The CommunityBanker 4 Chairman’s Message By Jay Stafford, VACB Chairman Benchmark Community Bank From Convention to Strategic Planning When my calendar flipped to November, I immediately thought of Thanksgiving and for all that I am thankful: family, friends, and my community among them. Your membership in VACB is a key entry on my thankful list, as well as your support in allowing me the opportunity to chair this great association. I am grateful to those who joined us in Williamsburg in October for the 2022 Annual VACB Convention. It was a great in-person event, and the lineup of speakers was the best in recent memory. Thanks to Steve, Katharine, and Kelli for a great convention. Likewise, I would like to give a special thanks to Dennis Dysart for his leadership over this past year. He played such a pivotal role in our outreach efforts and in developing a new strategic plan whose implementation is now my task to lead. This trip to Williamsburg had special meaning for me. Being in Williamsburg reminds me not only about the formation of our country, but also makes me think of our association’s almost half-century of service to Virginia’s banking industry. The role of banking in supporting our economic stability applies to all of us in our industry and, especially to those of us whose banks helped establish this organization. I am the third VACB Chairman from Benchmark, so the significant role our association plays in our industry is particularly meaningful for me. As your Board begins to focus on 2023, several strategic objectives have been identified. While operating with a sturdy foundation, VACB is facing so many of the same challenges as our business customers: How do we drive member value? When asking our members what they feel is our most important value proposition, we repeatedly hear “delivery of undiluted advocacy strictly for community banks.” There are similarities – and many striking differences – among all financial institutions, one of the most notable being the recent effort to reduce or eliminate our ability to charge overdraft fees. While many of the largest banks can easily absorb this loss of income elsewhere on the income statement, community banks operating to serve their communities are often unable to follow suit. Expect VACB and ICBA to push back on this issue with our help. How do we increase and diversify revenue? Revenue generation has become a much bigger issue for our association as we continue to see mergers and acquisitions affecting our revenue from member dues. Additionally, the availability of education programs across many channels and through a variety of vendors has spurred competition for these programs to an unforeseen level. How do we identify and deliver a unique product that attracts virtual and in-person attendance and supports revenue generation for the association? Continued on page 6
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