MEET KBA’S NEW CHAIR Mark Schifferdecker ark Schifferdecker’s roots in community banking run deep. On Jan. 5, 1923, Mark’s great-grandfather, Martin C. Schifferdecker, was elected to The Farmers’ and Miners’ State Bank of Girard’s (now GNBank, N.A.) board of directors. Later that year, Martin’s son, W. Earl Schifferdecker, began working as a bookkeeper at the bank after graduating from Pittsburg Business College. After a few years, Earl was promoted to President of the bank, and he successfully guided the small bank through the Great Depression. In 1956, Earl’s son Martin Schifferdecker joined his father in the bank after graduating from Kansas State Teachers College and became the bank’s President in 1974 after Earl passed away. Mark joined his father at the bank in 1995, and became President & CEO in 2003. In addition to leading GNBank, Mark has been active on other bank-related boards, which has been helpful in expanding his leadership skills and knowledge of the industry. Mark has served on the boards of Bankers’ Bank of Kansas, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and FHLBank Topeka. KBA had the opportunity to spend some time with Mark recently to talk about what’s important to him and his thoughts on the future of community banking. You come from a banking family. Was joining the family bank always the career plan? I consider myself blessed to be a third-generation community banker. I believe there is no better career, so yes, I always knew that the banking industry and the family bank was where I would eventually end up. I also come from a farming background, and I believe that experience really helped mold me to be a better banker since GNBank has always been predominately an ag bank. Farming actually paid for my college. I worked for a local farmer throughout high school and college. The farmer let me utilize his equipment to farm my dad’s ground which paid for my tuition, housing and other expenses. It was a really great way to learn how to work and I gained respect for the ag industry. Where did you go to college? I went to William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where I earned degrees in Accounting, Business Management and Computer Science. I’m also a graduate of the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking. And after college? Well, I earned my CPA and spent 10 years with KPMG, Kansas City, where I worked a lot with audits and taxes and spent a great deal of time working with banks. KPMG was a great training ground. In 1995, my wife Nancy, who is also a CPA, and I moved back to Girard, and I joined the bank. I became the President & CEO of the Bank in 2003 and the Chairman of the Board in 2015, when my dad, Martin, passed away. I was very fortunate that I was able to work side by side with my dad for 20 years. I learned so much about banking and life from him. He loved being a community banker and worked up until the day he died at the age of 80. Let’s talk about mentors you’ve had over your career. As mentioned earlier, my most impactful mentor was my dad. From a very young age, he made sure that I worked in every area of the bank — from running the proof machine to repossessing cars. It gave me a great perspective. My dad was a very genuine and generous leader. I learned ethics from my dad. M 6
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