UP Bank welcomes incoming president

Mitchell Nitsch started work as Union Planters Bank's southwest Missouri community banking president Aug. 31. He succeeds Charles Bryant, who retired.

Nitsch, who has been with Union Planters Bank since 1983, spent 12 years in Columbia and the last six months in Jefferson City, where he served as the community banking president for that area. In both those markets, Nitsch was very active in small-business lending, and that's a tradition he plans to continue in the southwest Missouri market.

"Obviously, I want to bring that small-business focus to Springfield and want to build the small-business banking business around these markets, similar to what we have done in central Missouri," Nitsch said.

That plan includes loan programs of the U.S. Small Business Administration and a full line of commercial and industrial real estate loan products.

Nitsch said Union Planters Bank has not had a strong business-banking following thus far in southwest Missouri.

"We've been more of a consumer-based lender, (and) we will not deviate from that going forward. We're going to add to the business side, the business products," Nitsch said. Union Planters Bank has three community bank presidents in Missouri Ð one for central Missouri, one for southeastern Missouri and Nitsch's southwestern Missouri region which comprises 15 Union Planters branch locations, including four in Springfield. He said his region has about 115 Union Planters employees, with about 40 of those in Springfield.

"Each community president is, in essence, responsible for the activities of all the community banks, the branches, in that region," Nitsch said.

Union Planters' community presidents in Missouri report to Regional President Mike Ross in St. Louis, who reports to the Midwest regional president in Indianapolis. Ultimately, the reports go to Jack Moore, chief executive officer of Union Planters Corp., Nitsch said.

He added that the bank's leadership structure is set up in that manner so it can maintain its community bank focus.

"We want each community president to be responsible for maintaining that community focus, fulfilling the community needs and building that good corporate citizen responsibility that we're expected to maintain in each of the communities that we're represented in," he said.

Nitsch said he's looking forward to getting involved in the Springfield community.

"The activities that I have been involved in, in the past, would include the United Way, the chamber, Boy Scouts and Rotary, and most likely those will be the first stops for me," he said. "And then, beyond that, I'll look at where our staff is involved, where we are strong, where we are weak, and then we'll try to reassess and reassign our community involvement."

Nitsch holds a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University. He's also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, Wis.

Union Planters Bank has more than 90 branch locations in Missouri alone, but in the 12-state region Union Planters serves, there are more than 870 Union Planters branch locations. Union Planters was founded in 1869, and has total assets of approximately $34 billion.