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NWA Founders is a voice for Founders, Owners, and Builders driving growth in Northwest Arkansas, and is hosted by Cameron Clark and Nick Beyer.
'NWA Founders' is a voice for Founders, Owners, and Builders driving growth in Northwest Arkansas, and is hosted by Cameron Clark and Nick Beyer.
To recommend a guest or ask questions, reach out at nwafounders@gmail.com and follow us on YouTube and LinkedIn for video content.
[00:00:00] Max Harrell: We're okay with, you know, not necessarily knowing the name Generations Bank. We want you to know the people who work here who represent that name. That matters a tremendous amount to us.
[00:00:09] Jon Harrell: My vision or not Rogers is gonna continue to grow and succeed. I mean, I think Rogers has done a tremendous job in planning, laying out how they want to grow.
It's right in the center of, you know, one of the hottest MSAs in the country.
[00:00:20] Max Harrell: Would love Generations Bank to be fully associated with Rogers, Arkansas. I think it'd be neat to hear someone say that that's moved here for the first time and kind of have a, have a full understanding. And so that may be a little audacious, but we like to have those types of visions and goals.
[00:00:34] Jon Harrell: I'm just very bullish on all things Rogers in Northwest Arkansas, and then the impact it will have on Generations Bank going forward.
[00:00:52] Cameron Clark: Well, thank y'all for taking the time here this morning, sitting here in your Rogers branch, and, uh, sitting here with John [00:01:00] and Max Harold. Thanks for coming on the NWA Founders Podcast with Nick and I, um, where we try to highlight founders, builders and owners, but more importantly encourage like new entrepreneurs and people who maybe midlife cycle their business beginning life cycle.
And y'all have experienced a lot, so excited for people to be able to hear some of y'all's story. Um, before we dive in, either Max or John, will y'all give us a 32nd overview. What's Generations Bank?
[00:01:27] Jon Harrell: Generations Bank is a Arkansas based community bank. Uh, been around since 1907 throughout the state of Arkansas and FA family controlled.
It's been in, uh, the Harold family since 1907 and the. Hence the name Generations Bank. I'm fifth generation family member to represent management within the bank, and proud that Max is representing the sixth generation.
[00:01:51] Cameron Clark: Wow. So your great-great-grandfather, correct. That started The bank is a great,
[00:01:57] Jon Harrell: great-grandfather and his uncle.
Okay, [00:02:00] great-grandfather. So he goes back that next generation.
[00:02:02] Cameron Clark: Um, you know, we usually wanna talk about growing up, but obviously where did they grow up? What was life, life like whenever they were starting, maybe before they started the bank, and why did they wanna start the bank? Do you, I
mean,
[00:02:15] Jon Harrell: do you know, I know a little bit about the history.
It's started in Calhoun County, Arkansas. Which today is still the smallest, most rural county in the state.
[00:02:26] Cameron Clark: Oh, wow. So
[00:02:27] Jon Harrell: let's back up to, you know, the early 19 hundreds, and you can imagine how small this was, but, um, there was a little town there on a, it was a railroad stop and the railroad would stop there.
And if I remember right, my great-grandmother had a little cafe or a mercantil store there. And so they would stop and get what they need and like reload and head on down to the next stop. And, and over time it built up enough inertia where I think maybe some other little things popped [00:03:00] up. And at some point the decision was made, well, maybe a bank needs to be placed here.
Mm-hmm. And, and let the community kinda develop around it. And so that was kind of the origin of the bank and how it started. My great-grandfather and his uncle that kind of put together some investors and opened the bank and, and what was then, and that still is now Harold Arkansas named after my great-grandmother.
[00:03:24] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Just so people know who aren't familiar, how. How does a bank make money? How does a bank form, is it different back then what it is today? I mean, I assume so.
[00:03:34] Jon Harrell: Uh, certainly the structure of a, what you would now refer to as a de novo bank or a new bank mm-hmm. Launch would be much different now than it was then.
Yeah. Um, but you need investors or capital
Yeah. Like you
[00:03:47] Jon Harrell: would to start any business. And then from there you need people to have enough faith in what you're doing to bring in their deposits and, and then you turn around and loan those out within the community to help [00:04:00] grow small businesses or a lot of farm and ag.
Mm-hmm. Particularly in that part of the state at that time of, um, the existence of the bank. And that's kind of, it started there and that's what it still does. It grows from there. Now, today. To enter into the bank market is, is much more difficult. A a significant amount of capital has to be raised and the regulatory environment in which we, uh, generations Bank and all banks exist makes it difficult mm-hmm.
To really do that. So what you see now, rather than people starting a new bank, is they'll buy a small bank and maybe a, a rural part of Arkansas or some other state, and then they'll relocate it to more of a metropolitan, urban area, and at that point try to bring in some additional capital and just grow it.
[00:04:46] Cameron Clark: Sure. Yeah. And, and primary streams of, of, of revenue for a bank. What today, what, what are they?
[00:04:55] Jon Harrell: Uh, lending. Lending loans? Yes. Especially for a community bank like we [00:05:00] are, we are built to serve the communities that we operate in, and so we take the deposits from our customers and we turn around and, and make loans in the areas that we serve.
Mm-hmm. You know, Northwest Arkansas, obviously a lot of commercial real estate, commercial lending, um, one to four residentials strong in these markets for us. Um, so, but that, that top line revenue for the banking industry is certainly driven through lending.
[00:05:27] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Um, and talk it before, so we wanted to tell the story of the bank, but each one of you growing up in the family business, I know there's a lot of other people who can relate to that.
Um, how did you choose to, to continue on the legacy, you know, for each one of you? Like what was the. Why did you choose to do it? What, what did you see kind of as your role in that moving forward? Um, when you
[00:05:53] Jon Harrell: want me to go first?
Sure.
[00:05:55] Jon Harrell: Alright. Yeah. Um, you know, when I got outta [00:06:00] school, I, I had a banking and finance degree and to be honest, I wasn't sure I'd work for the family community bank 'cause it was still at that time located in rural Arkansas, Calhoun County.
[00:06:11] Cameron Clark: And you went to school up here And I went to the University of
[00:06:13] Jon Harrell: Arkansas. Yeah. So I, um, got outta school. I worked for the Arkansas State Bank Department as a bank examiner for a few years. Made a lot of good contacts and worked for some of the larger banks in the Little Rock area doing various things.
And, um, still at that point didn't really have a desire to move back to South Arkansas to run the bank. Um, and then, I don't know, things kinda changed, got married, um, started thinking about a family opportunity within that industry and. And so we got together, or I got together with my father who at that time was chairman of the bank and started mapped out a plan, how can we start to kind of grow it more specifically in the geographic area where we existed in the southern part of the state.
[00:07:00] Mm-hmm. And so we, we did some things. We've bought another small bank down there, which kind of doubled our asset size and, and made it more of an opportunity for me at that time to, to get back into the bank. So I, I, so it was kind of not my original intention, but it ended up working out well for me at that time as an opportunity.
[00:07:21] Cameron Clark: Hmm. What about you, max? Yeah.
[00:07:25] Max Harrell: Um, so a little bit of a similar orange origin story. Uh, obviously went to the University of Arkansas and majored in banking and finance. Um, the only difference there is that, uh, at this point we were, we were in northwest Arkansas, so a little bit. Of a, of a different area, um, you know, geographically to, um, you know, maybe entice a, a a family to, you know, to grow in and be at.
So, um, and the other difference is that for some reason, when I was 18, trying to figure out, you know, Hey, what in the world are you gonna do with life? What [00:08:00] major do you wanna choose? In college, we decided that generations was gonna be the new name of the bank. So, uh, yeah, no pressure when, uh, when the name changes to, uh, something that has continual progression.
Uh, but no, I, I use that as a, uh, just kind of a joking matter, that it was something that I always, you know, I really had a lot of respect for my, for my grandfather.
Mm-hmm.
[00:08:21] Max Harrell: Um, you know, we, he and I got along pretty well. Um, I'm the oldest of all the, the cousins and, um, and so, uh. I kind of got to spend more time with him specifically.
So I really enjoyed, uh, watching him and I kind of, I thought of the bank and, and, and himself as kind of one and the same. And then obviously I get to watch my dad, who, you know, was the best man in my wedding and, and, you know, um, the hero of mine get to, um, you know, get to kind of administer a change from south Arkansas to northwest Arkansas and then just continue on a growth [00:09:00] pattern through Northwest Arkansas.
So all those things are kind of help molding my mind into, hey, what I want to do. So I, I graduate, um, well I worked in, in, in the bank in a various different, very various different roles, um, you know, kind of throughout college. But then I remember the conversation we had at one time was, Hey, what, what do you want to do here?
