2023 Men of the Year: Brent Baldwin

Since childhood, Brent Baldwin has understood the importance of hard work, as he grew up on a fourth-generation farm in Warrensburg.

“At a young age, the importance of hard work was instilled in me, getting up early and staying up late to get the job done,” Baldwin says. “From those years growing up on the farm, I have taken that work ethic into the business community and continually try to outwork my competition in order to win business, provide excellent customer service and be a motivating team leader.”

As commercial division manager in the southwest region for Commerce Bank, helping others succeed has been a big part of his job. That includes helping summer interns at the bank, training new managers and coaching bank managers to excel with their teams.

“One more seasoned relationship manager within my chain of command had been an average producer over the past several years, but had not been able to reach his targets,” he says. “He was lacking confidence. We met over a few months to work on his activities, to better manage his time and make sure he was focusing on blue chips as opposed to white chips. This is another way of saying the 80/20 rule – spend your time on the most important tasks and limit the others. He is now producing at a level that should meet and exceed his goals.”

Baldwin has not only been a leader at the bank, but in the Springfield community. He’s been a part of Springfield Southeast Rotary Club as  treasurer and president. He’s also served with Leadership Springfield and helped with fundraising for the Child Advocacy Center Inc. Through the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Baldwin was named chair of the chamber’s 2022 Reach campaign. He led a group of 60 volunteers with the goals of raising funds for chamber events and programs, celebrating successes, establishing new and growing relationships, and having fun doing it.

“At the conclusion of the campaign, my proudest professional and civic accomplishment to date was to announce our team efforts resulted in a Reach campaign record-year of production with nearly $950,000 committed to the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce,” Baldwin says. “This could not have happened without organizing a great group of volunteers and leaders, and continuing to provide motivation through the campaign period.”

Last year, he agreed to serve with Morey Mechlin as co-chair of the United Way of the Ozarks 2023 campaign and cabinet, a team of community leaders and volunteers tasked with raising awareness of the group’s accomplishments and establishing new connections.

Between working with Commerce Bank since 2018 and his involvement with nonprofits, Baldwin says he’s learned there is much more to being part of a community than being a good businessman.

“Over the years, I have also learned empathy,” he says. “It is not all about winning and driving results. Putting myself in another’s position and understanding their unique needs is an important trait.”