FEATURE
Leading with Purpose: Governor Kemp on Family, Leadership, and Community Banking The first edition of CBA’s publication, “Georgia’s Community First,” every year is our “Legislative” edition. This year, we interviewed Gov. Brian Kemp on February 26th, a very busy time in the legislative cycle. The governor and his team were extremely gracious with the time that was allotted to us, and we enjoyed our visit immensely. Gov. Kemp has been a great friend of CBA and community banking, and we appreciate all he has done to guide our state during some very challenging times. We hope you enjoy the conversation. John McNair, CBA: I arrived in GA to take over leadership of the CBA in October of 2018, and you were elected governor the next month. I have noticed the importance of your family in all that you do. The First Lady is almost always by your side and your daughters are close as well. Can you talk about the importance of family in your life and how important it is and has been to have them all so involved as you have dealt with the opportunities and challenges these past six-plus years? Governor Kemp: We did this as a team, when I decided to run. Having run statewide a couple of times before, some successful and some not, I knew the due diligence I needed to go through. The girls had gotten older and so when I started thinking about running for governor, I talked to them about it. Any negative thing you’ve ever had happen is going to come out. They were a big part of that and had veto power over me doing that or not. I told them if we are all in, we are all in, and no matter how bad it gets, we’re never going to turn back. They were all in, so they have been a big help on the campaign. The girls were at an age when they could work the crowd on bus tours, hand out stickers, help take pictures, and were a big part of it. It’s been kind of the same way governing. They have all been very involved in things that we’ve had interest in and certainly Marty has too. It’s good and I think it represents really the values of our state. We’re a family-oriented state, and that’s good in my opinion. They have been a great help and have been a morale booster, too, on tough days. There are times when, besides the dogs, it’s Marty and the girls!
Lori Godfrey, CBA: I recall at a few of our events over the years, you mentioned how community banks helped you get started in business. Could you share that story with us today? Governor Kemp: I’m a big fan of local banks, communitybased banks; I’ve done my share of banking with big banks, but for a guy that had a small company, I always really needed a banker who believed in me, not just in my financials. When I first got started, I was working for a reputable guy and knew their banker and their banker took a little bit of a risk on me and that’s what community bankers do. They’re engrained in the community, they know their people, they know the families, they get to know people that may be working for their customers that then go out on their own and start a business. And that’s really who these community banks are invested in. Being a founding director of one of those banks, I did the same thing. It’s doing business with people that I knew and trusted, regardless of their financial situation. I had a guy that’s banked me for a long time who’s about to retire and he’s one of the best bankers I’ve ever dealt with. He’s just there when you need him and tries to help you, not trying to throw up roadblocks but asking how do we get this done. He helped me on a deal to refinance on something [continued]
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