Banking & Finance Industry Outlook

Bankers Look to Balance Strength with Flexibility

This particular Industry Outlook assembly was unlike any other that these high level bankers and financiers had recently attended. They were asked to examine their own strengths and evaluate them in light of the challenges that a volatile marketplace poses, all of this in a room filled with their competitors.

Sponsoring the assembly on this pleasant late June morning was Enterprise Bank & Trust, which also hosted the event at its congenial Metcalf Avenue offices. Chairing the assembly was Enterprise’s regional president, Linda Hanson. As Hanson observed in her opening remarks, Enterprise is a roughly $1.5 billion banking and trust company headquartered in Saint Louis. The company focuses on two lines of business: commercial business and wealth management.

This assembly was part of Ingram’s Magazine’s ongoing effort to address issues and explore opportunities among the leading industry sectors of the greater Kansas City’s greater metropolitan area. Although there was candid discussion about the very real challenges these institutions face, participants expressed nearly unanimous optimism about the future of banking in general and their own institutions in particular.

(front row, left to right)

Mike Maddox, INTRUST

Paul Thompson, Country Club Bank

Kevin Barth, Commerce Bank

Pam Berneking, M&I Bank

Henry Heimsoth, Great Southern Bank

(back row, left to right)

Peter deSilva, UMB Bank

Keith Bouchey, First Community Bank

Bob Regnier, Bank of Blue Valley

Linda Hanson, Enterprise Bank & Trust

Brian McCarthy, LaSalle Bank

Craig Huston, Enterprise Bank & Trust

Stu Lang, First National Bank

Jack Sutherland, Enterprise Bank & Trust