16 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 “The culmination was being selected to go to the Graduate School of Banking in Wisconsin. Being in that competitive environment, with people who were similarly situated, was a confidence-builder, because I did pretty well. Around that time, I got ‘bit’ by wanting to be in more of a leadership position. “Though I had been supervising others and managing fairly large departments, I wanted to have total responsibility of an organization. It helped that I had been exposed to a huge variety of experiences within the bank.” What attracted you to joining the Community Bankers Association of Indiana? “I was at that point in my career when I wanted to run an organization, and the Community Bankers were in need of leadership. The organization was in trouble, but I thought, ‘If I can take something that’s in trouble and fix it, great. And if I don’t, maybe someone else will hire me.’ “It worked out. I had good people around me, and we were able to not only save the CBAI, but actually to make it thrive. It became a pretty good little company.” How did you and your team turn the CBAI around? “Hard work, and going out and asking bankers what they needed. We’d ask, ‘What do you not have today that we might be able to provide, or that we might all be able to access on a collective basis?’ There were negative feelings toward the Community Bankers Association, and we had to work hard to provide the products, services and programming to help solve problems. “We were able to pick up important relationships within the first year ‒ The Baker Group, Deluxe Corporation, Young & Associates and ICBA Bancard. Those relationships still exist today.” How did it occur to you to establish those relationships? “I wasn’t very smart, but I was smart enough to know that I needed to talk to someone who had already been there and done it. So even before my first day in the office, I contacted Scott Williams, who was then executive director of the Community Bankers Association of Ohio. I had only met Scott once or twice, but I called him and said, ‘I’m the new guy in Indiana, and I need help. Can I come over and spend a weekend?’ “So I went to Ohio. I got there early on a Saturday morning, and we spent the entire day, just Scott and I, in his office. He made suggestions of what we might want to do, and among those suggestions was contacting The Baker Group and Young & Associates. I took to heart what he said and followed up. “Scott was very kind to share everything he knew, and I literally filled a yellow legal pad with notes that day. I came back to Indiana prepared with page after page of ideas. Scott’s help really got me started right.” What factors in 2006 led to the successful merger of the CBAI and the IBA? “A lot of the success had to do with the primary reason that the CBAI was formed, which was to combat cross county line banking. That belief was lost in Indiana law in 1985, with the passage of Senate Bill 1, the Banking Structure Reform Act. Then in 1994, the federal government passed the Riegle-Neal Act, which permitted nationwide banking and branching. “By 2006, CBAI’s purpose to exist had gone away, and there was a belief that, with fewer issues between big banks and small banks, perhaps there wasn’t a need to have a separate organization. Also there were folks who believed that if we had one organization, it would be stronger politically, financially and programmatically, all of which has proven to be true. “The environment was right. Everyone was coming to the realization that it was time.” In 2007, when you were named president and CEO of the IBA, what were your primary goals? “My first goal was just to complete the merger. The legal documents had been signed, but we still had bankers and staff from both sides who weren’t completely transitioned. So the first goal was to get everybody on the same page, looking forward rather than backward. “The second goal was to develop the appropriate culture for the new IBA. The old IBA had its culture, and the CBAI had a very different one. The new organization had to come up with an appropriately new culture. “We also needed to beef up Indiana BANKPAC. There had not been emphasis on the PAC, so we needed to work on that. Amber Van Til did most of that work, and did a great job. “We needed to continue with the outstanding educational programming that both organizations had, but eliminate the duplication. The goal was to create a robust educational program to benefit our members. “We also had to enlarge the offerings that we had relative to products and services, and change the focus to one of collectively partnering with our members. We needed to be able to provide management services, sales services or other services that would benefit our membership by our participation. The Title Center of Indiana is a good example of that sort of partnership. “Last, and certainly not least, neither As chief executive of the Community Bankers Association of Indiana, Joe DeHaven leads a strategic planning session. Shown are (left to right): DeHaven; George Astrike, German American, Jasper; Peggy Howard, Bank of Wolcott; and Terry King-Collier, The Farmers State Bank, Sweetser. SPECIAL TRIBUTE
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