Executive Vice President, Commerce Bancshares
Search every verified Kevin Barth interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kevin Barth, Executive Vice President at Commerce Bancshares, spoke about career development and the banking industry during a 2014 lecture at the Robert J. Trulaske Senior College of Business. Barth described banking as primarily existing to help customers access the payment system and noted that the industry involves managing risk with depositors' money. He stated that Commerce Bancshares has shown strong shareholder performance compared to industry indices. Barth offered advice to students on career growth, emphasizing the importance of learning, building credibility through customer relationships, and gaining visibility within an organization. He noted that about 60% of senior management in banking is expected to retire in the next five to ten years, creating opportunities for new graduates. Barth also discussed the bank's low turnover rate for commercial bankers and its investment in employee development programs.
“The primary reason we exist as a bank is to help our customers, commercial and retail, access the payment system. We love to make loans; it's a lot of fun to make loans. We like helping people grow, but the main reason we exist is to help people access the payment system.”
“A lot of banking is managing risk, and when compared to the industry, we do a very good job of managing risk and not losing our depositors' money because at the end of the day, every loan we make is not our money, it's our depositors' money.”
“Our shareholders, both inside and outside, have fared very well compared to the KBW bank index and Nasdaq banks in general, showing strong performance even during depressed industry years.”
“The best people to promote me within our company were our customers. The more I could do a good job for our customers and the more they talked about me to senior management, the more visibility and value I gained.”
“One of the best pieces of advice I could give is when you're coming right out of school, think about what you're going to learn that's going to make you more valuable over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years. Focus on the learning curve.”
“There's a big talent gap in banking. About 60% of our senior management team is going to retire in the next five to ten years. It's a very good time to be getting out of college if you focus on the right industry, and banking is one that's always going to be a local industry.”
“Because of consolidation, many banks have eliminated their training programs over the last 15 years. It's a very specialized thing to learn how to assess risk and critical thinking skills, and many banks now regret cutting these programs.”
“We help educate our customers on if they can or can't afford something. Many bankers spend a lot of time helping customers budget and create business plans to finance their small businesses, which helps tackle income inequality by creating jobs.”
“We earn credibility by cleaning up messes early on and taking on roles we didn't necessarily volunteer for. By building goodwill and credibility, we gain freer rein to try new things incrementally and carefully with shareholders' money.”
“Our turnover for commercial bankers is less than about 10%. We keep employees by measuring engagement, acting on feedback, having formal succession plans, mentoring programs, leadership development, and investing in their careers.”
All success stories have a start. Kevin Barth came from a small town in Iowa before embarking on a 28-year career with ...
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