Fast-growing Horizon Banks expands by tending local needs

Horizon Banks Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Allen said keeping it local is the key to joining the ranks of the fastest-growing private companies in the Boulder Valley. And if the numbers are any indication, Allen is one to talk.

Since the bank was founded just five years ago, assets have exploded from $50 million in the summer of 2001 to its current $870 million. Last year, assets grew by 23 percent, from $679 million in December 2004 to close to $836 million in December 2005, and net income shot from roughly $6.9 million to $13.6 million. From just one location…