP by founding director Mary Miller who also sat on the board of the National Bank. Mary approached Harvey about being a mentor and sharing his expertise on banking and finance with technology and life-science entrepreneurs going after commercialization. 

“When she brough me on board, Mary likened business growth to bamboo,” Harvey said. “Sometimes bamboo has to be watered for three years and only grow and inch. Then suddenly it sprouts up really quickly I’ve gotten to witness that with several business that have come through RAMP. All the sudden there’s amazing growth. It’s really gratifying to see it happen.”

Harvey represents National Bank and conducting lunch and learns with each incoming RAMP cohort. In his capacity as a mentor, he leads each group of entrepreneurs through a conversation about banking and guides them on how to establish relationships with a banker. Next, Harvey guides the conversation toward fundraising options, sophisticated banking products vs. general banking, and any other questions that arise in the course of the session. 

“Every business needs a good attorney, accountant, and banker. We talk about navigating the business world and how to approach banking to give your business a strong start,” Harvey said. “Every one of these scientists and entrepreneurs are geniuses in their own right. Scientist tend to use technical language to talk about what they do. It’s fulfilling to help them learn how to talk to banks about their business give them practice distilling their ideas down for laypeople.” 

After the lunch and learn session, he’s always available to take individual calls where RAMP members can ask personalized questions in one-on-one conversations. These relationships have lasting power and extend long after the 12-week program. “I still have relationships from the very first cohort,” Harvey said. 

Being part of the innovation ecosystem since the very beginning has given Harvey a front row seat to RAMP’s growth. The program has expanded its footprint and is now attracting companies from around the region including Fairfax, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg. 

“The accelerator is something the Roanoke region can be proud of,” he said. “It’s visionary of RAMP to bring in professionals outside of technology and biotech and recognize that the community isn’t comprised of just tech and biotech but it’s an entire ecosystem. It’s inspiring to be a part of it.”