Pub. 16 2019 Issue 3

2 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S The NMBA has just completed the second year of its internship program in partnership with the UNM Anderson School of Management. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JASON WYATT NMBA PRESIDENT The NMBA Internship Program: A Great Success! T he NMBA has just completed the second year of its internship program in partnership with the UNM Anderson School of Man- agement. In our first year, we had four internships with U.S. Bank, New Mexico Bank & Trust, Los Alamos National Bank and Bank of the West. Upon completion of the program, one of the interns was employed full time by Enterprise Bank and Trust (formerly Los Alamos National Bank). In our second year, we also had four interns with U.S. Bank, New Mexico Bank & Trust, First National 1870 and SW Capital Bank. Upon completion of the program, two of those interns were employed full time by Southwest Capital Bank and US Bank, respectively. In just two years of implementing the internship program, we have seen a hire rate of 37.5%, which, by any measure, is a great success. The internships made it possible for us to find good employees for three banking jobs that most likely would not have been filled so effectively without the internship program. I would again like to thank Paul Dipaolo, regional president for U.S. Bank, and Liz Earls, business banking relationship manager for U.S. Bank, for being instrumental in developing and implementing the internship program. The 2019 interns and sponsors were as follows: • US Bank-Intern: Katrik Kumar (Las Vegas), Mentor: Liz Earls • First National 1870-Intern: Hannah Wissing (Albuquerque), Mentor: Trevor Lewis • Southwest Capital Bank-Intern: Cooper Hall (Artesia), Mentor: Vanessa Anderson • New Mexico Bank & Trust-Intern: Kyle Wilson (Clovis), Mentor: Matt Montoya In order for the NM banking community to continue to thrive in the future, we must continuously attract and retain new talent. The need for quality employees is so prom- inent that it is featured as a pillar of the NMBA’s Board of Director’s 2019 strategic plan through the implementation and ex - pansion of meaningful internship programs. The NMBA is on its way to exactly the type of robust programs that brings high-cali- ber College and University-level students to NMBA member banks for mutually beneficial work experience. It is my objective to contin - ue what Paul and Liz started and eventually expand the program statewide, beginning with a partnership with New Mexico State University (NMSU) to implement the intern - ship program in Las Cruces. It is my goal to launch the internship program in Las Cruces by the summer of 2020. I have recently returned from a trip to Las Cruces where I had several meetings with the Dean of the NMSU College of Business, department heads from Finance, Economics, Applied Statistics and International Business Development, as well as several finance pro - fessors including Cagla (pronounced Chala) Yildrim who will be instrumental in helping implement the program, roll it out and provide future oversight. I have also had several banks express a willingness to participate. NMSU is incredibly excited about the prospect of an in - ternship program where students will not only earn credits toward graduation but will also earn a paycheck and gain real-world experi - ence in a banking profession. I had the honor of guest lecturing in two banking courses at NMSU, where I mentioned the program, and I