Pub. 1 2021 Issue 2

A BACKGROUND ON ... ADRIAN O. BREEN Adrian Breen believes in hard work and dis- cipline. He likes a quote by Henry Saunders, a UCLA Bruins coach, often attributed to Vince Lombardi: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Another quote is from Ashley Hodgeson: “The strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose.” Born in New York, Adrian moved to Cin- cinnati with his family when he was in second grade. His mom always emphasized the importance of sports. “She told, you are going to play sports, but you are going to get an education, you are going to learn work ethic and competitive nature, and it will all carry over.” After high school, Adrian went to Morehead State University in Kentucky on a football scholarship as a finance major and football quarterback. It made sense to become a banker eventually. His great-grandfather owned a bank, his grandfather was an attorney for the bank and his father was a banker. Adrian finished his sophomore year at Morehead, and he was elected as a team captain. As captain, he was allowed to go to Army basic camp for six weeks at Fort Knox to develop his leadership skills. He was 20 and thought it would be cool to learn how to fly an Apache helicopter. It didn’t work out; his vision disqualified him. Still, he wishes everyone could have a boot-camp experience. It gave Adrian profound respect for the sacrifices military families go through. Adrian learned many lessons during boot camp, and it has been a huge influence on his life because of the discipline, sacrifice and hard work required. “You stayed up late, and they get you up early, “Adrian said. “There was always some- thing going on, like the next drill, the next exercise or night watch. You learn to do more with less.” After boot camp, Adrian went back to Morehead. In 1987, Adrian was a free agent for the Cardinals. He was cut before the season started and after univer- sity classes had started. Next, the Cincinnati Bengals signed Adrian to play quarterback before the 1987 football strike began. He played for the Bengals but broke vertebrae in his back. Adrian healed without surgeries, but has arthritis as a result. After the 24-day football strike in 1987, the Bengals offered to bring Adrian back. He said no. Meanwhile, Adrian had transferred to Cincinnati’s Xavier University because of signing with the Bengals, but he had to take additional classes because of the transfer. He married Lori in 1988. Adrian was hired as a teller at 5/3 (Fifth Third) Bank in Cincinnati. He worked seven days a week and went to school full-time. The Kroger grocery store chain had 5/3 Bank branches inside their stores. Nobody wanted to work on the weekend, but Adrian needed the money. “Lori would go to bed, and I would sit in the corner with a desk and a light, stay up and do homework,” he said. Several people had a significant impact on Adrian’s career. Adrian met George Schaefer, Jr. during the 12+ years he worked at 5/3 Bank. The bank had a tremendous growth spurt between the late 1980s and the 2000s. Adrian never reported directly to George, but he worked with several members of George’s executive team. George understood that banking is a people-and-relationship-driven business. Also, George was competitive. “He was a hard-driven, hard-working leader,” said Adrian. “I learned something every time I was around him.” George’s executive team was also phenom- enal. They were all competitive and driven, but they were only interested in financial advocacy and building long-term rela- tionships. “We gave customers what they needed,” said Adrian. After Adrian graduated, he entered amanage- ment training programthe followingMonday. Adrianwent out to branches as an assistant manager as hewent through the programand was promoted later as amanager. Each bank manager ran their branch as if it was their own business. “You had to know 20 | The Show-Me Banker Magazine