Do you wanna go, uh, work for the bank department? Which was kinda be following in his footsteps, um, almost verbatim. Or, you know, what does it look like maybe to go work for a different bank? Um, do you wanna be in Northwest Arkansas? You know, all these kind of kinds of questions that he kinda helped form in my mind.
And, um, I said, well, you know, I'm, I'm, I enjoy it here. I'd like to stay in northwest Arkansas. Um, you know, what would it look like? Um, you know, if I went and worked for another bank? And he said, well, I don't think anybody's gonna hire you. They would hire him, train him, and send him back to me. [00:10:00] So, uh, no, and, and I, I, I appreciated that.
And, and he's probably right. Um, a, a, I don't think I'm, I may not have been the most qualified person to be hired, but also, uh, you know. You, you, he's probably right. There's not gonna be a whole lot of training in sending back. So, uh, so we, we sat there and I think made a decision collectively, Hey, let's, let's figure out what this looks like.
I think that's the long term, um, you know, kind of future. And so, um, we, uh, right outta college, I started full-time as a, as a lender in Fayetteville, so. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah.
[00:10:32] Jon Harrell: Well, he, he's not leaving, you know, there are a few details he's leaving at, he covered a lot of them, but he, he, he did it right. He, he, we had some good discussions, like he said, and, and he, he made me kind of earn it, alright, well what are we gonna pay?
You need to offer, I need a full offer letter and all these kind of things. And so, uh, so it was kind of fun. We had a good time with it. Right way. We had a good time with it. And, and, and he's a, a talented, sharp young man and we're proud to have him. And you know, I think what that allows us to do as a [00:11:00] bank with, with him in this seat is really look forward.
Yeah. And I know we'll get to that at some point, but that, that's what it allows. Me to do now and be a participant in with him. Yeah. So we're having fun.
[00:11:13] Nick Beyer: I think what's crazy, and we've, and we talked about this a little bit before we went on air, but I mean, the statistics around generational businesses are, are tough, right?
Like 30% of businesses transition from the first to second generation successfully, 12% from the second to the third generation. And, and y'all are at six generations sitting in this room. And so I just, it's a statistical anomaly and not only a successful transition, but when we'll talk about it, but the growth that y'all had over the last 10 years is unbelievable.
So
[00:11:47] Max Harrell: it's
[00:11:47] Nick Beyer: just cool to see.
[00:11:48] Max Harrell: Yeah, yeah. You know, they, they say that the third, third generation really is where it kind of blows up most of the time. Well, what does six mean? That's [00:12:00] a Yeah. That rolls around in the back of my mind every so often. Oh, no, I really hope I don't absolutely eviscerate this thing.
[00:12:08] Jon Harrell: We've been fortunate, the, the, the remaining piece of the family partners in the family have been very supportive of, of what we are trying to do and how we're trying to do it. And so, and we've been very aware and cognitive of, of what they need as investors. Yeah. Also going through this process, trying to really grow the bank, but they also demand some sort or should demand a return on their investment.
So we've been very cognitive and aware of that and so we've tried to make sure, we bet that need also. And so there may be a point that someone doesn't do that. And if so, I think we're now in a position we can deal with that.
[00:12:42] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:12:43] Jon Harrell: So
[00:12:44] Nick Beyer: when you say investors, is that, is that roughly the same thing as shareholder shareholders, right.
Yes. And for someone who's not familiar with the banking industry, when you say shareholder, can you kinda explain what that means, how you become a shareholder, if you've c you know, how that works?
[00:12:56] Jon Harrell: Well, we've been fortunate, as I said, to have a long history. And so those shares [00:13:00] have been within the kind, the, basically the family unit.
We're about two thirds family controlled. You know, you've been in, you know, fifth generation. We got a lot of what we're once siblings and now there's a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles and everyone who represents the shareholder base of the bank. And so a lot of those are legacy I just call legacy shares from the initial or origin of the bank.
Yeah. Uh, there have been shares issued as we needed, shares to grow, continue to grow the bank, but, um, not often. So we've been able to kind of grow organically through retained earnings. There have been some, some debt. Issued occasionally, but we've been able to repay that. Mm-hmm. And, um, continue to leverage, leverage that debt for the better of the bank and the better of the shareholders.
[00:13:50] Cameron Clark: Sweet. Yeah, I mean, in in general in the banking industry, if someone wants to make an investment into a bank in, into a regional bank, I mean, [00:14:00] it's that, that's more of a private offering, correct? Correct. There's not, that's
[00:14:04] Jon Harrell: more, more in the community banking space. Mm-hmm. It's more private offerings. Mm-hmm.
So you can get more into the re regional bank definition. Most of those are probably gonna be publicly traded.
[00:14:14] Cameron Clark: Okay.
[00:14:14] Jon Harrell: They're not traded a lot. Maybe they may be on the pink sheets or something like that, so they may not be on an exchange. Yeah. So, whereas there might be the lure of that is there's more liquidity options.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. When you're invested in a bank, like we have, it's not as liquid Yeah. For the current owners. 'cause there's not a ready market out there outside of probably the current shareholder base.
[00:14:36] Cameron Clark: Sure, sure. Um, well, yeah, we wanted, we want you to tell the story kinda from the beginning and hear, you know, how you told a little bit of it there, but let's go back to, you know, the, the inception in Calhoun County.
Um, and maybe talk about you had that day one and starting the growth and, uh, maybe that first, I don't know the time period you'd [00:15:00] put it at, but like what, what year was that then? 1907. Wow.
[00:15:06] Jon Harrell: 1907. That's
[00:15:06] Cameron Clark: crazy. Mm-hmm.
[00:15:07] Jon Harrell: I'm not that old. I may look, but I'm really not that old.
[00:15:11] Cameron Clark: Um, and so yeah. Tell about the, the first couple decades there.
Yeah.
[00:15:15] Jon Harrell: I, I'll give you the rough history 'cause that's really all I'm aware of. Yeah. Um, but, but 1907, uh, we were in Calhoun County, actually in the town of Harold, Arkansas. Mm-hmm. And which at that time was not even a county seat. And, um, so, and operated in Harold from 1907 to 1932, at which time it moved to Hampton, Arkansas, which is the county seat of Calhoun County.
I think population of Hampton today is 2200 people or something. Roughly. Roughly, yeah. So it's still very small. Yeah. It's, it's very small community. It's the smallest county seat in the state of Arkansas. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so we basically operated there. They, they survived the Great Depression. I think there were three banks in Hampton at that time, and our [00:16:00] bank was the only one that survived.
Wow. Wow. So that, that's kind of a neat footnote to our history, I think. But, um, yeah, one of 30 or so in the state, so it was mm-hmm. A real, a real small number. Yeah. So, um, so we weathered through that and the bank just kind of existed. My grandfather was running it day to day and his. Brother and his sister both worked in the bank.
Okay. And so probably half the staff was represented by family at that time. Sure. Yeah. Probably half the town possibly. Yeah. And, uh, it just kind of existed there until the, um, roughly the mid, mid early nineties. At what time? You know, I kind of start, my story kinda starts to jump into it, I guess.
Yeah. And
[00:16:42] Jon Harrell: really slow, moderate, modest growth supporting that Calhoun County area until that time.
But, um, you know, I kind of came into the picture in the early nineties, you know, kind of on the backside of what I mentioned earlier. Mm-hmm. And we started, we bought a bank in Junction City, [00:17:00] Arkansas and that, and then a branch in Camden, Arkansas of another bank. So we're still functioning in the southern part of the state.
And at that point we, we did start to grow. Uh, we had some good community directors behind us. And
[00:17:15] Cameron Clark: was the name still the same at the time?
[00:17:18] Jon Harrell: Yes. Yeah, it was, uh, well it gets a little squirrely. Yeah. But we did change it to First Bank of South Arkansas, which was a division of Calhoun County Bank.
[00:17:27] Cameron Clark: Okay.
[00:17:28] Jon Harrell: Yeah.
It, it's, it was a little squirrely, to be honest, looking back, but Yeah. Seemed to make sense at the time.
[00:17:34] Max Harrell: The logo looked, looked better, I think for, for your area probably. So. Pine trees and a river running through, so, yeah, probably so.
[00:17:41] Jon Harrell: Yeah. And so we were able to, to grow and, um, do the best we could in that market.
Yeah. I thought we were proud of what we were able to do. We supported the communities and were very involved. And then we had the opportunity to come to Northwest Arkansas in 2010, and we bought this branch [00:18:00] in Rogers, and then a branch in Solem Springs mm-hmm. Of an existing bank at that time. And, uh, if you guys remember, I know you're all way too young around this table, but 2008 to 10, there was a lot of carnage in commercial real estate markets in northwest Arkansas and, and, and the country.
[00:18:17] Cameron Clark: Yeah.
