After graduating from high school, Robert attended Barton County Community College and graduated in 1988. He then received his bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA from Wichita State University in 1990 and 1991. Robert met the love of his life, Cheryl, at Barton County Community College, and they got married after college. His first job out of college was as an officer trainee at Bank IV, which is now Bank of America, where he was involved in the trust department in employment benefit plans and then took over management for the McPherson branch. He wanted to return to the farm, so he eventually left banking in 1996 and returned to his family farm for the next 11 years. During this period, while farming, he served on the board of First Kansas Bank, which needed an agricultural lender. Seizing the opportunity, he returned to banking in 2007. He then joined American State Bank in Great Bend as an agricultural lender. In 2014, he accepted another opportunity, becoming the Central Kansas market president at Farmers Bank & Trust, alongside W.R. Robbins, to manage their western market banks. Throughout his banking career, Robert attended and graduated from the Graduate School of Banking in Colorado in 2016. He also completed the Ag Lending and Advanced Ag Lending School program through the Schools of Banking. Robert has also served on the Kansas Ag Bankers (KAB) board for 5 years. Farmers Bank & Trust offers a complete line of ag products, including lines of credit like equipment and land loans, letters of credit and various other needs. They assess potential ag customers or businesses based on tax returns, cash flow analysis and debt service capacity. “I believe one of the best tools that we utilize with our ag customers to maintain good financial health and sustainability is debt service capacity,” Robert continued, “developing an understanding of how much debt they can handle.” Over the years, Robert fondly recalls three young men who returned to their community after college to pursue farming, and he was able to assist them in getting started. One started on his own with a family acquaintance, and the other two began to take over and expand on the farms from their own family. “Working with those three young men in their separate operations and watching them grow in our community has been a real success story for me,” Robert said. “They have been with me since 2007 when I started on the ag banking side, and I’ve watched their farms grow and expand. They are doing very well.” Getting to know people and making personal connections was one of the most essential factors in Robert’s career. A role model that Robert looked up to is Roger Murphy, a peer in banking and feedlot owner who has been incredibly influential in helping grow his family farm. When Robert isn’t banking, he and his wife, Cheryl, enjoy going to the lake and spending time with their kids, Wyatt, a senior accountant for the town of Vail in Colorado, and Olivia, a senior in accounting at the University of Kansas. Robert Rugan in front of their family farm truck. Robert Rugan and his wife, Cheryl, daughter Olivia and son Wyatt during season harvest in 2005. 19
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