5
minutes with... Robert Husong President First National Bank of NWA
Please tell us a little about yourself.
I grew up in Grove, Oklahoma which is near Bentonville, AR. Growing up in Grove I worked on a cattle ranch and worked with heavy equipment both businesses ran by my family. I attended the University of Arkansas and graduated with a degree in Marketing Management in 1996. Upon graduating, I got married and moved to central Oklahoma. My wife and I moved back two years later and have been in NWA since. I have four boys and we, including my wife Carrie, all like to run, hike, camp, fish, and anything outdoors related. I also enjoy hiking mountains (those over 14,000 feet known as "14ers") in Colorado when I am able to get away. To date I have hiked 18 of the 58 peaks.
How long have you been in the banking industry?
Upon graduating from the U of A in 1996, I became a loan officer in Oklahoma City. I spent two years getting a crash course on all things lending, sales, and collections. We then moved back to NWA in 1998 and I went to work for McElroy Bank & Trust in Fayetteville. I worked there through the “.com” bubble bust, Y2K, and 9/11 while also seeing the consolidation of charters to become Arvest Bank. I left Arvest in 2004 with a group of friends/co-workers to start a new bank in Fayetteville. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial nature, so being part of a de novo bank was very intriguing and exciting to me. We officially opened Signature Bank of Arkansas (SB of A) in May of 2005. The time between leaving Arvest and opening SB of A we actually worked on staff at Community First Bank (CFB) in Harrison, partnered in helping us start SB of A. It was during that time I learned how great a community Harrison is and how awesome the bankers were, namely King Gladden (who left us way too soon) and his “partners” at CFB. At SB of A, as with any startup, we all wore lots of hats and were pushed to learn new things. At one point, it was joked internally that I had five different concurrent titles, depending on what capacity I was being used for the day. I think I had moved through 17 different physical offices while there due to our fast growth. I was at SB of A when the housing bubble hit and with some tenacity, a lot of hard work, long days, great teammates, leadership, and customers, we made it through. I had the opportunity to learn a lot and meet a lot of great bankers from across the state before, during, and after that great recession while at SB of A. It seems like a distant memory now but I wouldn’t change that experience for the world. In 2013, my current employer, the First National Bank of Fort Smith, asked me to join them to take the helm of their NWA division which was formerly known as Bank of Rogers. I was asked to rebrand, build a team, build a culture, and grow a bank while helping the NWA community by being a local bank that gives back. Since joining this team in 2013, we have rebranded to First National Bank of NWA, expanded into two NWA cities, helped redefine what a banking experience can be, and found numerous ways to give back to our community by creating opportunities for small businesses and non-profits to partner together to benefit them and the community.
What trait does the modern banker need to have to be successful?
Have passion. Have a passion to help your customer, help your town, help those that need help. Have passion to see your world change for the better even if it means taking some risk and doing something you’ve never done before. Have passion to see your own organization be more than it currently is, there is always room for one to be better. Take pride in who you are and who you work for and where you live. Have passion to do your job the best you can. This should drive us to learn, to listen, to be our best every day, and to be a bridge in the community for others ideas or dreams to become reality.
12
The Arkansas Banker n Fall 2020