[00:18:18] Jon Harrell: As a whole. And
[00:18:18] Cameron Clark: you were already up here at the time? We,
[00:18:20] Jon Harrell: I was up here, yeah. Yes, I was here. Um, but we had an opportunity to buy those, these branches, and we were, our little bank was healthy, you know. Yeah. We weren't dealing with, we weren't licking any wounds. From, um, holding commercial real estate trying to divest of it as a bank.
And so we were able to come in and as people still moving, Walmart was still here. Yeah. People still moving to Northwest Arkansas. So we're able to come in here and kind of grab a foothold when a lot of banks were kind of working through their triage of some loans they needed to deal with.
[00:18:48] Cameron Clark: And talk about your instinct or gut or just how you, how you, the role you played in that happening obviously was, was really big.
'cause you're the one that was here. I mean, well, I never will forget.
[00:18:58] Jon Harrell: This was a pretty neat story. It [00:19:00] was, I had the opportunity to know that these would be for sale and so I caught my father, who, who I'm not sure ever at this point had forgiven me for moving Max from South Arkansas to northwest Arkansas.
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:19:13] Jon Harrell: But, uh, I said, Hey, we may have an opportunity to get a foothold and buy some, some branches in northwest Arkansas. And he did not hesitate. He said, let's do it. So, so was certainly with his encouragement and. And the right people putting this thing together, um, we were able to jump in here and, and start kind of the next journey, the next phase of the growth of what is now Generation's Bank.
[00:19:41] Nick Beyer: And when you buy a bank, when you buy branches of a bank, branches, you're buying the assets that they have, not just the actual building Right. Or anything like that.
[00:19:51] Jon Harrell: Lo basically it would exist of loans and deposits.
Mm-hmm.
[00:19:55] Jon Harrell: That would be a, would be applicable to that [00:20:00] location or locations.
Mm-hmm.
[00:20:01] Jon Harrell: And then obviously you take over the real estate overhead, everything else that is asso associated with it.
Got it. Okay.
[00:20:11] Nick Beyer: Yeah,
[00:20:12] Jon Harrell: that's good.
[00:20:12] Nick Beyer: And at that time, um, so it was Silo and, and Rogers. Rogers, okay. Mm-hmm. Okay, cool.
[00:20:21] Cameron Clark: And, um, and so talk about assembling the team at that time. Like what, what was that? I. But kind of before, before the acquisition, what did, what did it look like up here? What was the Yeah.
[00:20:31] Jon Harrell: Well we were fortunate enough we had a team.
Yeah. So we, we had a good team and uh, had the right players, really strong tenured team in the Solomon Springs market that came with the acquisition. And then I was already working here in the Rogers office and so I was familiar with the assets that were held here. And we had some good lenders and so good staff here.
So we, we had the right people in place. Okay. Yeah. To, to be able to continue growth.
[00:20:58] Cameron Clark: And
[00:20:58] Nick Beyer: so most of them [00:21:00] moved over just in under the new name. And is that common in the banking industry when you buy a branch? I mean, what percent of people loans stay though though it transition from this bank to this bank?
Like do a lot of times all of the current customers and deposits stay or is it kind of just depends on position? It's a really
[00:21:19] Jon Harrell: good question. We've had some experience with that. More recently. And with that one, because we had the staff in place and there the staff was used to dealing with the people.
It was pretty smooth. I mean, I'm sure there was some attrition in, in loans and deposits, but it wasn't enough to really move the needle. Mm-hmm. Especially on for what we paid for it. Um, since we did buy another branch in, uh, in Missouri actually, and it was not the same. I mean, the, the staff was very unstable.
Uh, we've had a lot of staff turnover and we did lose quite a bit of business. Now we're starting, we're gaining it back. Mm-hmm. And then we finally put our, our brand of banking in there, community banking, and it's starting to [00:22:00] come back. But that, that we learned a lot through that particular purchase.
Yeah. Of that branch. That was a true branch acquisition. Also,
[00:22:09] Max Harrell: we still have a good number from this specific, from the Rogers and, and slo, um, transitions. We, for a number of years, we had the same staff almost, right? Mm-hmm. We still have a, a few staff members that, that were here during that, um, during that transition.
True. And so
[00:22:27] Cameron Clark: talk about once after post acquisition. Was, was the vision for what exists now? Was that, did you have that vision then, and how did, what were you trying to do with the bank then? Uh,
[00:22:41] Jon Harrell: great question. Um, I knew we were just trying to grow. Yeah. I mean, we had enough capital that we could come in and grow the markets with the right, uh, right people, doing the right things.
Uh, we had pretty clean commercial real estate. Portfolio. Mm-hmm. Which is scrutinized [00:23:00] certainly was scrutinized a lot at that time and still is in the banking industry. So we're able to grow with the right people. And, um, just, it's kinda, the vision I don't think was fully defined at that point in my mind, just being honest.
Um, I knew it made sense to keep growing. So we eventually opened a, a branch in Fayetteville. 16. 16. Mm-hmm. I can remember 16 or 17. 17. And I was fortunate enough to a, a friend of mine that I've known forever, a guy named Joe Ruddle was, uh, a Fayetteville guy. And so I was fortunate enough to talk him in, say, Hey, let, let's do this together and what do you think?
And he said, let's go. And so he came on and just really, yeah. Really grew that particular location quickly. Yeah. And Joe Joe's a rainmaker. He makes things, he makes things happen. He's a great guy. Yes. And so we're fortunate to get a good foothold there. And at that point I starting to get more of a little feel for the vision and starting to, you know, I, I tell [00:24:00] my team, executive team every day, I've never done this.
Yeah. You know, we're, you know, I'm chairman, CEO of almost a billion dollar bank and I've never done this. So we're kind of all feeling our way, me particularly. Um, but we're doing it as a team. And, but it's starting to, we, we started working with some people who said, Hey, this makes sense to do this. We can grow by, you can leverage some debt to do some additional things.
And so we, uh, eventually. Made sense to move to Bentonville. So we opened a branch in Bentonville was built basically all the way through Covid. Mm-hmm. Opened it in 21. 21. Yeah. And so we, we, you know, Bentonville is a very dynamic market and we got some good solid bankers there. So they've grown that well and we've just continued to grow through Northwest Arkansas through having the right people do the right things and proper use of, of leverage and, and capital growth.
And, um, and I think now, particularly with Max coming on, I think maybe with his coming on it really kind of [00:25:00] forced more of this planning that you're talking about strategy, how, how, what's three years look like? What does five years look like? What does seven years look like? Mm-hmm. And so we're now starting to think a lot more in those terms than we probably did or I know, than we did previously.
[00:25:15] Cameron Clark: Well, that's, that's amazing. And I, I wanna kind of get into some of the, maybe some of the, the emotion and, and details that were kind of going on back then because I. We really want to encourage people as, I mean, like you're saying, Hey, I've never done this before. Mm-hmm. But a lot of people who are, you know, in that same boat I wanna talk about.
So 2013 is when your dad passed, correct? Correct. Correct. Um, and that was when you just, you had the kind of take the bull by the horns and you just kind of step up to the full role there. And did was, was that when Rogers was, became the flagship officially, or No? How did that, how did that all happen there?
No,
[00:25:54] Jon Harrell: I mean, we, we kept things pretty much in place as far as where the charter mm-hmm. Was and that I knew [00:26:00] that that South Arkansas Hampton Charter meant a lot to my dad.
Mm-hmm.
[00:26:04] Jon Harrell: As his hometown. That's where his family, you know, grew up. Mm-hmm. And that's where his dad worked. And, and, um, so it, it made sense for a long time to leave that charter there.
Mm-hmm. You know, but when, when Max kind of decided to come on. And you just, like I say, you go through this planning, say, okay, what are we gonna look like? Where are we going? It, it made at that time a lot more sense mm-hmm. To pull that trigger and move that charter to northwest Arkansas, which is now where Harold family resides.
And, um, for the opportunity for growth of the bank, we're still so proud to represent those rural markets in South Arkansas that we, that was our origin and we're very proud of that and we'll support those communities as long as I'm involved with the bank and I presume he'll do the same. And, uh, but it just, it made business sense to do.
And sometimes, you know, the world has changed. You still have the emotional [00:27:00] ties to things, but at some point you gotta make a business decision and it made the most sense to do that at that time.
[00:27:07] Nick Beyer: And when your dad passed, was it. Were you, was that, was there a plan set in place for you? Like how did that, how did all that go down with you stepping into the chairman role?
[00:27:17] Jon Harrell: Well, I had a lot of support from, uh, the other family members mm-hmm. That were involved in the bank. The, the board board of directors whose primary responsibility is to govern the bank with very supportive. And so with their encouragement, um, I was just able to step up and step in and, you know, obviously I'd worked at the bank, I'd been on the board, I was involved in decision making.
