F COVER STORY Lucas White INDIANA BANKER TAKES THE HELM OF ICBA For only the second time in IBA history, an Indiana banker is now chair of a national trade association. Lucas White officially took office as chair of ICBA at the end of their national conference in March. The fourth-generation banker is president of The Fountain Trust Company, Covington, and helped guide the IBA through the COVID pandemic when he served as our chair in 2020. Lucas was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to answer a few questions about assuming the chairmanship of a national trade, the state of the banking industry, how the Allen Edmonds Experience started and more. What does it mean to you to be elected chair of a national organization? Being chairman of ICBA is one of the greatest privileges and honors of my life. It is very humbling to be trusted with the responsibility of representing community banks across the country. I have spent my entire life in Covington working in the family business. To be a kid from rural Indiana who lives across the road from his parents, it doesn’t seem like real life to be able to do something like this. What makes you passionate about community banking? Community banking is the quintessential example of shopping local. We collect local deposits, and we lend them out locally. We basically recycle the money in our communities. By doing that, we provide local jobs, help people reach their dreams and are essential to the economy and the communities we serve. Rural communities would struggle without community banks. What are the biggest issues currently facing community banks that you want to address during your chairmanship? Independence of the regulators is a major problem at the moment. Historically, the regulatory 12 HOOSIERBANKER
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