Metropolitan National promotes for top spot

On March 31, Sterling Huff will take over as Metropolitan National Bank’s new president and CEO. And he’s already strategizing how he’ll develop tomorrow’s banking leaders.

Huff’s promotion to succeed Dave Tooley had been in the works for several years. One of the reasons Huff made the move to Metropolitan from Empire Bank, where he was senior vice president, was because he knew the bank was planning for Tooley’s successor once he chose to retire, Huff said.

Huff has been learning the ropes since accepting the position of executive vice president and chief operating officer four years ago.

The path Huff took to the top spot at Metropolitan is similar to at least half his local peers in the area. Of the eight area banks researched by Springfield Business Journal, 50 percent hired from within for their current president spots.

“I think you see both ways,” said OakStar Bank President and CEO Randy Johnson, who was recruited to OakStar a year ago.

“When a bank wants to have a change in direction or focus on fresh ideas, they’ll hire from outside,” he added. “There are also times when a bank takes the opportunity to hire from within, if there are strong leaders in place.”

According to a 2009 Talent Management Survey conducted by the American Bankers Association and the Corporate Executive Board, banks fill 60 percent of all positions internally. The same survey revealed that 40 percent of bank CEOs say they could be doing more to help their employees grow. That’s something American Bankers Association Senior Vice President Jim Edrington said will change in the next few years.

“Talent management is a trend that’s starting to rise to the top,” he said. “Banks are starting to identify top performing individuals and put them through leadership training.”

Huff considers growing in-house talent a bank leaders’ responsibility.

“In the role of CEO, you must own the culture of the bank, and by saying that, it means fostering an environment where you do invest in your people,” Huff said.

Trends also may be moving toward younger bank leaders. The presidents and CEOs of at least six Springfield-based banks -– Great Southern Bank, Guaranty Bank, Empire Bank, Springfield First Community Bank, Old Missouri Bank and OakStar – are 50 years old or younger.

“As an industry, banking is going to need to look to good young lenders and start grooming future leaders,” said Brian Straughan, the 43-year-old president and CEO of Springfield First Community Bank. “In Springfield, that may be a trend we’re already seeing.”

Today’s bank presidents and CEOs also are seeing a different set of challenges than their predecessors. The economic climate, for example, is something bank employees at all levels deal with daily.

“(Our customers) are people we care about, people we’ve known for five, 10, 15 years. We see it in our customers’ faces, we see it in their financials. Now, we need to work at maintaining the relationship while being in tune to what can and can’t be done to help these folks,” OakStar’s Johnson said. “I think a bank president has to be thick-skinned and at the same time be sensitive.”

Finding the right balance, and helping employees do the same, may be even more difficult after six or seven years of essentially free spending, Huff said.

“To some degree, putting the genie back in the bottle is a leadership challenge,” he said. “People are ramped up and ready to sell and provide these services, which for a good part of the industry has just bitten us.”

At the end of the day, customer service is key for a bank, and one of the most important attributes a bank president needs is personality, said Mid-Missouri Bancshares Inc. Chairman Lee Gilbert.

“You need a good, patient person, a person that likes to help customers,” Gilbert said. “That’s what it’s all about is helping people, and that helps the bank.”[[In-content Ad]]