So I say it wasn't a big say, it wasn't a big stretch would be an understatement, but it wasn't a, a ginormous stretch.
Mm-hmm.
[00:27:49] Jon Harrell: You know, if, if we're a, you know, we, I forget what asset size we were, probably three or 400 million. Yeah, probably. So we weren't a huge bank. And if it were to happen, you know, if I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, it might be a little more [00:28:00] stressful for.
Max to step in, but, uh, he could do it. I know he could. Mm-hmm. But, uh, but it really, the, the support of the people that were involved really meant a lot and gave me the confidence to be able to step up and go forward.
Mm. Wow.
[00:28:16] Nick Beyer: Any emotions that come back during that kind of time period? I mean, I'm sure that was a big transition for you personally, and then on the business front as well.
Like those two things colliding, I imagine was hard. Oh, constantly. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:28] Jon Harrell: Oh, we, I loved my dad to death. My dad was, he'd probably kill me if he was here if I said this, but, uh, he, my dad was a great businessman. He was an attorney by trade. He owned businesses and was very successful. He might not have been the world's best banker.
He would probably get very offended by that, but, uh, we just, it's a different world. Banking is so different with the regulations and everything we have to deal with and be very objective with things. Policy driven and procedure driven. But, uh, I, I, I will reflect a lot of times [00:29:00] on some decisions that we make and say, my dad probably wouldn't have let me do that.
That's true. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that, that's where it kind of comes back to me. He probably wouldn't have let me do that. So it makes me work that much harder to make sure it works. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:29:15] Nick Beyer: If there's one thing you really learned from your dad, whether it's on the business front or personally as you kind of reflect on that, what, what comes to mind
[00:29:23] Jon Harrell: for you?
I, I think the pride of the family business that we have and we had put together, to be honest with you, there was probably a time in my life I didn't have that, you know, I was, uh, you know, maybe I was thinking more objectively, you know, may maybe we're better off selling this bank, particularly when I wasn't really working there anymore.
You know, I, I worried about management succession if something happened to my dad, and it was still just a south Arkansas dominated bank as far as staff and locations and everything else. And so I was, I. I think Grace, God and everything, how all this played out. Um, [00:30:00] now I really get it. You know, this is kind of cool what we've been able to put together.
Uh, the family heritage, family ownership piece, uh, the wealth we've been able to create for the family through this financial institution. Uh, I I get it. And it brings me a lot of pride and I, I think he would be very proud of where we are today.
[00:30:19] Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm.
[00:30:20] Jon Harrell: Where we sit and where we're gonna go.
[00:30:22] Nick Beyer: That's awesome.
So you kind of walked us through the rough timeline, but you step in as chairman in 2013, you open, I guess First, first Bank at the time was what it was called. First Bank of
[00:30:34] Jon Harrell: it was, well since it was like I told you it was First Bank of South Arkansas. Well, we moved to Northwest Arkansas. Yeah. Well, of South Arkansas.
It's not applicable anymore. So let's drop that. So we're First Bank.
[00:30:45] Nick Beyer: Yep. And then in 2016, the rebrand to Generations Bank happened. Yeah, correct. Probably
[00:30:50] Jon Harrell: one more thing I did not mention is that we were. In the process of looking at an acquisition of a bank in Van Buren when dad passed, I mean, we were [00:31:00] kind of knee deep in it, to be honest.
Um, and so that, that was a moment, you know, it's like, oh wow, what do we do here? You know? But, uh, we made the decision to go forward and take that branch on and it had some problems. It, it had some health. It wasn't a healthy bank at the time. Mm-hmm. So we had to devote a lot of resources, time and resources to that.
But, uh, we made the decision to go forward to that. And it's been a great acquisition or great plus for our team, a great location and yeah, great community for us.
[00:31:31] Nick Beyer: And when you say healthy bank, is that, does that mean they're not writing loans? That bad loan, bad loans, is that, is that pretty standard When you talk, talk in the banking world,
[00:31:41] Jon Harrell: typically that's what is the worst thing it can be for a bank is not talking about, you know, loans are the best top line revenue generator, but if they're not quality loans and they go bad.
They're, they're a challenge.
[00:31:55] Cameron Clark: And on the flip side, the best thing deposits, just a lot of good [00:32:00] deposits,
[00:32:00] Jon Harrell: lot of good non-interest bearing checking account deposits. Okay. It's gold. It's gold, yeah.
[00:32:05] Max Harrell: Yeah. The only caveat to a, a bank that, that failed without a loan issue without good loans would be Silicon Valley Bank.
And what happened there from a, just a pure interest rate driven scenario. Mm-hmm. So, um, that would be the only caveat, probably to that Healthy Bank, uh, conversation and whether or not, um, you know, lending has a
[00:32:32] Nick Beyer: large play in that, so it's good. So 2016 Generations Bank, you're still in school at this time.
Mm-hmm. And so how does, are y'all having conversations and that's how the name generations comes up, or what does that look like with you being in school? Had you already decided, Hey, I want to, I want to be here when I graduate, or.
[00:32:51] Max Harrell: I mean, we talked about it, we started talking about it pretty early on, but not, you know, we didn't have serious, serious conversations.
I think, well, [00:33:00] a, he was trying to figure out, you know, Hey, I've got a bank to run. And, uh, and, uh, obviously we were growing pretty rapidly at that point in northwest Arkansas. Um, but I think we, we kind of knew there was not to step in for you here. And obviously you're, you're, you were in it, but we, we knew, you knew that I had interest at that point, I assume, but I think it was even greater than that with how the, how the name changed.
So I'll let you kind of figure that.
[00:33:26] Jon Harrell: Yeah. You know, it kind of goes back to starting to think long term. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, and, um, you don't have to go very far. Our name was First Bank, which is the most generic name ever in the banking industry. And you don't have to drive very far from this location right here to find a few firsts in front of bank names.
Yeah. You know, you can probably find there multiple first national banks. There are other banks with the name first in it, and that that's. It seems like eons ago that provide, that was strength. Yeah. If you were first,
[00:33:55] Cameron Clark: yeah.
[00:33:55] Jon Harrell: First of anything that went to you. A strong financial institution. [00:34:00] So we just started to think, well, what could differentiate us in a, in a crowded banking market, which Northwest Arkansas is, and, um, just kind of brainstorming session.
I gotta give, I don't give my little brother much credit in anything in life. Love you. Love you Ben. But, uh, he, he, he's, he's got a pretty creative mind. I'll give him that. And, um, so we were just kind of brainstorming in, in the office right over there when I was in this location and we just, there wasn't names, you know, like you do on a whiteboard and you throw, what about generations?
And it just kind of stuck. Mm-hmm. You know, we still kind of go through the process and then we hire a consultant for marketing to try to develop a new logo and design and. Tagline for the, for the bank name and brand. And, um, so we're glad we did it. We're glad it's behind us. It's a, it's a pain to try to rebrand the bank Oh gosh.
With multiple locations and, yeah. Um, but we think it's, it's, it's appropriate. It, it fits and certainly proud [00:35:00] of it today. Well,
[00:35:01] Cameron Clark: it's definitely, definitely monumental 'cause we doubled in size since then. I mean that so far.
[00:35:08] Nick Beyer: So far, yeah. So 2019, I think is when I read the bank Relo, relocates its charter to Rogers, Arkansas, which was obviously a strategic decision you had come on by that point.
Was that a kind of, again, something y'all had been talking about for a while? Kind of walk us through that decision. What that even looks like. What a, for someone who's not familiar with banking, having a charter, being in a town, what does that even mean now being the only charter in Rogers? In Rogers, yeah.
[00:35:39] Jon Harrell: Yeah. Well, you've seen back up a little, you've seen a lot of consolidation within the banking industry. You know, there's just not as many banks as there used to be. I think there's less than 80 banks in the state. So just preface that a little bit and then, but it just, you know, the charter, it, it's simply a piece of paper.
Doesn't mean you can't do business. I can go to [00:36:00] New York City with a Calhoun County Bank charter if the regulators would let me do it. Yeah. Not that I'm gonna do that, but, um, but it just. It made sense as we were growing for the future of the bank, there was not a state chartered bank in the town of Rogers.
So we, that's a nice thing we can hang our hat on, is to be the only state chartered bank that housed in the, in the city of Rogers. So it just made sense. It's kind of just part of that overall strategy, you know, rebrand, relocate the charter, look forward.
[00:36:33] Cameron Clark: So we talked about Fayetteville, then moving the charter and then, so next was Bentonville.
I, I like the location that y'all picked for there. Very kind of na, you know, kind of embracing the, the neighborhood area over there. Um, we talked about that right by the airport too. Yeah. Right by the airport too. Mm-hmm. I mean, was that why you picked over there? What was the talk about forming the team for Bentonville?
