Great Southern exec heads to Community Foundation

Brian Fogle, community development director at Great Southern Bank, starts at the organization Sept. 1 as executive vice president.

The position is new, according to CFO President Gary Funk, and Fogle will help the organization manage its growth and strengthen its affiliate foundation operations in rural areas. Fogle will be second-in-command on the 13-member staff.

“We’ve gone from working in seven rural communities to 40 rural communities, and we just really need someone with Brian’s expertise to help us fulfill our mission,” Funk said.

Of course, Fogle’s extensive career in banking doesn’t hurt either.

“When you are working with a $150 million public foundation with more than 1,400 charitable funds, a financial background like Brian’s comes in real handy,” Funk said.

Officials at the nonprofit would not disclose Fogle’s salary.

CFO assists organizations with asset development, community-based grant-making, organizational collaboration and leadership initiatives. It made $12 million in grants and distributions in fiscal 2008.

Fogle’s move brings at least a temporary end to his three decades in banking. He spent 24 years with Bank of America and its predecessors and six years at Great Southern, with a two-year stint as vice president of institutional development at Ozarks Technical Community College in between.

“Even with this great opportunity, it’s still not an easy decision,” Fogle said of leaving the banking industry and colleagues at Great Southern. “My banking roots go deep.”

He added that taking the CFO position wasn’t a stretch – he will continue to work in community development, and CFO and Great Southern have had a long-standing relationship.

“That bridge will be strengthened, I’m sure, between our two organizations,” he said.

Meanwhile, Great Southern likely will not fill Fogle’s post, according to President Joe Turner.

Turner said Fogle’s position was essentially created for him six years ago because of the community development strengths he brought to the table. He took the bank to a new level of community involvement and groomed it and its employees to continue that way on its own, Turner said.

As for Fogle’s new role at CFO, Turner called it “a perfect fit.”

“Brian’s always been extremely interested in making Springfield and southwest Missouri a better place to live and work,” Turner said. “There’s no better place to fulfill that mission than the Community Foundation.”

Fogle has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi. He has spent much of his career volunteering in the nonprofit sector. Current roles include chairman of the Jordan Valley TIF Commission, president of the Missouri Community Development Society and The Kitchen, and a board member of the Southwest Missouri Council on Governments, the Good Community Committee, Springfield Finance and Development Corp., the Ozarks Regional Community Development Corp. and the Dream Capital Corp., according to a news release.