Great Southern nabs Fogle

After two years with Ozarks Technical Community College, Brian Fogle is returning to the work he considers his "highest and best use" community development in banking.

Fogle's last day as vice president of institutional development at OTC will be June 30. His new position, as vice president of community development for Springfield-based Great Southern Bank, begins sometime after July 1.

The community development position is not only new to Fogle, it is new to Great Southern.

"The idea of a community development position has always been something that intrigued us," said Joe Turner, Great Southern president and chief executive officer. "I would say, though, that having someone available with Brian's background has certainly sped up the process to get a community development program started."

New focus

The road to Fogle's new position began last fall, when Great Southern contacted him about a different position that was available.

"I told them what I've told everybody else in banking, that the only way that I would have the desire to get back into banking would be through community development," Fogle said.

That piqued the interest of Great Southern's Turner, and the two began a dialogue about what community development could do for the institution, community and region. The new emphasis for Great Southern and Fogle's new position were created from those discussions, Fogle said.

Because the position is new, it is still in the formative stages. However, the concept of community development is clear.

"In banking terms, community development is making sure your institution is meeting its obligations to serve the entire community," Fogle said. Particularly, that means targeting products and services to low- to moderate-income and minority neighborhoods, communities or peoples.

That relates to everything from placing branches where they're easily accessible, to offering affordable services that meet the needs of the community, to taking part in community redevelopment, from affordable housing to commercial redevelopment.

Good business

"One of the intriguing things for me was, I think Great Southern has already done an excellent job in providing services and products to those low- to moderate-income neighborhoods and communities, " Fogle said. "You look even at their branch placement; they are in those areas that need investment."

With the community development focus, "We can probably have the greatest impact by loaning money to areas in the communities we serve that are maybe underserved right now," Turner said. "Maybe they're geographic areas, maybe they're categories of borrowers that are underserved. I think we need to look for opportunities to serve those areas or serve those borrowers."

Fogle said that one thing he learned in his experience of community development in banking is "not only does it help the community, but it's good business, and it's profitable business. That was one of the first things when Joe and I were talking, that understanding that this isn't charity, this is business, and a line of business that has to be profitable for it to be sustainable over time."

Redevelopment

According to Fogle and Turner, an area that is likely to flourish under Great Southern's new community development focus is commercial and residential redevelopment.

"It's an incredible time in Springfield," Fogle said. "We have, I think, the right leadership in place that understands that for a community to be truly a successful community, it has to be successful for everybody, not just those with wealth, not just those that live in certain areas."

He added, "I think you'll see a whole new focus within our community on neighborhood revitalization, especially those low- to moderate-income areas that have had some challenges."

Turner added that there are many opportunities for redevelopment within the Springfield community.

"We have all the positive things going on downtown, and that's an ideal place for some redevelopment," Turner said.