Local Banker James Seder Joins  First Bank As It Expands Into Wellington

Florida banker and longtime Wellington local James Seder is bringing the services and values of First Bank of the Palm Beaches to Wellington.

First Bank is a Palm Beach County owned and operated local bank. Its only current existing location is in the historic First Bank building in downtown West Palm Beach, and its second branch is currently under construction in Wellington.

Joseph “Jay” Shearouse, First Bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, and John Ahrenholz, First Bank’s president and chief operating officer, are some of the key leaders who had large roles in bringing First Bank to life back in 2010, and, ultimately, aspired to bring the locally grown financial institution to Wellington. They both have banking careers in Palm Beach County dating back to the 1970s.

Shearouse and Ahrenholz asked Seder to join their team as soon as they began discussing the idea of building a branch in Wellington. Shearouse said that, in regard to the Wellington location, there was no one as qualified to lead and manage the branch as Seder.

“Not only did we know from the beginning that we wanted to build in Wellington, but we also knew we wanted James to be our leader out there,” Shearouse said.

Seder is now First Bank’s vice president and market executive, and will be the branch manager of the upcoming Wellington branch.

Seder moved to Wellington in 1982, attending Palm Beach State College and Florida Atlantic University. His banking career began in 1993, when he worked for First Federal, now known as First Bank of Florida. He later moved to Fidelity Federal Bank & Trust, where he opened his first bank account as a teen. At Fidelity Federal, which has since become PNC Bank, Shearouse and Seder worked closely together for many years.

Fidelity Federal was one of the first banks to start lending money for housing communities and commercial buildings in Wellington.

“[Fidelity Federal] was one of the first banks to recognize that Wellington is a great place,” Seder said. “They made it possible for the community to know their bankers and for bankers to know their clients.”

Shearouse and Seder gained ample experience in community banking working for and — each of them — managing the Fidelity Federal bank branch in Wellington. They are both proud of the work they did helping the community develop and flourish into what it is today.

They both gained a sense of building personal relationships with families in Wellington. Until last year, when Seder joined the First Bank team, he was still providing banking services for the same people and families that he worked with closely for nearly 20 years.

“I am a community banker at heart,” Seder said. “I love the feel and reward of being part of a community bank.”

Seder, Shearouse and Ahrenholz look forward to bringing a local bank to and for Wellington’s community. First Bank’s core value is to listen and serve its clients. The bankers’ fulfillment stems from supporting their clients and serving them as a vital resource in building their small businesses, buying homes for their families and serving as a helping hand to their community.

“We looked all over Palm Beach County to decide where we wanted to build our second branch,” Shearouse said. “But we knew we wanted to build a branch in Wellington.”

Seder’s goal as the future manager for the Wellington branch is to connect with his clients in the same way he did during his past two decades as a Wellington banker. He aims to create a bank that is different from other banks, and one that generations of families in Wellington can depend on and feel supported by.

“A lot of banks talk about customer service being the way to make business, and that is true to an extent, but I think here, we really focus on taking care of our clients and doing what is right,” Seder said. “Wellington is a place where you know your clients, they know you and you become a little family.”

First Bank of the Palm Beaches’ Wellington branch is scheduled to open next month in the Wellington Plaza at the corner of Forest Hill Blvd. and Wellington Trace. For more information, visit www.firstbankpb.bank.

Iseult Broglio Is Proud Of Her Many Years Of Service To The Wellington Community

Iseult Broglio was born in Dublin, Ireland, but it was her love of horses that brought her to America.

My sister and her husband had an equestrian training center in Southern Pines, N.C., and I came over in 1971 to help out,” Broglio recalled.

She was working, happy and hardly homesick at all — and that’s when fate stepped in. Lee Broglio, a trainer of Standardbred horses, turned Iseult’s head and she never looked back. The pair were married — and stayed that way until Lee’s death in 2015 at age 90.

“Lee needed warmer weather, so, in about 1979, we moved to Wellington,” Broglio said.

Dublin’s loss was Wellington’s gain. Shortly after arriving, Broglio got involved with the Gold Coast Dressage Association, where she was approached by a fellow member who asked if she knew anyone who could be able to put on a dressage show to raise money for disabled children.

She didn’t think twice.

“I got involved practically immediately with the Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center,” Broglio recalled. “That was way back when it was on Lake Worth Road.”

Although the dressage group itself was not able to help out, two other individuals from Gold Coast answered Broglio’s request for assistance, enabling her to put the event together within the required two-month timeframe.

“That first dressage show, I had 36 rides for the whole day,” Broglio remembered. “I gave Vinceremos a check for whatever it was, and it escalated from then on.”

The first indication that things might be heating up occurred the week after the show. Broglio received a call from Vinceremos founder Ruth Menor asking her to serve on the young nonprofit’s board. Broglio agreed, and the rest is philanthropic history.

For 13 years, under Broglio’s direction, the Vinceremos dressage fundraiser was held at the Winter Equestrian Festival showgrounds.

“At one stage, I had three dressage rings going all day — 150 rides, sometimes in three arenas,” she said.

Broglio credits some of that success to the timing of her event, early in the season. “The riders wanted to get into the arena before the big show started, to get used to the venue,” she explained. “Of course, my dressage show was a schooling show, not an A-rated show. Anybody with any kind of a horse could ride. That wasn’t my concern. My concern was making money for Vinceremos.”

And make money she did. Through the years, the Broglio family raised large amounts of funding for Vinceremos. She served on the board until 2011. Her husband did, too. He served as president for eight years.

As a board member, she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

“I did some volunteer work at the barn, working with the kids, and I helped with Vinceremos’ main auction every January,” Broglio said. “I got people to come, got auction items donated, and on the day of the event, decorated tables and got things ready — whatever they needed me to do.”

Today, thanks to its many successful fundraisers and widespread community support, Vinceremos is on its own Loxahatchee Groves property with a stable full of horses and dedicated volunteers of all ages. Horse shows and auction fundraisers continue annually, and things look a lot brighter for every child, and now many adults, whose needs are helped by spending quality time atop a gentle horse.

But Broglio is not one to rest on her laurels. In addition to her work with Vinceremos, she also volunteered for several years at Big Dog Ranch Rescue, spending a couple of days a week walking and interacting with the dogs, as well as cleaning up after them. She spent another two years with the Kids Cancer Foundation in Royal Palm Beach. She helped organize November golf tournaments, finding players and silent auction items and looking after healthy siblings so parents could be with sick children during treatments.

Why does she do it?

“I was very lucky in life,” she said. “I had a great marriage and one son, and I just thought I should be trying to give back. Vinceremos came along, and I really, really enjoyed it. Wellington is a great community, and I wanted to give back to the community. Plus, Vinceremos does an absolutely incredible job for these children.”

Broglio’s son Frank, his wife Jeni and their two children — Emily and Lily — live with Iseult in a happy family conglomeration worthy of Dublin.

“Lee and I were married 40 years. I trained horses with him and went to sales with him,” Broglio said. “And my mother said it wouldn’t last! After all, I was Lee’s third wife. But the third time’s the charm.”