Newly elected officers of the Young Bankers Division of the Tennessee Bankers Association are (L-R): President Bo Blanken, Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Grainger County, Rutledge; Immediate Past President Emily Gray, The Hardin County Bank, Savannah; Vice President Michelle Bing, Reelfoot Bank, Union City; and President-elect Chris Schlueter, FirstBank, Nashville
Members of the Young Bankers Division of the Tennessee Bankers Association elected new officers and directors for 2015-2016 during their annual Leadership Convention, held at The Peabody in Memphis.
Delegates elected the following bankers to serve as officers during 2015-2016:
President – Bo Blanken, assistant vice president, Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Grainger County, Rutledge
President-elect – Chris Schlueter, vice president, FirstBank, Nashville
Vice President – Michelle Bing, senior vice president, Reelfoot Bank, Union City
Immediate Past President – Emily Gray, senior vice president/senior credit officer, The Hardin County Bank, Savannah
As president of the division, Blanken will serve as an ex-officio member of the Tennessee Bankers Association board of directors.
In addition to the four executive officers, the Young Bankers Division is governed by a nine-member board of directors composed of three directors from each of the three grand divisions of the state—East, Middle, and West. Directors serve a three-year term with one director from each of the grand divisions rotating off each year to be replaced by a newly elected banker from the same division.
Directors elected to the board during this year's convention were:
East Tennessee - Robert Bradley, executive vice president/chief risk officer, Bank of Tennessee, Johnson City
Middle Tennessee - Johnathan West, assistant vice president/mortgage originator, Macon Bank and Trust Company, Lafayette
West Tennessee - Melanie Luckey, assistant vice president and controller, First South Bank, Jackson
Bankers who completed their three-year terms and rotated off of the board were:
East Tennessee – John Hunter, Commercial Relationship manager, People's Community Bank, a Division of First Community Bank, Johnson City
Middle Tennessee – Michael D. Griffith, vice president, Business Banking and Development, Security Federal Savings Bank of McMinnville, McMinnville
West Tennessee - John Killen, city president, Carroll Bank and Trust, Camden
The Young Banker's Division was established in 1960 and is devoted to preparing Tennessee's young bank officers to become the industry's next generation of leaders.
The members of the division represent financial institutions across the state of Tennessee. The division's board of directors serves as the board of trustees for The Southeastern School of Bankingsm, a two-year general banking school conducted annually by the TBA.
The division oversees the association's Personal Economics Program, a financial literacy effort by bankers to educate consumers about such topics as banking, personal money management, the wise use of credit, the importance of saving, and identity theft and other types of fraud.
Another activity in which division members participate is the Young Bankers Day on the Hill. This program reinforces the importance of involvement in the TBA's government relations activities. During this annual event, bankers spend a day at the Capitol in Nashville learning about how the General Assembly functions, meeting with government leaders and their own representatives, and attending committee meetings and hearings.