[00:36:55] Jon Harrell: Well, I remember we, we had a realtor, I think we spent half a day driving around all of Bentonville [00:37:00] from downtown to, to Walton to all over the community and. Looking at these locations, and he said, we're, we've looked at, I don't know, 15. He says, well, there's one more that's, I think it's kind of out there, but I think the community's gonna grow that direction.
I said, and it was really kind of on our way back toward this office. And so we go by there and stop and look at it. I think, well, this is it. You know, obviously we wanted to get in front of the residential growth. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And the, and the commercial growth out that, you know, regional airport road is crazy too.
Yeah. And, uh, so it just seemed to be the right fit and it got the right people involved and we made the decision and, um, I'm, I'm thrilled with location.
[00:37:43] Cameron Clark: Yeah. It seems like one of your, like big strengths is just, is instinct like moving fast when you make a decision and, and being able to jump on something?
Is that right? I mean, is that what you'd say about yourself? What, what do you think Max? Yes. Sometimes this may not be the right decision, but I mean, it's, hold [00:38:00] on. Yeah. But I mean, do you, you're talking about positioning, you're positioned right in the middle of the market. Um, and, and just for how fast this market's moving.
I mean, I think it's, no, uh, it's not by accident the, the growth that y'all have seen. Um, it kind of, you know,
[00:38:19] Jon Harrell: you talk about something really positive happened to us there is that, you know, we, like I said, we kind of started the branch and Covid hit and, but they were, you know, able to continue construction.
Yeah. Which is good. Mm-hmm. And then we really didn't have a person in mind to run it for us, but, uh, August Rusher, who had worked, we had worked together since we were both here before it was Generations Bank, or First Bank or whatever, had kinda left. He, he got a wild hair, he'd probably tell you today, and really left the industry, left the banking industry for a little while.
And I guess he had to, he, I think he'd tell you he had to scratch an itch [00:39:00] and, uh, and, uh, but. He kinda scratched that itch inside. He, he banking, he's his, he comes from a banking family. So they, they had banks in the little town of Brinkley, Arkansas. Yeah. And he, he's a banker and his dad will tell you that.
But he, he came back and helped us to launch that branch Uhhuh in Bentonville. And, uh, kinda like Joe, he, he's just, he's, he's, he's a business development guy. A relationship guy, and just did a tremendous job. Yeah. Banking is people, I mean, it's what it is. I mean, there's all these banks with all these names of, first, this, first that, you know, it's names are names of banking, is people, relationships.
[00:39:41] Cameron Clark: Yeah. I mean, especially if we're still a small town here, it's like, you know who the business owners are. Yeah. And, uh, I'm excited for you to talk about more about the kind of what's next too on, um, which I've got cooking, but was there more you wanted to kind dive in here? Yeah. The
[00:39:56] Nick Beyer: Kimberly City. So that was that the last acquisition.
[00:39:59] Cameron Clark: Correct.
[00:39:59] Nick Beyer: And that was [00:40:00] 2022 ish. Talk a little bit about, I know you already kind of covered some of that, right. But talk a little bit about that. That's the first out of, out of the state of Arkansas acquisition. Correct. Was that strategic? Was that Well,
[00:40:14] Jon Harrell: we have been and are still looking for acquisition opportunities.
Okay. And so there was an opportunity to buy, there were several branches that were for sale at the same time throughout the western part of Arkansas. There was some in Oklahoma, uh, and some in the southern Missouri area. And we just kinda looked at it and that one made the most sense. We thought it was the most attractive, uh, town that the branches were located in.
Mm-hmm. And so it. Made the most sense. So we put together a bid process and we were accepted. And so we, we were thrilled to get to get it. Now we didn't, fortunately, we, we learned, you know, you learn by hard knocks in life. Mm-hmm. And we learned a little bit [00:41:00] regarding this acquisition, um, with that. But we didn't end up getting exactly what we thought we were going to get, to be honest.
I mean, we were supposed to get a larger base of deposits and kinda, when everything was peeled away, it wasn't what we had originally thought we would get. Mm-hmm. But, um, we got a, a, a, a good group there. We've had a lot of turnover in staff. Still having turnover in staff, but, uh, we think once we get our brand of banking mm-hmm.
In, in Kimberling City, I think we still very bullish on the town. The growth in that area is just tremendous. You can, everybody knows just outside of Branson, just outside of Branson, everybody knows what's going on in Branson. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, so we think opportunity's still there, and so we just gotta get the right people in place to take advantage of the growth that will happen in that market.
[00:41:53] Cameron Clark: And as far as, like when you said there's other banks that were, you know, available for purchase at the time, what is, is there someone, is that like a, [00:42:00] what's the market for who, someone list these banks anywhere? Like what's, how
[00:42:05] Jon Harrell: typically a deal like that banks.com. I'm kidding. You know, they, they'll hire, check it out.
A particular bank consultant to market these branches. Yeah. And it, it's pretty tight. And they, they'll know who's kinda tight. There aren't that many banks like we talked about. No. They know the buyers, so they'll know who's out there kinda looking. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
[00:42:25] Nick Beyer: Yeah. Yeah. And do banks trade like normal businesses, like, uh, multiple of deposits or loan?
Like how does, how does a bank trade when you're buying one? Mean you buy one? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:42:39] Jon Harrell: There's a couple of three different factors. Uh, it could be a multiple of book probably is what you hear most. Yeah. And book would mean assets or, well, book would be capital, basically. Mm-hmm. Banks capital. So if you had a hundred million in capital and you sell for 1.5 x, it'd be a $150 million transaction.
Yeah. [00:43:00] Okay. And then so, and deposits are priced a little differently sometimes you pay a premium, I'm sorry, branches are priced a little differently. Sometimes you pay a premium on the deposits that you buy. That's really where the value is.
Mm-hmm.
[00:43:13] Jon Harrell: Mm-hmm. 'cause it's, 'cause deposits are the raw materials for loan loaning money, basically.
And say it that way. So that's how that one was bought. We paid a premium on the deposits that were there. Got it.
[00:43:26] Nick Beyer: Okay. And as you're thinking through like maybe some things that y'all have done well over the last, call it 10 years and maybe some things if you had a do over, you would do again, uh, kind of how would, how would you summarize that some things y'all have done really well and maybe some things you wish could have done differently?
[00:43:51] Jon Harrell: I, I think we've been, over the last 10 years, very strategic in our decision making. Mm-hmm. And I, it was a little haphazard before that, you know, [00:44:00] we, you know, through God's grace, prayer and everything else, I think we ended up in a good situation. But developing partnerships and strategies to go forward and to plan and, and to define what we want to be mm-hmm.
I think has been a, a big win for us. And we've got some great people that have helped us along the way. Um, I've got a lady that works for us in our corporate office, and she's been with some form of this bank since she was 18 years old. Wow. She's a 40 plus year banker. Wow. It's smartest person I've ever been around.
And, um, she just, she knows where all the bones are buried. If I, if we need to find an examination that was in 1983 and somehow you'll find it. Um. But just, just having those tenured people who bought into what we want to do. Mm-hmm. I, I get a lot of satisfaction outta that. Yeah. Um, and, um, I mean, she moved from North Louisiana to lives in Bella Vista now.
Yeah. Because she, she's a generation, she's passionate about [00:45:00] Generations Bank and what we're trying to do. That's awesome.
[00:45:03] Nick Beyer: Well, 2025 maybe talk us through where the bank is at right now, whatever you can or can't share, whether it's, it's, uh, assets or how many employees you have. You have five branches now, right.
Between Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers Silo, and Kimberly City. Just kind of walk us through the scale of where generations is at right now, and then we'll talk a little bit about where it's going. Okay.
[00:45:25] Jon Harrell: We are right. Our goal for years has been to be a billion dollar bank. We've been talking about being a billion dollar bank, that's total assets.
Mm-hmm.
[00:45:36] Jon Harrell: Mm-hmm. Um. A billion dollar bank for at least four or five years. Probably five. Yeah, five years. It's probably been a five year goal. And we are real close. I mean, we've actually, this month I've been over it. Now you back, you, it moves every day. Yeah. Up or down a little bit. But we feel like by the end of this quarter, end of June, we'll confidently be, be over a billion dollars.
And that's something we've been [00:46:00] striving for. Mm-hmm. Um, and so we'll have some fun. We'll celebrate and then we'll, we'll roll. You know, we'll go forward from there. But I, I think, you know, we're doing business in northwest Arkansas. We've got great people. We're trying to develop a really good culture. I think we've, you know, it's hard.
Culture's hard. Mm. But we, we, I think we work hard at it. We've defined it. Uh, we, we wanna be the bank employer of choice in northwest Arkansas. That's one of our aspirational goals. I mean, if you want, you know, if you wanna be a banker in northwest Arkansas, and, and you fit our culture and what we believe in.
