Idaho Bank and Trust was a community bank that was headquartered in Pocatello. The bank had a rich history of supporting Agriculture throughout Southeast Idaho and prided itself on small business, commercial lending, and personal consumer loans and accounts. I started there as a management intern in l974, I was only going to stay a year but almost 29 years later I made my first career change. In l988, KeyCorp purchased our bank and we learned about working day to day with a bank headquartered in Albany, New York. In l994, KeyCorp, in one of the first merger of equals joined Society National Bank and moved its headquarters to Cleveland. Bigger is not necessarily better and the combined bank struggled to find its way. KeyCorp still exists today but in my opinion has never reached the potential our CEO, Victor Riley envisioned as he created and implemented the snow belt strategy of Key.
Idaho Bank and Trust was a marvelous place to work and remained committed to our communities through the Society merger date. A bank that once was co ordinated as multiple semi autonomous unique state organizations supported by a very small corporate footprint became a $30 billion dollar behemoth that occupied a significant portion of a 57 story office building in Cleveland. Everything was centralized and decisions all came from on high. The idea that the two culture’s would seamlessly mesh together was nonsensical in retrospect, well actually most of us in the field could see the conflicts coming.
I give you a bit of history so I can tell you about my IBT reunion. This week over 40 former co workers met and spent three amazing hours catching up on each other’s lives and recounting the good old days. Oh yes, there were likely some not great days but those were joked about and further cemented the bond that is still enjoyed by everyone. I am always reluctant to attend such gatherings. I thank the persistence and planning of my friends and co workers who pulled it off. I can honestly say it was an uplifting evening for me, like we had never lost the mutual respect and appreciation for our each other. Our moto was, IB and T, “where the people make a difference”. We used to joke that “the people are different.”
Several conversations strayed to politics and thankfully not a MAGA hat in sight. There was general amusement as I shared a recent Substack post that expressed concern for the Orange Wanker’s health, he has been diagnosed with “liabetes”. Indeed, #47 stated that China does not believe in wind energy production, turns out China is the global leader, installing 65% of the global total in 2023. Do I need to tell you the turbines don’t cause cancer or kill the whales in the ocean. They do have an impact on birds but the climate change alternative represented potential extinction of their populations. I could go on for pages but will conclude the three 1000 year flash floods in the past week and the tragic outcomes, especially in Texas. FEMA needs to be strengthened not eliminated.
I hope you can find a way to get involved in protecting our democracy and supporting candidates that will work to assure our freedom of the press and the promise of justice for all.
Mike