6 DAVID HOCKMUTH VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT: NMBANKERS.COM PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The ability to help people is the best part of banking for me. I have the honor of helping customers with one of the most profoundly important aspects of their respective lives: money. PRESIDENT NEW MEXICO BANKERS ASSOCIATION How did you get started in banking? I started my banking practice with J.P. Morgan in New York. My full-time work for Morgan ran concurrently with my full-time studies at NYU. I was assigned to the American Depository Receipts Desk, which offered customers a way to purchase stocks in overseas companies that were otherwise unavailable to investors through U.S. stock exchanges. I began working on Wall Street to support my academic pursuits. I didn’t have the intention of becoming a banker per se. Initially, I viewed banking as a means to an end. It turned out that I was pretty good at it. I frequently ask bankers to share their career goals with me. I find that many bankers do not set out to become bankers but discover the potential to have a highly fulfilling career in banking. After living, studying and working in New York for seven years, I returned to New Mexico and was hired at United New Mexico Bank, which transitioned into Norwest Bank, which ultimately became Wells Fargo. My career in banking began a mere thirty-seven years ago. What has been the best part of being in the banking business? The ability to help people is the best part of banking for me. I have the honor of helping customers with one of the most profoundly important aspects of their respective lives: money. I have never forgotten Mr. Micawber’s advice since I first encountered it: “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” Money pays for all of the things we need and want. When money is managed well, it can be liberating and empowering. When it is managed poorly, it can become a source of unnecessary pressure and great distress. Money can impact whether or not we each get to pursue happiness. It can create security in one’s life. The lack of it can result in abject poverty and unnecessary suffering. Acquiring and saving money can be challenging, and managing it can be complex. Helping people successfully manage their money has a profound impact on their lives which lends (pun intended) a certain nobility to our profession – our understanding of money obliges us to help our customers succeed financially. What changes do you foresee in our industry and New Mexico in the next several years? Whatever the changes to come, be assured that they will continuously arrive and always be early. Five years ago, during conferences and meetings, I suggested to bankers that technology would change our industry dramatically and that its pace would be faster and more comprehensive than all of the developments in the preceding AN INTERVIEW WITH NEW NMBA PRESIDENT DAVID HOCKMUTH
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