We wanna make it the kind of place you can come to work and be proud of where you work.
Mm-hmm.
[00:46:38] Nick Beyer: Yeah. Wow. Yeah, it's good.
[00:46:40] Max Harrell: We're, and we're, you know, uh, obviously you talked about the Northwest Arkansas location specifically, but, you know, we've got pretty strategic goals for each one of those locations to continue to grow and, uh, make an impact on their community.
And, and we talk about market share with those locations, so continuing to, [00:47:00] to increase and build market share. So we're starting to see that happen. Yeah. And now there's a variety of different factors in how that's calculated. So you can't always just take a one for one. Um, but, you know, Rogers market share, we're growing, um, you know, Fayetteville market share.
We continue to make progress in growing additional market share. Bentonville, we're growing silo. We are. Exponentially growing. Um, van Buren we're growing market. So like the places where we're at here, we want to continue to start becoming the bank of choice as well. And I think we're, we're making healthy strides towards that.
[00:47:39] Nick Beyer: And how, how much has banking changed in physical locations and branches? You know, I think growing up and probably still, I think there was some stat, I don't how many new branches or new new banks opened in Rogers in the last couple of years. Um, but how, how, how does that fit in as part of your strategy?
Maybe [00:48:00] not being oversaturated with physical branches, maybe not being under underrated. How, how are y'all thinking about that?
[00:48:05] Jon Harrell: Well, we, you know, physical assets, branches are, are still necessary.
[00:48:10] Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm.
[00:48:12] Jon Harrell: We don't wanna oversaturate these markets. We have one branch in each local, in each town. Mm-hmm. And that's really, I think, you know.
I say that aside from Springdale. Yeah, yeah. Aside from Springdale. But that, that makes sense for us. You know, we have all the, you know, banking has changed this, this changed banking so much, and so, um, we have to have the technology available that people want so they can access the different things on the application and on the app and the website that, um, is, is available from our bank or, or Bank of America or Chase.
I mean, we need to have those type of suite of products, but we still think being community bank, which what we are, which Bank of America and Chase are not. Mm-hmm. You know, that's a competitive advantage. If, if you want that, if you need to [00:49:00] call Max Harrell or John Harrell or Joe Ruddle or August rusher and you've got a problem.
We more than likely got our cell phone somewhere. Yeah. And so we can, we can get something taken care of and there's some banks that just have you got a one 800 number and talk to someone wherever, and it's, uh, you might get your problem solved, but I hope we'll do it quicker and, and apologize at least if
[00:49:23] Cameron Clark: there's a,
[00:49:23] Jon Harrell: if there's a problem.
[00:49:24] Cameron Clark: Well, I can speak from personal experience. It's real. It's like being able to, you know, have Heather's cell phone number over the front and just be able to change things on the account and just like it is a real experience.
[00:49:37] Max Harrell: Uh, yeah. We, we have, you know, one thing I think we've done, um, I don't know if strategic is the word or if it's just by bringing in the right people is we, we kind of come to you instead of the other way around.
Um, you know, we, I, I was sitting down with a customer, uh, earlier this week and he said, I don't [00:50:00] think I've ever stepped foot in your branch. And I've. Got, uh, you know, multiple accounts and multiple loans with you guys. I mean, and that was like a revelation to him, or more, more of like an epiphany. He said, I, I just really don't think I've ever.
Spin in one of your branches. Yeah. I'm like, that's okay. You know that that's an option. That's an option. He goes, every time you need something, you just kind of drop it off at my house or you come, come and see me, or we meet at a coffee shop or at his place of business. And so, um, you know, I think, uh, we, we try to be, uh, we try to be very cognizant of the fact that, hey, we're, we are not in ourves, we are not on every branch corner.
Um, and that, that's, that's perfectly okay as long as we, um, can provide a level of customer, um, service that is, um, that is over and above what they provide. And so, um, yeah, we're, we're pretty flexible, I would say. Um, and, and that, that's, that that will become more strategic as we, um, as we continue to develop [00:51:00] different, um, you know, different, different employees here, different staff members to.
You know, to continue to, to span across the area. Well,
[00:51:09] Cameron Clark: yeah. Well, out outside looking in. One thing I really admire and respect about you guys and the whole team here, y'all are on offense all the time and it's just, it goes through the whole, the whole team. Whenever I walk in or talk to anybody, I feel it.
Uh, one thing I had, kind of curious about the capital moving into the market, what you've seen in the last five years. Uh, what you're doing is stay ahead, ahead of it. Yeah.
[00:51:34] Max Harrell: Um, you're right, there's a significant amount of capital moving and can you experience it any more than downtown Bentonville?
Mm-hmm.
[00:51:42] Max Harrell: Um, so our, our experience with it is gonna be unique on both sides. Um, so from the lending standpoint, obviously it's gonna provide a tremendous amount of opportunity for a bank like ours. Um, so one thing I think we do really, really well is we have [00:52:00] established good referral systems through our existing customers.
Um, I think, uh, and we, we do that naturally by the people that we try to involve in the bank, is we, we want. Folks that work with our staff members to enjoy working with them so much that they tell someone else. Um, you know, yes, we want to make calls and we want to continue to stay of offensive. Um, but at the same time, it, it, it goes so much further when, when Cameron or Nick goes and says, Hey, they, they treated me really right.
Just to at least give 'em an opportunity to, uh, to help, you know, facilitate your needs here. So, um, so I think we've established a really good referral system who end up being a part of the journey for capital coming into the area. Mm-hmm. So, um, so if someone comes in, they may know someone or be connected with someone who already knows what Generations Bank can offer.
And so we get, we'll get an opportunity there.
Mm-hmm.
[00:52:59] Max Harrell: [00:53:00] From a lending side, um. The deals are bigger, right? Yeah. Um, we're talking, you know, I think we were looking at, at reasonably sized deals anywhere from, you know, three to five to seven to potentially 10 million at a high level. Um, probably five to seven years ago.
Uh, you know, we just had, didn't have a whole lot of things coming through like a loan committee that was, that were a lot larger than that. There all, there were deals here that were larger, but that wasn't the norm. Mm-hmm. You're starting to see those kind of two and three X at that point now. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, the, the, the money coming in is, is, um, is, is pretty impressive.
Uh, and then the flip side of that is. I think we want to continue to benefit, um, from the, the capital that we can in, uh, that, that we can deploy in a, in a deposit account or just in, in continued growth of our, of our [00:54:00] overall deposits here at the bank. So again, um, you know, we understand that we're not gonna be on every corner and we might not be the right fit for everybody.
Um, but with the influx that comes in, if we can continue to get our pro rata share, um, you know, that, that that still provides a tremendous amount of growth. So you've got both sides to look at. Um, and uh, and I think we've done a pretty good job of continuing to capture that market share. Again, going back to the market share conversation.
Um, as it's, as it's coming in,
[00:54:33] Nick Beyer: what challenges have been created with loans two, three Xing in size? Has that, has that created any new challenges that y'all hadn't experienced before as a bank? Yeah. I mean, they're more
[00:54:42] Max Harrell: complex. Um, at times, you know, the complexity of of a, of a deal can be, um, can be a lot different.
I mean, I, I don't know. I mean, gosh, 10 years ago, could you imagine seeing some of the deals that are coming through at this time? Um, you know, obviously I wasn't in involved at that [00:55:00] time, but the complexity of the deals is challenging. Um, you need to make sure that, uh, you know, the risk becomes higher.
Mm-hmm. Right? Um, of, uh, of a deal of that size. And so you gotta make sure that your staff and your, your processes and your systems are prepared to handle that, uh, on a continual basis. So, yeah, it definitely has provided challenges. Challenges, but, um, you know. With every challenge comes a pretty unique opportunity.
And so you, you, you do a few of those the right way. Um, it just continues to kind of, um, you know, snowball, have a snowball effect and, and a positive one at that. Hmm. It can also have a negative one right. If it goes the wrong way, but yeah. That's good. Good question.
[00:55:43] Nick Beyer: What, uh, what is, with all the growth y'all have had, what does recruiting talent look like?
What does retaining talent look like? How much time involvement does that re require? Maybe a different, each of you have probably different roles in the organization, so what does that look like? [00:56:00]
[00:56:00] Max Harrell: Yeah, it, it's, uh, it's been unique. We, uh, you know, I think you asked a question earlier, how many people do we have?
We're, we're, we're, we oscillate between probably 140 and 150 people. Mm-hmm. On average throughout the whole bank. Right? So that's south to South Arkansas to, uh, Southern Missouri. So, um. What we're seeing is that, uh, you know, obviously the vendor climate in northwest Arkansas is unique. Um, it is, it is driven.
