Dynamic Dozen No. 12: Great Southern Bank

Each year brings a new challenge for Great Southern Bank: crossing the finish line in the financial industry race with better results each time. For the Springfield-based publicly held bank, that means capturing greater earnings per share than the previous year, according to Joe Turner, Great Southern Bank president and CEO.

"Everything ties back to earnings per share because that's what translates into increasing shareholder value," Turner said. "That's sort of the finish line, and there are a lot of other things that get you to that finish line."

By those standards, bank executives consider 2003 a success. Great Southern's operating earnings were up 9.4 percent, the difference between earnings of $2.97 per share in 2002 and $3.25 per share in 2003.

The other things' Turner speaks of in reaching the finish line are growth in deposits, up 11.8 percent; loans, up 9.8 percent; assets, up 9.1 percent; customer households, up 5.8 percent; and gross revenue, up 6.7 percent.

Over the three-year period from 2001 through 2003, bank revenues grew 23 percent from $60.8 million to $74.9 million.

"We've seen growth in all those areas," Turner said. "Part of our strength is that we serve a number of sectors. We have a well-diversified loan portfolio."

While banking boils down to numbers, numbers don't paint the full picture. Turner said the key to hitting the financial finish line in top form is getting the right people in the race, and that makes the quality of its associates the No. 1 reason for the bank's success. "(Quality) is at the very highest level it's been since I've been here," Turner said. "That's what's leading to our growth."

Since 2001, the number of full-time employees has grown approximately 20 percent, nearly on pace with gross revenues. There are 575 employees.

"In the last three years we've brought a lot of good people on board," Turner said, naming officers Barby Pohl, Kelly Polonus, Brian Fogle, Gary Lewis and Rex Copeland.

Those fresh faces have joined their skills with those of Great Southern veterans such as Teresa Chasteen-Calhoun, Steve Mitchem and Tammy Baurichter, Turner said.

"It's been a combination," he said. "Our folks that have been here for a long time and those that have come in seem to have jelled well together."

Polonus, Great Southern director of communications, agreed.

"I think that's part of the key. We've jelled as a team," Polonus said. "It's been extraordinary the way it's happened."

The market is Great Southern's No. 2 source of success.

"Regardless of how good your associates are, you've got to be located in a pretty good market. We're located in a very stable market here," Turner added. "You combine great people with a very good market and I think you've got a chance to produce good results."

The national banking industry has taken notice of Great Southern's results. Turner is perhaps most proud of the bank's three-year average return on equity 23.4 percent, which earned it a No. 6 ranking last summer in U.S. Banker's top 100 publicly traded mid-tier banks. The bank's holding company, Great Southern Bancorp Inc., also consistently ranks among the top 40 in efficiency among the largest 500 U.S. bank holding companies, according to American Banker. In the latest ranking, published Feb. 25 for third-quarter 2003 results, Great Southern Bancorp was No. 38 with a 45.62 percent efficiency ratio. By comparison, the No. 1 bank on the list has an efficiency ratio of 20.88 percent.

"It shows that we work smart in the resources that we have," Polonus said, of the common banking measure that divides operating expenses by gross income to show how much income is spent on expenses.

Great Southern Bank also is expanding physically. It recently added two loan production offices outside southwest Missouri: Kansas City and Rogers, Ark.; purchased a former grocery store on South Glenstone to become offices; bought two Springfield travel agencies; and acquired Ozark property for a second branch there. The bank opened its 29th branch in Nixa last year.