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LDS President Thomas S. Monson, Central Utah Region President of Zions Bank Tom Morgan, Governor Gary R. Herbert, U.S. Rep., Jason Chaffetz, and Provo Mayor John Curtis line up for the ribbon cutting while special guest, Luke Jackson, holds the ribbon during the dedication ceremony of Zions Bank Financial Center on its 8th floor, Friday. May 14, 2010 KRISTIN HEINICHEN/Daily Herald

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LDS President Thomas S. Monson, greets those who attended the dedication ceremony of Zions Bank Financial Center on its 8th floor, Friday. May 14, 2010 KRISTIN HEINICHEN/Daily Herald

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PROVO — It doesn’t take much for President Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to capture a room.

At the dedication of the new Zions Bank Financial Center in Provo on Friday, he cracked up the crowd right out of the chute, interjecting “My name is Tom!” as Tom Morgan, the bank’s Central Utah regional president, tried to introduce himself.

“And we’re done,” the upstaged Morgan joked.

Monson was on hand to offer the dedicatory prayer of the bank’s eight-story regional headquarters on University Avenue. The LDS Church once owned majority control of Zions Bank, then Zions First National Bank, but sold it in 1960.

The towering Financial Center will house a Zions Bank branch on the main floor, with varied banking offices on the third and fourth floors, all of which are already operational. Food and retail will move in at street level, and Provo-based IT company ParentLink is on the fifth floor.

Before his prayer, Monson entertained the crowd with stories from his youth about eating ice cream cones in American Fork, doggie-paddling in the Provo river and saving a drowning girl at Vivian park, then getting kissed by her Greek relatives.

“I’m a taxpayer in Utah County — I should probably get an applause for that,” joked Monson, whose family owns property at Vivian Park.

For the ribbon-cutting following the prayer, Monson and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert were joined by Luke Jackson, a 5-year-old Provo boy undergoing therapy for his spastic muscle condition at the Now I Can Foundation, a Zions Bank-supported charity. Monson helped Jackson squeeze the giant scissors alongside Herbert.

U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Provo Mayor John Curtis, LaVell Edwards, UVU President Matthew Holland and other local leaders attended the event.

• Matt Reichman can be reached at (801) 344-2907 or mreichman@heraldextra.com.