SUMMER BANKING INSTITUTE A HISTORY, TESTIMONIES AND ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE OF THE PROGRAM

Marching into year four, the statewide initiative of demystifying banking stigmas and strengthening Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts continued to match talented college students throughout the state with Ohio community banks for an immersive internship experience. In this article, those community banks and OBL Bank Members provide insights on how the OBL’s Summer Banking Institute (SBI) aligns with their core values.

Community banking holds a special place in the hearts of many in the state of Ohio. From championing voices at the statehouse to supporting their local elementary school, bankers are present in the communities they serve, a fact strongly emphasized through the Summer Banking Institute. Each year, Kimberley Mason, OBL’s Higher Education Partnership Manager, strives to educate interns on the balance between between banking as a service and the value banks bring to each individual they serve. The goal for the program centers on this equation Service + Value = Community.

As a first step each year, Kimberley works diligently with various colleges and universities throughout the state of Ohio to identify candidates that are ready to embrace the value of an internship experience with a community bank. Often these candidates are first generation college students or students with a diverse background. The SBI internship program aims to immerse each student in varying aspects of the bank, often opening their eyes to opportunities they did not know existed in the industry.

In a recent interview with our colleges and universities, OBL asked each how they prepare their students for their role as an intern in the program.

Sarah Grace McCollough, Assistant Director for Career Services at UC Blue Ash, said, “A strong GPA, interest in professional growth and networking skills are among the criteria for pre-program selection.” By creating these parameters, McCollough has found that the ones who work with the career services department are more confident in their application and know more about how to professionally interact with the OBL throughout the program acceptance process.

Matt Lambdin, Director of Experiential Learning at Ohio Northern University, seeks out students interested in the banking industry. Matt said about his partnership with the OBL, “Kimberley Mason is a great help, providing us with what the banks need. I try to recommend students who are seeking those skills.”

After completion of his internship this summer, Evan Klarr shared his insights into the program. “My internship went perfectly. It has made me very interested in banking and I have begun to see this as starting place in my career.”

An old proverb once said, great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us everyday and the internship experience at FFCB was only one of many great opportunities banks had to make an impact on the next generation of talent this summer.

Once candidates are selected for their internship opportunity, students like Evan Klarr get to experience value in community banking. As a rising senior this year, Evan learned from industry leaders at First Federal Community Bank in Dover, Ohio. Their President and CEO, Trent Troyer, shared with the OBL why they participate in the SBI program and welcome students like Evan to their bank for the summer, “Sadly, when I talk to young people, they have such a skewed misperception of banking, and it is incumbent upon us leading banks to try to reverse that trend. Our interns have had their eyes open to the diversity of jobs available and the Summer Banking Institute is one way that we can continue to spread the word and train up this next generation of bankers.”

Organizational Development Specialist at First Federal Community Bank, Corianne Kocarek, shares what valuable hands-on experience they offer to the intern and the type of support they provide the intern for their development. “At FFCB, we like to talk through a few options with them to ensure we are achieving their personal goals. These goals are established from training and development and monitored by the intern and reporting manager. As the student continues to progress throughout the summer and within various departments, the intern receives constructive feedback on any assigned projects. It’s important for us to train successful future bankers.”

The Summer Banking Institute program delivers a hands-on approach, not only supporting each intern, but also supporting each bank who has agreed to host an intern. Many are unaware of the work Kimberley Mason does to support OBL Member Banks from the program’s beginning to tp the end. Whether banks have been hosting interns since the inception of the program or taking a first run, OBL members at Hocking Valley Bank, The Union Bank Company and Peoples Bank have found comfort in working with Kimberley Mason and establishing a program that benefits both the bank and long-term goals of the industry.

Brian Young, President and CEO of The Union Bank Company, said, “Despite an initial hesitation into whether the program was something that would benefit our bank, we took the leap of faith a couple years ago based on our interactions with Kimberley Mason, the program leader at the OBL. Two years later we can report that it has been of huge value to our organization and well worth our time and monetary commitment. The value to the participants includes real world coaching from Ms. Mason and our leaders, experiences at the bank to help them identify their best role to serve others, and connections to team members that can help them throughout their entire careers.”

