BANKER Q&A
FIVE VE minutes with...
Chris Johnson Regional Market President – AR First Financial Bank, Little Rock
Q. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN BANKING?
A.
I was honestly at cross-roads in my young, professional career. I had graduated college and moved back to Little Rock to work for my family. My older brother was running a few retail golf stores, so I helped him out for a year. My father and other brother were in the beginning stages of redevelopment of a warehouse in downtown Little Rock in a newly created entertainment district, the River Market. Having recently graduated college, my dad thought who better to run the day-to-day operations…my brothers and I owned/operated The Pour House Bar & Grill for about 4 years. I met my soon to be fiancé there, and well, let’s just say being a bar owner wasn’t in her long-term plans for her husband. My father’s private banker at the time offered me a role as a management trainee and off I went to start my banking career.
Q. TELL US ABOUT YOUR EARLY CAREER... LOOKING BACK, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
A.
Inquisitive- when I started as a teller, I wanted to know everything there was to know about banking. What is deposit insurance? When do I get to count all the money in the vault? How do I know when the drive through teller drawer is all the way out? Why can’t I hear the customer in the drive through lane talking to me? When do I get to present something to the Board of Directors? Fortunately, I had some understanding and great mentors as bosses: Chris Roberts, John Olaimey, John O. Moore, Blake Miller, and David Straessle really took the time to invest in me personally and professionally. To this day, I can reach out to them via phone and ask their guidance, or more importantly, I can ask them for their help, and they will always deliver.
“There is something special about knowing that you helped someone start their own business, change their professional career, give honest advice about whether an idea will work. Selfishly, I enjoy being involved in the most minute level of something that is incredibly successful.” 16 • SPRING 2023
