Every year, local citizens nominate and vote for businesses and people who provide valuable services to the greater Cookeville community in The Herald Citizen’s Readers’ Choice Awards. Our local team was honored to be listed twice among the 2025 award results: SouthEast Bank was runner up for Best Bank, and Sandy Haile won Best Bank Teller.
Sandy has spent the bulk of her professional life working in banking, with a stint in a local healthcare office before joining SouthEast Bank in 2016. “I think coming into banking when I first started at age 18 gave me insight into the kind of customer relationships that were important to build,” says Sandy. “It felt like coming back home when I started at SouthEast Bank.”
In the near decade spent with us at both Cookeville locations, Sandy has built meaningful relationships with customers by ensuring they can count on her for a smile and a warm interaction. “They let me know that’s why they come by,” says Sandy. “It matters to me that I might be their only happy for the day.”
After growing up in an Air Force family, Sandy has since enjoyed a more settled life in Cookeville with her husband of 37 years, Tommy, and their 17-year-old dog Olley, affectionately known as “Big O.” Her favorite ways to spend personal time include cooking and gardening.
“Our customers love her,” says Donna Robinson, Branch Manager at SouthEast Bank’s Cookeville location on 10th Street. “When she’s not there, I hear how much she’s missed and how wonderful she is. She greets everyone with a smile and a kind word. She knows every customer’s pets (dogs and goats) by name, as well as if they can have a treat or not. She is truly all about customer service!”
“Working as a drive-thru teller has been my favorite job in this bank,” says Sandy. “Every day, seeing the same people, getting to know them, and build a relationship with them.”
Sandy is quick to thank the banking professionals who “raised her,” including those that paved the way for her to join the SouthEast Bank community, and share how honored and humbled she feels being recognized as Best Bank Teller by her community last year, as runner up, and this year as first in the category. “I love what I do, and I appreciate everybody acknowledging me in that.”
“I definitely found my niche at this window.”
Join us in congratulating Sandy on her much-deserved recognition next time you visit our Cookeville-10th Street branch drive-thru!