Um, it's driven, driven, you know, competitiveness pretty high, uh, as to, you know, retaining talent and then also being able to bring in talent. So it, it's also been interesting because you've got this, um, I think we have a little bit of a lost generation from probably anywhere from 35 to 45, would you say, in banking?
I would agree. And I think that that kind of coincides [00:57:00] really, really well with when the kinda the great recession was in play. Like a lot of those guys were getting, um, were getting out of, uh, outta school at that time. Yeah. And, and banks just weren't an option. I mean, they were closing or decreasing, um, in size.
Um, or laying off in it. It was definitely for every, for lack of a better way to say it, it was definitely a four letter word at that time.
Mm-hmm.
[00:57:24] Max Harrell: Um, for, for folks coming out. So I think you banks lost a lot of momentum at that time, and unfortunately that that's a, that's a pretty important age gap, uh, when you think in terms of wealth creation and when a customer might be at a, at a point of their highest or best use from a wealth creation standpoint.
So, uh, so I think those folks are really attractive, um, in a market, uh, or, or for a bank like, like, um, any of our banks in northwest Arkansas, but also in a market like Northwest, Northwest Arkansas. So retaining [00:58:00] those folks is, is is uber important and I think it's very competitive for that age bracket, but also for us, one thing we've tried to, we've really noticed, I think well, is that bringing on new talent doesn't have to be.
Specific to a banking and finance background or degree. Um, we feel very confident in the fact that we can teach the language of banking. Um, ultimately, I think you've said this earlier, it's relationships and it's people. Well, we have people here who love people and love developing relationships, and if you can find that person, whether or not they can structure a deal specifically, um, or they can handle a transaction in day one, um, we can teach those things.
Most of the time those folks are pretty malleable. So as we bring them in and try to bring in that type of talent, we're more looking for a person now than I think we were looking for a, uh, a, you know, and I [00:59:00] don't wanna say skillset, 'cause obviously the skillset has to be there. Um, but you don't have to graduate with a banking and finance degree.
I, my class at, at the U of A had 13 people in it. Yeah. And for, for banking and finance. Mm-hmm. Like, that's, they're not coming outta the University of Arkansas, um, at least, you know, over the last five or six years. So we have to, we, we have to be able to really be able to find those folks who just have the IT factor and contin can continue to build on them and then recreate that as we go forward.
Mm-hmm. That's good.
[00:59:34] Nick Beyer: Uh, let's, let's transition a little bit, a bit, a little bit to like where the bank's headed. So you're nearing the, the $1 billion in assets. Mark does that obviously huge milestone. Are there any different structural changes that need to be made when you hit that? I know there's a ton of regulation in banking, so is is there anything from that perspective or,
[00:59:55] Jon Harrell: yeah, I mean there, there are some things that change specifically in the accounting reporting realm [01:00:00] when you reach that threshold in assets and we have been preparing for that.
I think we are prepared for that. So the idea now, you'll see a lot of banks that'll start bumping that billion dollar number and they'll intentionally try to stay below it just so they put it off another year having to deal with what I just discussed. But we've been intentional. I mean, we're ready to roll, go right through it to keep, uh, keep growing organically within our current markets, particularly northwest Arkansas, we're always looking for acquisitions for looking either branches or banks that make sense to us in our markets and how we do things, and does it lay well with our current balance sheet structure.
Mm-hmm.
[01:00:40] Jon Harrell: So, you know, that that's would be our short term goals.
Mm-hmm.
[01:00:44] Jon Harrell: And, you know, and then with just a ever changing industry, I mean, banking has really changed. I mentioned the consolidation mm-hmm. Going forward and, and it will just continue. Uh, there's just no doubt in my mind, um, interest rate environment has been, has, it's kind of [01:01:00] held some of this acquisition.
Inventory back quite a bit. It's just volatility. And now we've got crazy uncertainty in the markets. So I do think at some point that we will get some relief there and I think you'll start seeing some more acquisition opportunities for the community bank such as ourselves. And so that's a piece of the pie.
And then just keep, like he said, attracting the right people that are, are right. We, we focus on right people, right seat a lot. Yeah. And, um, find those people that believe in what we're doing. They understand our value system and want to work with people and we can teach the trade. Uh, you know, that that's the not the hardest thing in the world.
I mean, I tell a lot of people, banking is not rocket science. It's uh, yeah. It's, it's people and processes and procedures and
[01:01:46] Cameron Clark: we
[01:01:46] Jon Harrell: can make that work
[01:01:47] Cameron Clark: and talk about the new headquarters, um, maybe like what's going on there, what, how you intend to use it and. Yeah, for that.
[01:01:55] Max Harrell: Yeah. So, uh, that's a really exciting development in, uh, you [01:02:00] know, in our lifecycle here as a bank.
And so, uh, it's a good problem to have. But we have a problem of, uh, not enough, not enough offices, not enough desk, not enough chairs, and not enough parking, um, where we're at currently from a corporate standpoint. So, um, all those, we, we started having a conversation probably a year and a half ago of, uh.
Hey, we, we don't really fit very well right now. Um, what does this look like if we continue to grow? Um, and we're experiencing some of those pains a little bit. Um, good pains to have, like I said. Yeah. Um, but so we, uh, we decided, hey, that's probably time to look for a new space. Um, and at that time, you know, I think when we were having conversations it was, well, hey, let's, um, you know, let's try to find something that not just not only works for us today, but can work for us maybe, maybe five to 10 years in the future.
Uh, so, so a little bit larger area. Um, and then also, you know, hey, what, what does it look [01:03:00] like to kind of. Say we're here. Right? Yeah. What, what sort of areas does that provide? We wanted to stay in Rogers specifically. Mm-hmm. We're Rogers Charter Bank. We wanted to stay in Rogers, so we had some limitations and um, obviously, you know, a little bit about all that, but yeah.
Uh, uh, but I think, uh, we were able to, uh, through some fantastic, um, you know, help, uh, from those across the table. We were able to find a, a, uh, um, a great spot to where it kind of felt like all of those married into one. Mm-hmm. So, uh, we'll be moving, uh, moving into a new corporate headquarters somewhere around the end of the year, um, in the Pinnacle Hills or Uptown area in, in Rogers.
Um, we'll have a, um, you know, we'll, we'll be able to serve the community and be able to kind of show the community where we're at and, and who we are from that, from that area. Um, and we're really, really excited about it. Um, it will [01:04:00] have a, it will have plenty of parking, it will have plenty of space for us to, to operate.
Um, and, and it will also just be a really, really good staple that says, Hey, you know, we are here. We, we have every intention of staying here. Um, and, uh, you know, we, we, we have every intention of being able to offer the community. Um, you know, the services that we have, talk about the downstairs, what people can maybe expect as a customer.
Yeah. To by. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's gonna be unique. So, um, number one, we we're sharing with some fantastic partners as well. Um, Walker Brothers, clothing store, and, uh, Colliers, uh, international. So, um, those two, um, partners are gonna be unbelievable. They're both actually already in, but in the building. But, uh, yeah, downstairs, so we're gonna have a, we're gonna have what we call a boutique branch, so, doesn't that sound fantastic?
Um, but no, we really, what we're trying to offer is just continuing to hone in. Again, we've talked a lot about culture and a lot about who we are, what we are, what we do, and [01:05:00] you don't really want to get too much to a, like a niche or a niche from a bank standpoint. You've, you've gotta be able to broadly offer services to your customers.
Um, but if we were gonna kind of go down that route a little bit, this, this branch should be a really good staple of, of exactly who we are. Um, it's, it's gonna have, you know, it's gonna have a, a better offering of technology here. So we're kind of making a staple and saying, Hey, this is gonna be a spot where, um, you know, we're, we're continue to show investment in technology.
Mm-hmm. So this ought to be kind of the, the lab or the brainchild for that. Um, it will have really, really good people that are very available. Um, and it'll be more of an open, open space that will, uh, provide more direct one-on-one, um, you know. You know, I, I hate to use the term private banking 'cause I think that that gets a connotation of you have to have a certain amount of wealth or something.
But we, we just kind of, we want to private bank everyone. Like we want to just be your, your [01:06:00] private banker regardless if you have a dollar 50 or, or a few more zeros on that. Um, and so this is gonna be a really good space for us to exemplify that.
[01:06:10] Cameron Clark: That's amazing. And talk about, so technology more, more on what's next?
You're saying technology hub. Yeah. What can people expect? Yeah. Is, I mean, how much can you change from a technological side with regulations? I'm sure there's a balance there. Yes.
[01:06:24] Max Harrell: Yeah. So technology's, um. It's a little overwhelming, just to be honest with you. It changes obviously as everyone knows so unbelievably quick.
