The Hawthorn River Story

A Series of Encounters Leads to Destiny

The Early Days.

In the early 90’s, community banking looked quite different. Bankers recorded phone messages on “while you were out” message pads and the closest thing to digital banking was the hardwired telephone. A few years later the world changed when banks began connecting to the internet. At the time, Jon Rigsby (Co-Founder & CEO, Hawthorn River) was a teller at a locally owned commercial bank in St. Louis, MO. He was enamored with the idea of the internet and began creating new ways to help his bank grow through technology automation. It was a fun time to be in banking.

A Consultant’s Perspective.

After 20 years with an amazing organization, Jon started his entrepreneurial journey with the formation of Rigsby Consulting where he helped financial institutions solve complex business challenges. With a growing portfolio of clients, trends started to emerge. Over time, it became clear that community banks were being ignored by the banking software market, especially in the area of workflow and process automation.

During an impromptu lunch on July 2, 2018, the seed of Hawthorn River was planted. Joe Armour (EVP, 1st Advantage Bank) was meeting with Jon to discuss the bank’s recent efforts to improve its loan process. Joe had grown frustrated by the solutions in the market and the lack of response he was receiving from software vendors. He felt a new path forward was needed.

At that moment, Joe looked at Jon and said, “You should build it”.

Hawthorn River Is Born.

In late 2018, Jon decided to take on Joe’s challenge. Within a matter of months, three banks signed on as early adopters: 1st Advantage Bank, The Bank of Old Monroe, and Saints Avenue Bank. With the idea cemented, Jon began searching for a business partner to lead the engineering side of the business. By matter of chance, Jon received a phone call from an old friend that he had not spoken to in years, Wayne Ferrell (Co-Founder & CTO, Hawthorn River). Wayne, a brilliant software developer with 25 years of banking experience, explained that he was looking to get back into consulting. Jon said, “I have a better idea!”. Weeks later, Jon and Wayne partnered to co-found Hawthorn River.

Over the next 12 months, Hawthorn River worked closely with the early adopter banks to craft an end-to-end loan origination solution that was tailored to the needs of the community banker. In December of 2019, Saints Avenue Bank became the first customer to use Hawthorn River in Production. 1st Advantage Bank followed in January of 2020 and Bank of Old Monroe completed its go-live in May of 2020. Today, Hawthorn River is building upon this strong foundation to serve community banks across the country.

So, how did you get the name?

The #1 question we get when meeting with bankers is how we came up with the name Hawthorn River. With the need to quickly form a new business entity in 2018, Jon and Wayne debated a variety of names for the business. This proved challenging as website domains were in limited supply. After tossing around a lot of bad ideas, Jon asked Wayne, “What’s your street name?”. Wayne Responded, “Snake River”. “My street is Hawthorn Meadows,” explained Jon, “let’s name the business Hawthorn River”. In all candidness, this name was intended to be temporary, ultimately being replaced by a DBA, but the feedback from the banking community was highly positive so the name stuck.