I spent over 20 years as a Montana community banker, working my way through various positions from Teller to Branch Manager, Credit Analyst to Lender, and Chief Credit Officer to Chief Lending Officer. Helping small businesses succeed by getting to know my borrowers’ needs and applying sound loan structuring that made sense for their business and the bank was the most fun part of my banking career.

At Community Bankers Webinar Network (CBWN), my customer base has grown in numbers to include bankers from across the entire nation. Even so, my commitment to knowing my customers has not changed. I may not be able to personally introduce myself to every community banker who attends our webinars, but I know community bankers. In fact, as our team plans each year’s training calendar, I have made it a priority to ask bankers across the United States what they need. To that end, I have created the Community Banker Advisory Committee. Each year, I send a detailed survey to committee members who have all agreed to give honest answers to questions like, “What is your bank focusing on most as you prepare for your next exam?” and, “What topics are important to you and your colleagues as we look toward the coming year?” Their feedback has a direct and positive impact on the webinars that find their way onto our annual calendar.

Two Montana bankers are members of this important committee and have taken time out of their unimaginably busy schedules to give me their valuable feedback. Thank you to Chantelle Nash, Chief Risk Officer with Opportunity Bank of Montana, and incoming MIB President Tim Schreiber, Chief Credit Officer with Farmers State Bank.

I have spent time with Chantelle and Tim professionally and personally, and I know they are true community bankers to their cores. They give freely of their time and talents to meet the needs of their families, communities, their banks, and you, their fellow community bankers. Their advice in planning each year’s webinar training calendar is invaluable, to say the least. Their involvement means you can count on the Community Bankers Webinar Network to deliver the most relevant and timely bank webinars, which are available anywhere. Thank you, Chantelle. Thank you, Tim.

Community Bankers Webinar Network partners with Montana Independent Bankers to produce and deliver
150-200 new bank training webinars every year. Our full library contains over 250 live and on-demand webinars. Through our newly designed website and User Portal, bankers can access all their webinars in one place, making it easy to attend, track, and report their webinar training at the click of a mouse or the touch of a finger if they’re on a mobile device or tablet. Our User Portal also allows your bankers to share training with colleagues, upgrade their orders, track Subscription Tokens, and save their billing and payment information for a quick, seamless checkout experience.

CBWN’s promise to provide community bankers with timely and trusted training is top of mind when planning and producing each webinar. We are educators at heart and industry experts with long-term, real-life, hands-on experience. Our practiced presenters tackle the latest regulations and critical banking issues so community banks and bankers can better serve their communities.

Larry Williams is President & CEO of the Community Bankers Webinar Network, providing bankers across the United States with relevant and timely online training topics covering all key areas of community banking from the frontline to the board room. Check them out online at www.financialedinc.com or call 406-442-2585.