First Interstate BancSystem has been named to TIME magazine’s inaugural America’s Best Companies 2026 list, a recognition the Billings-based regional bank’s leadership credited to its people and its approach to community banking across the West.
The list, produced in partnership with Statista and announced July 9, ranks 1,000 U.S. companies based on three equally weighted dimensions: employee satisfaction, financial performance and sustainability transparency. Employee satisfaction was drawn from survey data covering approximately 217,000 U.S. workers over the past three years. Financial performance was assessed using five years of revenue data, with a minimum revenue threshold of $100 million in 2025. Sustainability was evaluated using ESG data including carbon emissions intensity, reduction rates and workforce diversity metrics.
First Interstate President and CEO Jim Reuter said the recognition reflects the bank’s ability to compete across different market segments without losing what makes it distinctive.
“I’ve always believed banking is ultimately about people and relationships,” Reuter said. “One of the things that makes First Interstate special is our ability to serve everyone from family farms and small businesses to large commercial clients across the West. We can compete with community banks on relationships and with larger institutions on capability, but what truly differentiates us is our people.”
First Interstate operates across Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Washington and Oregon, with more than $30 billion in assets. The bank has positioned itself in recent years as a regional institution capable of offering both the personalized service of a community bank and the product depth of a larger competitor.