The event, which kicked off Sunday and runs through Friday, is being hosted at Tech’s Rawls College of Business.
Bankers from five different states including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico arrived in Lubbock to be a part of this week-long event.
During the kickoff event on Sunday, Dr. Jeff Mercer, Centennial Bank chair in finance and director of the Texas Tech School of Banking, said the intention of the school is to take someone who has a particular area of expertise in banking and train them in what they need to know from “A to Z” about running a bank.
The school’s program takes two years, bringing participants in one week each year.
Coming in to the school, the average participant has about nine years of experience in the banking industry, Mercer said.
“These are people who are nine years into their career and they are sent to the school by their executive or their president because they are very promising bankers who are probably likely to step into a leadership position,” Mercer said.
The topics covered during the week-long event range from cybersecurity and auditing to credit lending, leadership development and operations, Mercer said.
The kickoff event hosted on Sunday was sponsored by Frost Bank.
The banking school is focused on regional bankers, and it helps them get a perspective on all aspects of banking, said Scott Baxter, senior vice president at Frost Bank and chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Tech School of Banking.
“It’s a really great resource for people from across the state to come in and learn about banking and put into practice through some computer simulations,” Baxter said.
A group of bankers from Inter Bank who were there at the event for the first year shared their experience by stating that they were getting exposed to new networking opportunities and a higher-level of knowledge during the event.
Whitney Hange, director of special project at Inter Bank added, that the event aligned with the culture of their company.
Zach Maberry from First National Bank of Albany was at the event for his second year, and said it was awesome getting to see the people and reminisce on the first year. He was excited to see what this year’s school program would offer.
“It gives you the management training that you need to be able to excel in your position, to be able to move forward,” Maberry said, “and try to get into a better position to maybe run a bank some day.”
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