Pub. 5 2017 Issue 2

6 The Community Banker www.mibonline.org Executive Director’s Report W elcome to our post-state conven- tion edition of the Community Banker. It’s hard to believe another state convention has come and gone. This year’s convention was held in Helena for the first time in many years and what a conven- tion it was—many attendees stated it was our best convention yet. We offered several new components to this year’s convention, including a step back in time to 1967 during our vendor’s evening with hippie decor and costumes, and an evening celebrating our fif- ty years as an association with gold trimmings and a birthday cake. We were especially hon- ored to have Cam Fine, ICBA President and CEO, join us in person on Thursday and Friday this year. Cam’s presence at our state con- vention reinforced the strong bond by and between the MIB and the ICBA. As Montana’s only community banking based association, like ICBA, MIB’s sole mission is represent the interests of community banks, their custom- ers, and their communities. The successful state convention followed on the heels of a successful legislative and policy advocacy trip to Washington, D.C. In late April, several MIB board and association members traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in ICBA’s annual Capital Summit. During the Summit, MIB met personally with both Senators Tester and Daines. As a result, we were able to communicate directly to our congressional delegation the need for immediate community banking regulatory relief. Our message was that if there was ever an opportunity to pass much-needed federal banking reforms, this is the year and this is the Congress. Let’s hope Congress acts on this opportunity and provides Montana’s community industry with reforms that allow our membership to do what they do best—to provide quality services to the communities they serve. At the time of the Capital Summit, Mon- tana’s sole seat in the House of Representa- tives was empty due to the resignation of for- mer Representative Ryan Zinke. That seat has since been filled by Greg Gianforte in May’s special election. MIB extends its congratula- tions to Representative Gianforte on assum- ing his new position, and we look forward to working with this long-time businessman on matters of importance to Montana’s commu- nity banking industry. Touching now on the member services side of the Association, I am pleased to write that the Community Banking Program initiated by the MIB at Montana State University – Bozeman is off to a good start. As the reader will recall, the Association partnered with the Jake Jabs College of Business at MSU this past January to launch a curriculum program designed to train business students on how to be a community banker and to steer them toward a career in Montana community banking. As part of the Association’s extensive financial support of the MSU Community Banking Program, MIB provided scholarships to three deserving students in order for them to intern at member banks this summer. The scholarship winners and their respective internship banks are as follows: • Angelina Philippova from Astrakhan, Russia, interning with the Bank of Bozeman • Paul Eayrs from Terry, MT, interning with Stockman Bank in Great Falls • Stephen Murray from Helena, MT, interning with Opportunity Bank in Bozeman Yours truly and recently elected MIB President Tom Christnacht of First Security Bank in Deer Lodge have also been named by MSU to serve on the advisory committee for the program. MIB is excited about helping to develop this program from the ground up, and we are hopeful that the program will ac- complish what we created it to do: develop a pool of young, qualified talent to work at your