Pub. 10 2021 Issue 4

Pub. 10 2021 Issue 4 7 test and ended up making a D in the class. Maybe I should have dropped the class, but money was tight, and I did not want to waste any. I now wear that D as a symbol of a rite of passage, and, hopefully, I won’t be evicted as the chair of the KBA once this story gets out. I like numbers, and I love budgeting. I still have the spiral notebook with my first budget, which I used in 1980 when I was at Kansas State. My son is into budgeting, and he likes discussing the finer points of budgeting with me. My daughter, not so much. In 1995, I graduated from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Are there any specific individuals who had a major impact on your career, and how? I have already told you about Lendell, but my dad was a big influence on my banking career, too. My dad was a quiet guy, but I didn’t realize until I had been working for 10 years or so how much he had taught me about banking while making me fix fences. I told a story at my rehearsal dinner about how my brother and I were supposed to be walking the hedge post fence line to make sure all the posts were solid. It was a hot day, so we decided to drive along with the AC going and just look at the fence. We missed some broken posts that were held up straight by the barbed wire, and dad let us know he was not happy. Later, my best man made me a gift that had a fence on it. Three posts were all straight, but the middle one was broken off. Attached was a quote that read, “never be deceived by what you see from a distance,” and was signed Ralph Ewy. My dad passed away, way too young, in 2004. Studies show that our brains are 80% developed by age three. My parents deserve the credit for any success I have, and the jury is still out on whether the other 20% of my brain will ever develop. What is the most rewarding part of your career? Helping my community and customers. My definition of a community bank is a small bank in a small community. Community banking allows you to get involved in a significant way to help your community. I learned early in my career being involved was fun, so I decided to stay with it. One of my longtime friends and I talked about how cool it would be if we owned a bank together someday and have the bank name on the high school football field scoreboard. We both grew up in small towns and knew the importance of having a local bank. After the acquisition of Community State Bank, I sent him a picture of the local scoreboard. To us, the scoreboard picture is a symbol of what it means to be a community bank. For the last 30 years, my avocation has been trying to help create housing in the communities where I have lived. All three communities I have lived in during that time all struggled with the availability of housing infrastructure. In Coffeyville, we have our share of jobs with good people coming and going from those jobs, but new houses are desperately needed. In 2004 while I was chair of the area Chamber, we successfully facilitated the building of 14 new homes. Currently, I am involved in another project underway with two homes under construction. How has retail banking changed in the last five years? I learned early how banking commercial customers was a good way to generate revenue. Digital banking services are very expensive. We provide them, but I am not sure I have figured out how to make money with them. Retail banking was not something I focused on until arriving in Coffeyville, but customers now want to pay bills online and use their phones to deposit checks. As a bank, I never wanted us to be on the bleeding edge of technology, but I also did not want us to be left behind. Our bank now offers pretty much all of the bells and whistles of digital banking. What ideas would you like to share about the future of the financial industry and any leadership books you have enjoyed? I should admit I have never had an original idea. I have borrowed just about every idea I have used. Continued on page 8 Lendell Bass (left) with Mike Ewy (right) Mike Ewy’s parents, Donna and Ralph Ewy