The leadership test | ABA Banking Magazine

By Evan Sparks

B.Building on a long-standing program that, in partnership with state bankers’ associations, develops programs to cultivate rising banking talent, the ABA honored its first class of Emerging Leader Award recipients at the ABA Annual Convention last fall. . In these profiles, learn what drives some of these successful bank executives.

Rise your hand

Sometimes leadership calls you into unexpected situations.

Kristina Schaefer was president of the South Dakota Bankers Association last year when a controversial issue came up in the Pierre state capital. The proposed bill? A measure that would block banks with policies that limit credit for arms companies to do business with the state. Similar legislation has cropped up in other states, just one of several areas where banks have become a battleground for a proxy culture war.

“Most community banks don’t have a policy limiting firearms,” says Schaefer. “But we decided that this is a slippery slope. We wanted to drive home the message that banks they should decide who they want to bank”.

She’s certainly not uncomfortable with guns: Schaefer comes from a farming family and grew up hunting pheasants like many South Dakotans. And while she stresses that “we weren’t making a statement on guns,” advocating on behalf of the banks pitted her against gun rights advocates. The day she testified at a committee hearing was a day of lobbying for a gun rights group. “The guys who testified in front of me put their clips right there on the podium!” she remembers.

It managed to thread the needle of the culture war, and in a victory for the SDBA, the bill ended without proceeding. But it wasn’t the first time that Schaefer raised his hand and responded to leadership’s call.

He began his banking career in high school and joined First Bank and Trust in Brookings, South Dakota while in college. After college, Schaefer went to law school and began practicing business and banking law. After some time, she was invited back to First Bank and Trust as their first in-house legal counsel. Her role has grown substantially from compliance and unique corporate projects. She raised her hand for new opportunities and now serves as general counsel, chief risk officer and chief administrative officer. (As an executive supervising the human resources director, her portfolio also includes a daycare center for 20 employees at the Brookings headquarters.)

Schaefer also raised his hand in defense and state leadership. During her leadership with the SDBA, she helped plan a new women in banking event. She would have been happy to have 50 attendees, but they packed the room with 125. In 2022, the event drew 300 and “helped us all connect to our larger purpose as bankers.”

When bankers raise their hands, Schaefer reminds them to be intentional. “If you’re willing to raise your hand, commit,” he says. “I always want people, when they think of Kristina, to be the person they can count on to show up.”

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ryan coaxum
Vice president
Guaranty and Trust Bank, Austin

pass it on

Ryan Coaxum’s entrance on the bench was a gentle push from Mom: “You have to leave the insurance,” she told him. “I looked at him and said, ‘I need to have a career!’” Coaxum joined Sovereign Bank and rose through the ranks from part-time teller to personal banker and credit analyst. But his boss, a senior loan shark named Travis Brown, had bigger ideas for him. One day, Brown asked Coaxum what he wanted from his career. Coaxum shared his goal of continuing to grow. “That sounds great, but you need to go back to school and finish your degree,” Brown said.

“He lit that fire under me,” Coaxum notes. “During my lunch break, I went to the University of Houston-Tillotson and signed up for the evening program.”

Armed with his title, Coaxum’s bank was acquired and joined with Brown in a novo called Guaranty Bank and Trust. The change was “the best thing in the world”. Despite working 15-hour days to launch the bank, the relationships he was building kept him energized. “People give me that energy.”

Coaxum benefited from being challenged to grow by Brown and from mentors like Texas Bankers Association CEO Chris Furlow, who has been a “guiding force.” Now his goal is to invest in the next generation of bankers. “Representation is a big problem. I want to see more people who look like me in the industry,” he muses. “That’s why I work so hard outside of my traditional nine to five job. The legacy for me is in every life I touch.”

