Mar 20, 2019
Meet a third-generation family-owned community bank that has brought young, ethnic minority bankers onto its executive team. “Of our executive committee of five, three are Hispanic females. . . . Two of those under the age of 40,” says Lonnie Talbert, COO of $385 million Southwest Capital Bank in Albuquerque, N.M., on the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast. “We’re really focused in a couple of different areas: how can we get more younger people in the game, and also diversity as it relates to ethnicity and diversity of thought.”
Talbert discusses how Southwest Capital has worked to recruit new talent without banking backgrounds but with an ability to lead and relate to people. “You’re still dealing with people,” he says. “That will really help create that banker of the future.” Talbert also talks about preparing for the generational transition in community bank leadership and his service, since 2012, as one of five elected commissioners for Bernalillo County, New Mexico’s most populous jurisdiction.