A Conversation With ... Chris Harville

I oversee commercial business development for all of Liberty Bank. We have a program that encourages new business development and cross-selling to existing customers, and we have quarterly incentives and recognition events to that program. (Commercial business development) is (in) lending and all the banking services – corporate cash management services, new deposits, investments through our investment company, mortgage loans through our mortgage company – (all of our) full-service banking products. In our corporate business development program, there are currently 25 officers.

For nine consecutive years, Liberty has been ranked the No. 1 small-business lender by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Why did small business become a focus area?

Liberty Bank understands the economic impact of small businesses not only nationwide, but primarily in southwest Missouri. … It has been a focus for this bank since its inception. We’re proud of the fact that since we started, we have created, just through the SBA programs, in excess of 5,000 new jobs and retained even more than that. Small-business lending is a small percentage of our overall loan portfolio – I’d say it is less than 20 percent – however, it is an important part of what we do.

What’s something that small-business owners need to be more aware of when seeking bank financing?

That’s a little bit difficult to answer, because if you think of the broad range of small businesses out there, they’re all different. They’ve got unique characteristics that need to be addressed, but I would say that the one common thing … is planning. You can call it a formal business plan if you’d like, but (it’s) understanding the industry that they’re in, the community that they’re in, what economic forces are at play in their small business. They need to have an idea what their competitive advantage will be, of what some barriers of entry to their business will be (and) what are their greatest challenges. It’s important for people to think through all of those things as they’re starting a small business.

Banks most of all want to know how you’re going to pay the loan back … but tied to that is this planning, understanding all those forces.

How did you get into this line of work?

My degree from Missouri State University was in finance with a banking emphasis. I enjoy people, and I enjoy relationships, and banking is an area where you can develop relationships with a lot of different people from various socioeconomic backgrounds. You’ve got small-business owners who’ve got three employees up to large-business owners who have hundreds of employees. I enjoy the challenges of business development and relationship development.

What are some of the key challenges in your work?

The challenges are both internal and external. The external challenges are ones that we’re all familiar with – downturns in the economy such as after 9/11 … or when other businesses come (into the market). Internally … yes, we are the No. 1 small-business-friendly bank in the state, but it’s not always possible to help everybody. That’s a tough part of the job.

You said your last media interview was when you played basketball for Missouri State University. When did you play? Do you still enjoy basketball?

I played 1986–90, (MSU’s) first four NCAA tournament years. I don’t play basketball anymore – I leave that up to my son.

Tell us about your family.

My wife, Beth, and I are coming up on our 17th year of marriage. She’s a professor at Drury, (teaching) molecular biology, organic chemistry … high-level science. We’ve got three kids. My 13-year-old son, Taylor, is a seventh-grader who plays basketball and runs track. He’s 6 feet 3 inches right now. My 10-year-old daughter, Lauren, is into gymnastics, and my youngest daughter, Payten, is 8, and she’s into a lot of sports, primarily basketball and soccer.

Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover. You can e-mail her with suggestions for future installments of this feature at mhoover@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]