“To my surprise, the bank received so much more including the contagious passion of the participants about what community banks do every day and developing strategies to improve the bank’s entire internship program. As a result, we have successfully recruited numerous interns throughout our markets this past year that are

Class of 2024

Logan Brady, Emily Clifton, James Hanselman, Adonay Kebede, Evan Klarr, Preet Labana, Anthony Lambert, Jackson-Hughes N’Cho-Allepot, Damari Lipscomb, Braeden Morse, Gabriel Narth, Kristian Pace, Lily Palisin, Stacy Powell-Griffith, Ryan Rosenberg, Jacob Thomas, Dar’neja Skipper, Elliottt Veenstra, Amir-Joelle Wells, Astria Williams, Marcella Wlodarsky, and Adam Zarour helping us serve our clients better now and some will likely become team members in the future. Most importantly, this program answers the question for our bank and our industry: If we believe that young people are our future, what are we doing to recruit and prepare them to be the most successful leaders in our industry?”

Tammy Bobo, President & CEO of Hocking Valley Bank, said, “When we were approached by the OBL to participate in an internship program, we saw it as an opportunity to introduce an emergent leader into community banking. Being able to expose someone to the vital roles within the banking industry was not only a goal for our organization but was a requirement during the candidate selection process. As a women led organization, empowering young women to be part of community banking is important and in today’s market, finding a candidate who could complement our team was equally important to us as well. We found that with the Summer Banking Institute and we found that with intern Emily Clifton.”

A rising senior at Ohio University and soon to be new hire, Emily Clifton was able to find a home with Hocking Valley Bank. In the beginning, Emily thought it would not align with her career goals, however after much enjoyment and reevaluation, her career goals and personal goals aligned because of how much she liked what she was doing within her internship.

As a newcomer to the SBI program, Senior Vice Presidents Michael Fracassi and Jason Silcott from Peoples Bank shared feedback on how their organizations success is poured into their intern. The first step for Jason and Mike centers on key qualities and expectations. “When selecting summer interns for the bank, we consider a positive, team-first attitude and willingness to learn and be coached as being the most important qualities. We expect to have to spend a lot of time teaching, training and developing interns, however our expectation is that time is spent on how to perform certain tasks/responsibilities and not on attitude and effort. The Ohio Bankers League offers training and development to all interns before day one to negate attitude and effort and work collaboratively with the host bank to create an added value experience.”

The OBL tries to keep their finger on the pulse of the industry, understanding succession planning and industry needs. OBL also understands that a company’s culture is reflective of their team as a whole. This idea is why the OBL finds the Summer Banking Institute as playing a pivitol role in the future of community banking, elevating teams so that the future looks bright and the positive culture that banks have been building for generations remains in place.

Louis Beck

Nearly eight years ago, two gentlemen had a conversation about the banking industry with thoughts of diversity, succession planning and economic growth at the top of their mind. From there a new program called the Summer Banking Institute was born. Both Louis Beck, Chairman and CEO of Union Savings Bank, alongside Keith Borders, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer and Vice President of Community

Keith Borders

Development, took a leap by partnering with Central State University, a local historical black college and university (HBCU) to accomplish their goals of creating a program that would be both beneficial to the future of the industry and to the intern. Everything the program is today, and all of its success was born from this one idea, credited to the two gentlemen who made it happen.

Beck and Borders wanted to provide an opportunity to black students in financial majors. Since its first cohort in 2016, Union Savings Bank has been changing the industry, one intern at a time. Beck and Borders saw the vision of workforce development changing and made a call to action. Due to its success, they encouraged the OBL to take the program statewide.

In 2022, Mason was hired to take the program to the next level. The OBL has been able to offer a statewide program that allows all OBL Member Banks to participate. In addition, the OBL has been able to connect with dozens of future leaders from all over the state who are interested in a career in all different aspects of banking.

Thank you to our participating host banks for investing in the future of the interns and the industry:

Civista Bank, Dollar Bank, FSB, FC Bank, A division of CNB, Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, First Commonwealth Bank, First Federal Community Bank of Dover, First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Lakewood, The Farmers and Merchant State Bank, The Hocking Valley Bank, The Union Bank Company, Park National Bank, People's Bank, Union Savings Bank/Guardian Savings Bank, Westfield Bank.

Thanks to our participating colleges and universities who entrust the Ohio Bankers League to educate, uplift and inspire their students.

Bowling Green State University, Central State University, Kent State University, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio University, Otterbein University, University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash.

As the Summer Banking Institute program continues to expand and solve workforce development needs, the program needs more community banks to join and reap the benefits of hosting such talented interns.

Interested in learning more about the class of 2025, please contact Kimberley Mason- Higher Education Partnership Manager, 614-607-9707 or kmason@ohiobankersleague.com.