Pub. 7 2019 Issue 3

4 The Community Banker www.mibonline.org Executive Director’s Report I t’s hard to believe this is MIB’s final 2019 edition of The Community Banker. It seems like it was only last week when I was putting together the January 2019 edition of our magazine. As I get older, I find this old saw true: Time certainly does pass more quickly the older one gets. I write this article on a snowy day in Hel- ena. This ‘fall’ sure turned into the winter of 2019-20 in a hurry. In early October, the MIB Board met in Bozeman to discuss, among other things, the financial performance of the Association in 2019, the outcome of the annual state convention, progress on the Association’s five-year strategic plan, and the investment in Montana State University’s community banking program. The Boardmeeting was held in conjunction with theMSU football tailgate party hosted by the Association. The tailgate was held before the Cats homecoming game with Sacramento State. 2019marks the third year MIB has hosted its Cat/Griz tailgate parties, kicking off that member benefit in the fall of 2017. Once again, the Asso- ciation’s tailgate parties were sponsored by UBB. UBB has been a strong supporter of theMIB over the years, andwe thank them for their continued support. I would also like to recognizeMIBmem- ber Stockman Bank for generously allowing the Association to use property owned by the Bank as the host location for our MSU tailgate party. You will find within the pages herein photos from our two tailgate parties. I am pleased to write we had strong participation at both the UM and MSU games. Given the success of the tailgates, the Association will be hosting these parties for our membership moving forward. As such, we look forward to seeing you at one of our future tailgate parties and associated Griz/Cat games. In addition to hosting the tailgate, the Association also joined the MSU Commu- nity Banking program in participating in the homecoming parade. As evidenced by the front cover of this edition of the maga- zine, the Association and the MSU banking program entered an antique car in the parade to highlight our strong community banking partnership. My thanks to Shawn Dutton of First Security Bank of Roundup for being our chauffer. The MSU community banking pro- gram has been a great success to date. If you are interested in having your bank participate in the program, please feel free to contact me or contact Tim Harvey, the Director of the program at the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Speaking of Association events, coming off of our very strong 2019 convention in Butte, the Association reminds you that the annual state convention is always held annually around the third week of July. 2020 will be no different; and Billings will be the host location of next year’s State Convention. The venue will be the Northern Hotel. The MIB has not hosted our annual convention in the ‘Magic City’ for a number of years, and we are excited to be returning to Billings for the Association’s annual event. As you likely deduced from the front cov- er, this edition of the magazine focuses on the importance of your bank directors and in keeping your bank directors informed. Although we are almost a decade removed from the economic downturn of the late 2000s, it remains as critically important today, as it did then, for Montana’s commu- nity banks to not only to recruit and retain quality bank directors, but to keep them informed so as to help them successfully fulfill their bank director responsibilities. To this end, inside, you will find articles on this critical compliance topic authored by MIB associate members Angie Murdo of AZ and Bill Showalter of Young and Associates. Also included is the FDIC’s pocket guide for directors. I trust you will find these articles helpful and informative. I will take this opportunity to remind you that one of the benefits you receive as a member of the MIB is quarterly reports on timely topics of interest prepared by AZ for use at your board meetings. These ‘director reports’ are free to you and are often identified favorably by bank regulators during the exam process. Finally, just a friendly reminder that, starting in early January, you will find in your mailbox the MIB’s membership renewal notices. We here at the MIB understand that things are tight financially for Montana’s community banks, particularly given the bur- den placed on your institutions by excessive regulation. That is why we do our best here at the Association to ensure that you receive the maximum value for your dues while you also gain extensive support in the areas that matter. When you receive your renewal notice, we hope our efforts over the last six years to tighten the Association’s belt while expanding member services and programs will be foremost in your mind. If there is anything the Association, its Board, its officers, or its staff can assist you with, or if there are additional benefits the MIB can add that would be of service to your business, please let us know. MIB’s mission remains, as it did at the inception of the Asso- ciation in 1967, to help ensure that Montana’s community banks have the resources to com- pete and thrive in an ever-changing business environment. Jim Brown, MIB Executive Director