A customer-centric culture and having capital to serve a market are tried-and-true ways to achieve steady organic growth. To drive exponential growth like 40-year-old President and CEO David Saber is doing requires a strategic X-factor. And capital. Park Financial Group has both in Andy Redleaf, its primary shareholder. [Continue]
Even in a robust economy, there are credit-worthy borrowers who cannot get a loan for their business or a mortgage to buy a home. David Saber, chair and CEO of Park Financial Group, sees these credit anomalies as opportunities, and with a supportive owner, he’s building a nimble banking organization. [Continue]
As chief operations officer of Park State Bank, Duluth, Minn., Leann Stessman oversees daily operations along with the integration processes that follow an acquisition. This includes its “ultra touch” approach, which models itself after Amazon Prime: “The team is very focused on making things as easy as possible for clients…we just show up.” [Continue]
Bremer’s new brand is the culmination of a two-year dive into self-reflection, said CEO Jeanne Crain. The process started as Bremer explored how to move into the future, asking, “What’s the right strategy? What’s the right focus for our team? And, how do we invest our capital wisely? [Continue]
The best ideas in banking are often greener than its stock-and-trade currency. So it is at central Iowa’s Peoples Bank, where “clean and green” are on display from rooftop to parking lot, thanks to a recent investment to convert the nine-bank subsidiary of Green Circle Investments to 100 percent solar energy. [Continue]
Lead Bank strives to be an innovator in the banking industry in terms of gender diversity and working with traditionally underserved clients, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it also thought outside the usual banker’s box when designing its urban Kansas City, Mo., office. [Continue]
During its first quarter earnings call, executives from Farmer Mac told investors that the financing environment in 2019 has been stable and has exceeded expectations despite trouble in many parts of the ag sector. [Continue]
The first time Kathy Torske applied for the president’s role at American Trust Center, Dickinson, N.D., she was 29 and had been with the company for only a few years. Although the board was impressed with her resume and performance with the company, they decided she needed a few more years to ripen. Torske had no hard feelings. [Continue]
In the 14 years since the Rowland family became majority owners of rural Missouri’s Garden City Bank, they’ve worked to transform it. The result is the strategically renamed Lead Bank, which has fintech collaborations, new branches in urban and suburban Kansas City, Mo., locations, and a way of doing business that fits its leadership’s cause-oriented worldview. [Continue]
The person best suited to lead a systemically important financial institution would likely fit a complex profile. But what of the community bank and its leadership needs? Should community bank boards be any less prescriptive when creating a profile for a next-generation leader? [Continue]