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THS grad new banking institute director at FHSU

A Tonganoxie High School graduate has been named director of a banking institute at Fort Hays State University.

THS alum Tommy Powell was named director of the Robbins Banking Institute at FHSU and the director of the Kansas Bankers Education Foundation through the Kansas Bankers Association. He is a 2020 graduate from the FHSU Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting.

Powell was born in Lyons and grew up in Tonganoxie.

He graduated from THS in 2002. He now lives in Hays with his wife, Chelsea, and 3-year-old son, Thomas. The FHSU Alunni Association website featured Powell with the announcement of his new position at Fort Hays State.

A question-and-answer profile of Powell on the alumni page provided a closer look at Powell’s journey from Tonganoxie to Hays.

Powell explained how his career path led him to Hays.

“Honestly, I fell into finance and banking as a career,” Powell said. “I had a series of jobs with little opportunity for advancement when a friend of mine reached out to see if I wanted to join him in doing residential mortgages during the first refi (refinance) boom. This was my first foray into the financial industry.”

Powell decided to attend FHSU following a family move from the Kansas City area.

“My wife took a position as a pediatrician at HaysMed, and we moved from Kansas City to Hays,” Powell said in the Q-and-A feature. “Since no mortgage consultant openings were open then, I decided to return to school and finish the degree I had started years before.”