Hi, my friends! It took me quite a while to decide what I should write about for my first President’s Message as the incoming president of the Montana Independent Bankers Association. Through my involvement with the MIB, I have become close friends with many of the great community bankers in our state. However, I realized that there are far more fabulous community bankers in our state that I have yet to meet. So, it seems that my first order of business should be introducing myself to you via this publication until I have the chance to hopefully meet you in person.

I am a born and raised Montanan. I grew up in Helena, and while I love traveling and exploring the world, I always find my heart is here in the Queen City of the Rockies. I ended up attending Carroll College “accidentally” while trying to search for the perfect school to attend after high school graduation. Similarly, I ended up finding myself in my first role as a community banker shortly after graduation from Carroll, by accident. I was looking for a job where I could put my newly earned degrees to work while trying to help people make their lives better. I had never considered being a banker while growing up or even while attending college. I joined Mountain West Bank and learned just how impactful a community bank can be on the lives of its customers. Today I serve as chairman, president and CEO of Ascent Bank. It turns out a number of happy little accidents led me to an incredibly fulfilling and rewarding career and life!

As for me as a person, I am your stereotypical community banker when it comes to all of the things that make us the awesome group of people that we are. I thrive on helping my staff grow, learn and develop! I love seeing my customers succeed in their personal and professional lives and helping play a role in their success. I firmly believe that I have an obligation to make my community better. I volunteer on a number of boards and give my time to local organizations. When it comes to the things that are not critical to the DNA of a community banker, I am anything but stereotypical. I am a risk taker who feeds on being outdoors and going fast. My favorite hobby is skydiving and I hate golf.

I met my wife Michelle just after graduating from Carroll and have shared countless adventures with her. She is a huge supporter of community banking, as well, and has helped make my goals a reality. We don’t have any two-legged children, but we have four horses, two German shepherds and three cats.

While we were raising the money and putting together the investor group to buy First Security Bank of Helena (later rebranded to Ascent Bank), I was blown away by how many of our investors were willing to be part of “The Bank” because they attributed their success to a community bank. I heard story after story of a community banker taking a risk on them that allowed them to build a successful business. Those stories helped reinforce my belief in community banks and I realized that we all share common goals and values, despite the little differences between all of our banks. Soon after, I was invited to join the MIB board of directors and saw even more how similar we are.

Now, as I step into the role of president of MIB, I want to make sure that our organization has everything it needs to continue to serve the community banks of Montana. The Montana Independent Bankers Association is the only trade association in Montana dedicated to community banks and everything we stand for. We, as a group of banks, are faced with countless challenges from the credit unions, mega and regional banks, fintechs, regulators and more. The MIB and its leadership stand not only beside us, but often in front of us, taking on those battles. I am committed to finding ways to strengthen our organization through membership, finances and innovation as we continue to do the good work of building up our communities.

Please feel free to reach out to me electronically or in person to discuss anything I can do to help you. I really do want to get know more of our community bankers and build on those relationships!