Executive Q&A: Desire to make a difference drives Central Bank CEO

From #jcmo Inside Business

Central Bank President and CEO David Minton poses at the bank.
Central Bank President and CEO David Minton poses at the bank.

In the earliest days of his career, David Minton was a bank teller in St. Louis and learned the ropes of each position.

He spent the early days of his career in real estate and venture capital service, but eventually banking called. A graduate of DePauw University and Washington University with degrees in economics, psychology and business administration, Minton eventually wound up in banking.

Before moving to Jefferson City, Minton led then Clayton-based Heartland Bank through a merger with Midland States Bancorp in 2014. Since taking the helm of Central Bank in 2015, Minton expanded the products offered by Central Bank and has become heavily involved with the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce.

#jcmo Inside Business

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Answers below were edited for length and clarity.

 

Name: David P. Minton

Age: 60

Title: President and chief executive officer of Central Bank

Hometown: Indianapolis

Last book I read: "Digital Gold" by Nathaniel Popper

Favorite movie: "The Godfather"

If I wasn't doing this, I'd be: A retired athlete or musician (but, that would have required me to have any of those talents)

 

Q. How would you describe your job?

A. "Promoting Central Bank in the community, making it as easy as possible for our employees to provide the best products and services to our customers, and keeping our shareholders happy."

Q. What was the career path that brought you to this position?

A. "Following college, I worked in both banking and real estate, but eventually decided to pursue banking. I spent the next 18 years with Heartland Bank in St. Louis and its holding company, initially involved in venture capital type investing with financial services businesses. Eventually I became part of the bank's executive management team and ultimately its president and CEO."

Q. What influenced you to enter this profession?

A. "Wanting to make a difference."

Q. What's the biggest professional achievement you've realized?

A. "Becoming the president and CEO of Central Bank."

Q. What's the most common mistake people make when entering your profession?

A. "Not understanding the breadth of what a successful bank has to do and the complexity required to do it."

Q. What's the biggest lesson you have learned?

A. "Adapting to the many factors of banking that don't have to do with finances or numbers is crucial. Culture is a major part of any business. An obstacle that has been both challenging and ultimately rewarding in my career is the understanding of its extreme importance."

Q. What's the biggest challenge facing you in the next year?

A. "Continuing to better understand how to appropriately and profitably embrace and harness technology."

Q. Why did you decide to locate in Jefferson City?

A. "Central Bank is a great organization with great people and a long and prosperous track record, both in terms of its own success and the very positive impact it has on the communities it serves."

Q. What can Jefferson City do to improve itself?

A. "Believe in itself and its possibilities."

Q. Where do you see your profession in five years?

A. "Professionally, I see fewer banks, but that smaller number of banks providing a wider array of products and services in new and unique ways. Personally, I see myself having helped Central being one of those fewer banks and having helped developed the new and different things we are doing we are doing in new and different ways."

Q. What are the best and worst parts of your job?

A. "There are two best parts, developing talent in our organization and assisting customers to grow and improve. The worst part is dealing with the nearly crushing level of regulatory requirements, when a few simple guiding principles would be sufficient to accomplish the regulatory mission."

Q. In your experience, is there anything different about running a mid-sized bank in a small city compared to running a mid-sized bank in a large city like St. Louis?

A. "The markets are certainly different, but the skills and requirements to be successful are pretty common."

Q. When you came to Jefferson City, you said you were going to rely heavily on the management team already in place. When executives enter new markets, is that important, and how have you done that since you began your tenure at Central Bank?

A. "It is absolutely important, or at least should be. An executive entering a new market simply does not know what he or she does not know. I have relied heavily on our management team to help me understand what has worked and what hasn't, while at the same time challenging them with thoughts and ideas they may have not considered before. With open communication and transparency, I think we have developed great relationships and rapport. I trust them and they trust me, which translates throughout the organization to more empowerment."

Q. You serve on the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. What can Jefferson City do to sell itself to people outside the region? What role can Central Bank play in that if any?

A. "I am obviously a bit biased, but I think the Jefferson City chamber and its staff do a really good job of selling Jefferson City when we get a chance at bat. What we need to do better is get more chances at bat. Central's role is to continue to make sure we stay involved with the chamber with both our treasures and talents."

Q. What is something about yourself that nobody knows?

A. "I had a supporting role in my university's production of 'Romeo and Juliet' my senior year in college."