Arkansas Bank Aims to Provide High Level of Service for Military “We aim to add value to the lives of our service members and their families, whether it is at home or away.” Brian Kaelin, Assistant Vice President and Regional Manager of First Arkansas Bank & Trust (FAB&T) in Jacksonville is no stranger to serving our military men and women. Over the course of the past six decades the bank has made a conscious effort to better serve their customers on the Little Rock Air Force Base. Kaelin and his team at the on-base bank branch continue to forge those strong connections. FAB&T’s relationship with the Little Rock Air Force Base began more than 60 years ago when the bank’s founder Kenneth Pat Wilson led the charge to bring the base to Jacksonville. In the early 1950s he served on the Pulaski County Committee of 100 businessmen campaigning to bring the base to Jacksonville; after the location was chosen in 1952, he served as president of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. The bank opened its Little Rock Air Force Base branch in 1956 and has been serving our nation’s service members ever since.
A CRUCIAL PART OF THE COMMUNITY
The Little Rock Air Force Base is home to 6,995 active military members and 5,582 family members. Additionally, there are more than 50,000 retired military personnel who continue to live in the area. The base’s estimated economic impact was $469.2 million in 2016, and it ranks as the state’s seventh largest employer. “The Little Rock Air Force Base has been a huge economic engine for Jacksonville and all of central Arkansas. Those who hold active duty, guard and support jobs have spouses and family members who also contribute to the economy, so there is an exponential benefit to having the base right here in Jacksonville and that has benefited our bank,” said Mark Wilson, FAB&T’s Senior Vice President and Chief Credit Officer. FAB&T VP and Marketing Director Roger Sundermeier was born and raised in Jacksonville, and can recount air shows
Accepting the award for 2015 United States Air Force Bank of the Year from Steven Lepper (center) were, from left, Mark Wilson, SVP and Chief Credit Officer; Larry Wilson, Chairman, President & CEO; Rhonda Banks, Little Rock Air Force Base Branch Manager; and Brian Kaelin, VP and Pulaski/Lonoke Regional Manager.
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The Arkansas Banker | October 2017
and seeing the space shuttle when it was ferried through the base in the 1980s. “Until I worked here, I don’t think I appreciated the economic engine that the air base is, I just appreciated what the base represented,” he said. “Now, knowing that these people are in our communities – spending money at our restaurants, building homes, their kids are going to school with my kids – knowing all the other pieces of it, I’m really glad that we’re a part of this.” “That’s why we, and other businesses, work so hard with the base – why we work so hard to be a partner and a true advocate for the base, and that’s why Larry Wilson and others will go to DC and lobby on behalf of the base to keep them here, because we really realize that if you pulled that out of Jacksonville, it doesn’t impact just Jacksonville, it’s Sherwood, Cabot, Beebe, Austin, North Little Rock,” said Sundermeier. “What the base represents for us is unique, and what the state has to offer the base is equally unique. And I know that the United
