CBA’s LEAD Board: Raising the Bar Exceeding Goals & Learning by Example

CBA’s LEAD Board: Raising the Bar, Exceeding Goals and Leading by Example

When the LEAD Committee met in November 2021, the committee envisioned raising the bar and encouraging all committee members to serve, participate and be visible. The LEAD committee continued to meet bi-monthly to monitor activity and make enhancements that aligned with CBA strategies and committee efforts. The LEAD committee also voted to rename the group and call it LEAD board. And LEAD they did!

“As the 2021-2022 Chairman of the LEAD Board, I’m so proud of the accomplishments of the Board and the CBA Team,” said Brian Bazemore, President/CEO of The Citizens Bank of Cochran/Community Bank of DublinLaurens County. “We had 100% participation with personal contributions from each member on the LEAD Board and surpassed our goal of $20,000, which will go towards our PAC Advocacy efforts.”

“We designed a new 2022 Advocacy and Community Banking T-shirt, which we used as a major fundraiser. We were able to have members attend several of the CBA Educational schools/classes and allow attendees to participate in a Cork Pull fundraiser, where bottles of wine were donated, and participants were able to pay $25 and pull out a cork that corresponded with a bottle of wine. We had a lastminute idea of charging for educational school/class attendees to purchase the ability to sit in the back of the room.

I think we will be able to expand upon this idea in future years. We had several members from the Board to attend events to speak about Advocacy and PAC and educate class attendees on the importance of this effort. We also instituted a new LEAD Retreat where members of the Leadership class as well as LEAD Board members met and discussed advocacy fundraising ideas, had inspirational speakers and attendees had the opportunity to network with fellow bankers around the state.

I’m so proud of this group and the outstanding push that was made to not only meet, but to exceed our fundraising goal. We pulled out all the stops to make it happen.”

The LEAD Board made advocacy presentations at multiple education events. Advocacy Presentations at multiple Education events. Special thanks to Kristy Harrell, First National Bank, Mark Thompson, Glennville Bank, Brian Bazemore, The Citizens Bank of Cochran/Community Bank of Dublin-Laurens County and Chris Cochran, Affinity Bank, for taking time away from their jobs to speak at education events to increase awareness of the industry and our advocacy efforts. Lori Godfrey, EVP, Government

LEAD Committee – (cont’d)

and Regulatory Relations at CBA, conducted an advocacy information presentation.

“I am proud to work alongside our leadership bankers as they collaborate to determine the best goals to support the community banking industry,” said Kristi Greer, SVP/ Professional Development at CBA. “During 2022, I have observed our LEAD Board exceed their goals from years past to support advocacy fundraising. As we begin to transition into 2023, we are excited to reenergize our Leadership Division by looking for bankers to serve as ambassadors of CBA in their banks.”

Congratulations to Chris Cochran, Affinity Bank, Atlanta, who was named the 2022-2023 LEAD Board Chair. The LEAD Board is looking forward to continued service and focusing on advocacy and member engagement.

CHOOSE WISELY. CHOOSE

Skip Willcox Account Executive

(478) 357-4441

swillcox@crescentmortgage.net NMLS ID 452843

Sarah Golden

Account Executive Assistant

(678) 591-4100 sgolden@crescentmortgage.net Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA,

Jumbo and a 1X close construction available Virtually recourse free agreement Fully customizable origination process

6600 Peachtree Dunwoody Road 600 Embassy Row, Suite 650 Atlanta, GA 30328 CMC NMLS ID 4247 www.crescentmortgage.com

With almost 30 years in business,

Crescent Mortgage is proud to offer an expansive suite of loan products and technology, while being small enough to listen and cater to the needs of your institution.