Prairie State Bank & Trust
John DeFreitas has a diverse work experience in the banking and finance industry. John is currently working at Prairie State Bank & Trust as the Vice President of Commercial and Ag Lending since June 2023. Prior to this, they had a long tenure at Heartland Bank and Trust Company where they worked as the Vice President of Commercial Lending from December 2012 until June 2023.
Before joining Heartland Bank and Trust Company, John worked at Town and Country Bank where they held multiple roles including Vice President of Commercial Banking Officer, Commercial Portfolio Manager, Treasury Management Sales Officer, Assistant Vice President - Branch Director, and Assistant Vice President - Branch Manager.
In addition, they have experience in sales as a Senior Sales Consultant at Comcast and in personal banking as a Licensed Personal Banker at National City Bank. John'searlier experience includes working as an Assistant Manager at Illini Bank.
John DeFreitas attended Purdue University in 2022, where they earned a degree in Agricultural Economics from the Midwest Agricultural Banking School. Prior to that, they completed a program in Commercial Lending at Moody's Analytics in 2021 and also attended the Illinois Bankers' Commercial Lending School in the same year. From 2017 to 2019, John attended and graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in Banking and Financial Support Services. During the same period, they also obtained an Executive Leadership Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Business. In 2001 and 2002, John attended LLCC, but the specific degree and field of study are unknown.
Prairie State Bank & Trust
Prairie State Bank & Trust is a community bank with over $800 million in total assets, over 150 employees and 20 bank locations throughout central Illinois. Our goal is to provide the highest quality banking services to our customers and the communities in which we operate. Our slogan, Progressive Banking…Traditional Service, reflects more than ever the challenges in today’s rapidly evolving, fiercely competitive community banking industry. We remain committed to our core belief in managing Prairie State Bank and Trust responsibly for the long term, with integrity and with loyalty to our customers and employees. Prairie State Bank & Trust strives to bring our customers a one-of-a-kind banking experience, grounded in relationships and nurtured through service. We believe that by “going the extra mile,” we are not just a bank, but a key partner in helping achieve your financial goals. We achieve this by creating a positive, well-managed work environment with employees that are passionate about helping our customers thrive and by differentiating ourselves through excellent customer service. We aim to attract and retain quality employees through effective hiring processes, competitive pay, quality training, continuing development for highly engaged employees, and other attractive benefits. We strive to ensure well-defined training programs are in place and effective and to also ensure employee resources are managed well and fully engaged. We feel PSB&T is an excellent place to work where management is encouraged to create an environment to help employees have a happy and satisfying working experience. Our employees are the key to our continued success and we value their efforts and contributions as we strive to achieve our goals each and every day.