Pub. 11 2021-2022 Issue 3-1

coloradobankers.org 6 We had hundreds of profitable community banks, bank CEOs who were owners (versus hired management), frequent meetings at the Broadmoor, and social CBA board and committee meetings over liquid lunches. Regarding CBA staff, you already know Jenifer will do a great job. She’s skilled and prepared – plus, she makes the best Key lime pie. Over the decades, CBA has been blessed by other current and former great staff. Our membership went from 100% in the 1980s to 70% after the ugly fight over branch banking and then back to over 95%. BANKERS Regretfully many are deceased, including good friends, but I’m grateful to have known them. Dozens of very accomplished bankers have been CBA chairs; I learned a different management lesson from each one. There are too many to mention: 47 years’ worth. I do want to thank Bob Young (Alpine Bank) & Jim O’Dell (Valley Bank, Brighton) for believing a “kid in his 20s” could handle being CBA CEO. BANKERS ASSOCIATIONS Other bankers associations are a big part of this job. I’ve worked with five ABA CEOs and many professional staff there. The Alliance, a powerful political entity, consists of all 50 state bankers’ associations and the ABA, working cooperatively. I had the honor of chairing that group in 1992 (good grief, 30 years ago!), which became a momentous year. The 1992 annual meeting of those 51 organizations focused on the disastrous adoption of FDICIA in 1991 (risk-based FDIC premiums, PCAs, capital requirements). Prompted by FDICIA’s dreadful results, spring 1992 criticism of bank lobbying in the American Banker triggered a needed self-examination by ABA and the state associations. In Oct. of that year, I was the first and only state executive to address an ABA convention (5,000 bankers) and join the ABA board as the first state exec. In Nov., Bill Clinton was elected. The 51 associations had an intense, contentious, confrontational self-critique. That infamous meeting produced a restructuring of bank advocacy, realignment of ABA and state cooperation, and improvements in mutual technology and communication. It has worked well since. State execs collectively are motivated, dedicated, assertive professionals; they are great advocates. These continued from page 5 colleagues (I’ve known approximately 100 during my career) are among my best friends. OTHER PARTNERS In 1951, CBA started the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado at CU/Boulder (one of 6 grad banking schools in the U.S.). It is banker-driven and community bank-focused and is in great shape. CBA also sponsors the Graduate School of Banking at UW-Madison. In the early 1980s, due to government restrictions on interest rates that banks could pay depositors (Reg Q), the advent of money market funds sucked billions out of U.S. banks. CBA and several other state associations partnered with Fidelity in Boston to do nightly deposit sweeps in and out of accounts so banks effectively could pay market rates and retain deposits. Several years later, I spoke with Fed Chairman Paul Volcker at the Broadmoor; he said that the very service created by state associations was why the Fed abandoned rate regulation. In the 1980s, insurance companies ended bond and D&O coverage for banks, and that crisis prompted a few state associations to create BancInsure. We built it, operated it for 16 years and wisely sold it in 2003. It served banks well, disbursed major dividends to CBA, insured 25% of all U.S. banks when sold, and paid CBA 39 times our investment on its sale. CBA bought a new space (debt-free) that year and remodeled it with proceeds from BancInsure. I’m also proud of the Friends of Traditional Banking launched by colleagues in OK and UT and me after Dodd/ Frank. This banking super-PAC was created in the CBA office, and to date, 27,000 bankers contributed $3.3 million in nine key races (average $367,000). We helped flip the U.S. Senate our first year. CBA also initiated the Regulatory Feedback Initiative, now known as the Bank Exam Prep Center, to provide guidance for upcoming bank exams, especially bankers’ survey responses about issues stressed in recent exams. It started in 2006-07 as a CBA service that went nationwide in 2011. To date, 4,600 respondents have answered surveys, providing valuable insight to other bankers. We’ve also had great fun hosting many political fundraisers featuring guests such as Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and many others. We’ve raised a lot of money and had a lot of fun.