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Abby Nguyen-Burke
Senior Vice President and Team Leader
East Bank, Boston

Find an advocate, be an advocate

Abby Nguyen-Burke leads a “small but mighty” team of three business ventures owned by women and entrepreneurs of color at Eastern Bank. Her passion is supporting underserved small business owners, and her team has been able to “leverage the special purpose credit program as one of our credit solutions,” she says, opening the door for “partnerships with leading community organizations and nonprofit organizations that provide technical assistance and microcredit as well as bank financing.”

His goal: “To help small businesses grow and prosper,” he says. But she didn’t reach that goal overnight. Nguyen-Burke joined Eastern Bank as a teller in college. She was studying criminal justice and sociology, but she decided to stay in banking, partly because of a great branch manager. “I want to be her one day!” Nguyen-Burke told herself.

As she rose through the ranks to become a manager herself, she met a senior vice president and team leader in Eastern Bank’s community development lending division who was also inspiring. “I want to be her too one day!” she told herself, and a decade later, Nguyen-Burke had achieved that goal.

Mentors like them were important to your career, but Nguyen-Burke stresses the need for patrons or advocates—those who will speak to others about you, not just you. She greets quite a few top executives at Eastern Bank who “were always willing and ready to say my name and push for my leadership roles.”

Now, Nguyen-Burke is looking to model the same type of defense for his team. “My goal is to promote a plus-one” for projects, meetings or conferences to create growth opportunities for your ambitious and talented team members. She strives to be “aware and purposeful about who I’m talking to,” championing and celebrating clients and colleagues alike.

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Meet the Other Emerging Leader Award Recipients

Adam Johnston | Senior Vice President, North Louisiana Regional Manager | First Guaranty Bank, Bossier City, Louisiana
“I’ve found that being the youngest person in the room can be a good thing, as long as you work harder than everyone else before you enter the room, while you’re in the room, and after you leave.”

Billie Jo Parker | Senior Vice President | Pinnacle Financial Partners, Memphis, Tennessee
“I am proud to be a banker. For me, it has been such a rewarding and challenging career. Knowing that banks can help serve the communities we are in by helping small businesses prosper, helping families buy their first home or sending their children to college is a unique and powerful opportunity for the that we can be part of it.”

hazelnut davis | VP/Officer of Compliance and Community Development | Jefferson Bank, San Antonio
“My passion for banking is rooted in the support we provide to the people and businesses in our communities. Banks do more than offer products and services, we listen to customers’ aspirations and support their goals with sincere service. We build communities with our time, talent and capital.”

Kirsten Agard | VP, AMP, Closing/Post-Closing Manager | Umpqua Bank Home Loans, Portland, Oregon
“To me, an emerging leader is someone who is open to learning, growing and failing. Someone who crushes their goals individually and as a team, and someone who thinks outside the box and is willing to share their unique insights and perspectives.”

Lydia Levin | Senior Vice President, Channel Strategy Manager | Zions Bank, Salt Lake City
“I am passionate about how the banking industry connects people with their goals and dreams, both entrepreneurs and families. To work in an industry that helps create value for their local economies takes a certain type of person, and it’s the bankers that I respect so much and love working to train and develop into bigger roles.”

Nicolas E. Vrba | Executive Vice President and Secretary of the Board of Directors | First State Bank and Trust Company, Fremont, Nebraska
“With patience and a strong work ethic, the results of one’s work show. I wear my youth like a badge of honor and look forward to the next opportunities that present themselves.”

Sandra Starnes | Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Citizens Bank, Batesville, Arkansas
“It is an incredible time to be in the banking industry. Bankers have been a trusted partner in the success and [managing]challenges for decades. Through unique partnerships and thoughtful innovation, financial institutions are equipped to take that legacy of community building exponentially further. Advocating for the future of banking can be as simple as education. In short, distribute the work and light the fire”.

Shanna Fuller Cahalane | VP and Director of Marketing and Community Development | Reading Cooperative Bank, Reading, Massachusetts
“Banking touches everyone and should be for everyone. I have seen firsthand that when community banks reach out to the unbanked, they can help them move up the financial ladder and improve the quality of life for themselves and their families. It is a privilege to be both an anchor and a lifeline in the communities we serve.”