29 Hoosier Banker May 2016 Wow, what a journey! For me as new chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America, it’s so exciting to think that it’s only just begun. As a third-generation community banker, I’m deeply honored to be your new ICBA chairman. I look forward to a year filled with meeting so many of you on my travels ‒ having the chance to hear your stories and what you are doing to make your communities great. I also am thrilled to think about all the amazing and powerful work we will accomplish ‒ both at our community banks, in our communities and as an industry. I loved seeing so many familiar faces, and meeting so many of you at ICBA’s national convention in New Orleans in March. What a gathering it was! I was energized by the educational workshops, networking events, expo exhibits and, most importantly, my conversations with you ‒ my fellow community bankers. Your stories and passion for what you do never cease to amaze me. That’s why during my convention speech I was so adamant about asking you to tell your community bank’s story in the year ahead. We are all involved now in writing our industry’s next chapter ‒ how exciting is that? At the convention I recounted when I first took over my family’s community bank from my dad, Martin, and there were moments when I would tell him, “You are not going to believe what happened today.” He told me, “Rebeca, you need to start writing some of these stories down, because over the years you won’t want to forget what happens, what changes, what stays the same and ‒ more importantly ‒ what the outcomes or lessons are.” In many ways, he was telling me that I had the content for a great book. But that isn’t just me ‒ it’s “we.” We as community bankers have the content for many great stories, and we need to tell them. Our stories are incredible, really an anthology of impact, change, resilience, growth and evolution. The collective story of community banking includes who you are, who we are, what we do, where we are today, our challenges and our opportunities. It also includes the history that came before us, and the future we are developing together. We need to tell our stories to everyone ‒ our potential customers, Tell Your Story About the Author Rebeca Romero Rainey is 2016-17 chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America and chairman and chief executive officer of Centinel Bank of Taos, in Taos, New Mexico. A third-generation community banker, Romero Rainey serves on the ICBA nominating and lending committees and is past chairman of the Federal Delegate Board and Minority Bank Council. She has served on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. advisory committee on community banking and on the Kansas City Federal Reserve Community Depository Institution advisory council. Romero Rainey is past president and current board member of the Independent Community Bankers Association of New Mexico, director and cofounder of the Bridges Project for Education, president of the Northern New Mexico Birth Center and board member of the New Mexico Partnership. In 2009 she was selected Taos Citizen of the Year and has been awarded the New Mexico Governor’s Award for outstanding women. Romero Rainey is a graduate of Wellesley College and of the Pacific Coast School of Banking. our communities and our policymakers. We are community bankers, and that is something different, something authentic, something to be proud of and something that matters. Our economic weight is powerful, our impact is powerful, and our story is powerful. We can’t afford to let Wall Street or others tell our story ‒ or inaccurately tell our story ‒ for us. Now more than ever, we need your voice as part of our industry’s story, because together there’s no telling what we can accomplish. We have every opportunity to make the most of our story and pave the way for a bright future for our industry and our communities. I look forward to working with all of you over the next year as we tell our story. I know that good things will come of it. t FEATURE
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