Um, and banks, um, I'll just say banks in general, even, you know, even your large mega banks, chase, bank of America, you know, we talked about some of them. Um, even they are not going to be the tip of the spear on a technology standpoint. They may be tip of the spear from a financial technology standpoint.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. But just general technology, right? They're not gonna be tip of the spear and you're not, you we're kind of warned away from [01:07:00] that. Yeah. From a regulatory standpoint. So we have an extreme vetting process. You guys can imagine the amount of, of, you know, security that, that we have to employ. You know, it went from physical security, making sure someone, you know, no one.
Does anything harmful in a branch to, to, um, digital security, which is just paramount, right? Cybersecurity. So we've had to, to invest a tremendous amount into cybersecurity and what that looks like. And so you kind of go through these ebbs and flows a little bit from technology. So there's a new technology available, but we almost have to see it prove itself a little bit before we're unable, we're able to, um, enact it.
So you've got a little bit of a push and pull from a customer standpoint. Well, hey, I, I know this is out there and I know it's available, why can't you offer it? And, and it's more of, Hey, we would love to be able to offer this, but. We don't feel like it's secure or proven well enough yet to be able to protect your assets and your data.
And I mean, you can imagine all the information the [01:08:00] banks hold. And so, um, so we, we fight that battle a little bit, but we want to continue to make, for us it's incremental process.
[01:08:08] Cameron Clark: Yeah.
[01:08:08] Max Harrell: Uh, our progress is incremental progress. So can we continue to build onto to a base? So we have a, we have a solid base now, but can we continue to build on, add-on features to a base, um, that makes everything that you want to do.
Um, doable in a very safe and secure way. Um, and that's, that's hard because we have to value security over usability, um, all day, every day and, and twice on Sunday. Um, but we have to continue to make sure that that balance, um, is, is weighed so that we continue to offer the best services.
[01:08:43] Nick Beyer: And how do you communicate that to younger people?
It's hard because, I mean, yeah, people and probably our age and above, we'll just call it 30 ish. Yeah. And above can understand and rationalize that. 'cause we didn't grow up with it right here. But now these kids are trading stocks on Robin Hood and [01:09:00] they're 18 or 19 or 21. Yeah. And so how do you, how are you communicate how, yeah.
You know, I know that's prob a tough question to answer, but Yeah.
[01:09:09] Max Harrell: Yeah. Um, well one thing we, we had tried to do, um, you know, previously and, and we'll, we'll continue to, to push in this realm obviously. Is, is, is financial, wellness and education. Mm-hmm. Um, and I say we, we have done, and we will continue to do that, and we have continued to do that.
There's different modes and channels of communication that we've done. We actually did a little podcast for a little while. Yeah. Um, that was, that was kind of centered around wellness and education. Um, and we, we want to continue to provide that on, on all of our channels of communication, whether that's website, app, um, social media, you name it.
Um, so a lot of it's surrounded by education. And I'll just, you know, a couple things that we, we have talked about in the past that I think resonates really well is like, Hey, Venmo, while it is a [01:10:00] fantastic. Um, I use it, it's, it, it is a great peer-to-peer payment system. Um, it's, it's not your money when they have, when it's in the Venmo account, it's not yours.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, so while you think of it as like, when you pull up Venmo, you go, oh, I've got, I've got $300 in Venmo. Well, it's really not your money, it's Venmo's money. Un until it enters your, your account. Mm-hmm. Um, and so, and, and, and there, you know, Venmo's really not, um, not the safest place to keep, keep funds.
It, it moves through there quick enough that it's, it's probably not, not a huge issue. Um, but that education tool that, that typically puts off light bulbs mm-hmm. In the younger crowd. Well, what do you mean it's not my money? What, I dunno how to tell you. Like, it left your account. It's, it's being held in an intermediary place, um, who may not even be FDIC insured.
Mm-hmm. Um, and so if Venmo went down, that could theoretically all be lost. Um, and so it is just [01:11:00] a, it's a, it's an educational tool. Um, and, and I'm not trying to throw Venmo under the bus. I use Venmo. But, um, you know, it's just a piece of education I think is healthy. And then the other piece is like, Hey, I know you don't know this again, but it's like I have.
I have $30 in, uh, in my Starbucks app. Well, again, that is not your $30, that is Starbucks's, $30. Um, and Starbucks is now like one of the top 30 banks. I saw banks, you know, parentheses around, um, in the us I mean, they hold that much, that, that many dollars and that that many assets, um, in their Starbucks
[01:11:38] Jon Harrell: app
[01:11:38] Max Harrell: application.
I mean, they're basically funding, um, they're funding real estate investments through that. So, I mean, there's just a lot of educational tools that need to continue to be pushed on the bank side. Like, Hey, this is, this is fine if you're okay with it. And a lot of people are, but. You need to just understand where it's going.
Mm-hmm. There's been a lot of fine print
[01:11:59] Nick Beyer: [01:12:00] surrounding that. Have you heard of Neobank or that term? Yes. Yeah. So I think that kind of falls in the same. It does. Okay. Yeah. And for those who don't know what it is, it's, it's basically software that sits on top of banking, right? Yes. Yes. So like Meow is one I've seen for business owners where they'll like,
[01:12:14] Max Harrell: yeah.
[01:12:15] Nick Beyer: You deposit your money into Meow, which is in the software. Mm-hmm. They funnel that into different banks. Yeah. Is my understanding.
[01:12:22] Max Harrell: That's
[01:12:22] Nick Beyer: correct.
[01:12:22] Max Harrell: Yeah. And there, there's a, there's a hard, and, sorry, I know we're kind of going down a rabbit hole here, but, um, this is a hard discussion Yeah. Because banks are really held back from a regulatory standpoint on, on what we can do safely and securely.
Mm. Um, however, you've got Neobank or Starbucks or whatever you wanna call it, that, that can kind of bypass, bypass the regulatory, uh, you know, scrutiny. And so they will just typically go around and you're like, well, why can't you do what they're doing? Mm-hmm. It's like, well,
[01:12:56] Cameron Clark: they're not a bank. Not, they're not a bank, and
[01:12:58] Max Harrell: they're not held to the same [01:13:00] requirements or restrictions.
And I think, you know, there's a whole lot of reasons why you're seeing bank consolidation, but that is 100% one of them
Yeah.
[01:13:09] Max Harrell: Is, is you have these other players in the market and so. It's all education when it comes back to it. Um, and I promise you the neo bank's not gonna be the one to educate you on that.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it's, it falls on the banks to do
[01:13:20] Cameron Clark: that. Well, we just have kind of, um, you know, a few more minutes left here, so got a few more questions here for you kind of as last thing looking forward. You know, the biggest challenge or challenge is ahead of the next decade that you see, okay, we're past a billion dollars and now we're looking, I don't know what the market is, 10 more years, we get the $2 billion, whatever.
What do you see? Um, maybe it's for Generations Bank or even just the banking industry in northwest Arkansas. The challenge growing.
[01:13:52] Jon Harrell: Well, I think you guys, that robust discussion you just had, which I really enjoyed by the way, but I think that's a challenge. Mm-hmm. You know, [01:14:00] non-bank entities entering the market, pulling in a lot of our funding and deposits.
I do think that's, that's a challenge going forward. And how's that mitigated? How's that regulated? It'll be interesting to see.
Mm-hmm.
[01:14:11] Jon Harrell: Um, so I think. There's always interrupters. That's almost what I call that, you know, and that, that they'll come and they'll go. And I think as we continue to see technology, advance AI and things like that, those will become more and more prevalent.
So how, how do we compete with it? How do we compete? I mean, associate with it. I mean, what, what does it look like? I think it's gonna be an interesting aspect of, of community banking going forward. Mm-hmm. So I certainly think that, um, one of the real challenges, I'm getting a little specific here now, but that we deal with now, we're always look for cyber issues, cyber attacks on our customers and the bank.
Yep. So we very wary of that. And then check fraud is just. Coming. It just turned to a major issue for our [01:15:00] industry and our society. I mean, it is, I would say over the last 18 months, the escalation has just been straight up.
[01:15:07] Cameron Clark: Wow.
[01:15:08] Jon Harrell: And so certainly we try to educate our, primarily your commercial customers mm-hmm.
On how there are products that Generations Bank has and, and any other bank that anyone out there associates with, that you have your deposit accounts with, they have those type of products that will help prevent that. So I encourage. Everyone to do that. So there's a way to play defense, but if you don't pay attention to it, it is prevalent and it, these guys are good.
[01:15:37] Cameron Clark: They're gonna get
[01:15:37] Jon Harrell: you, they know how to do it. Yeah. Don't, don't put any checks in your mailbox anymore, please. Mm. Had to teach my wife, you know, I look out there one day and she's putting a check in the mailbox, popping up the red flag, and I, not a good idea.
[01:15:52] Nick Beyer: Just got a, yeah. A bill from a contractor this week.
And, uh, there, there wasn't anywhere to pay it online. I said, [01:16:00] you need a check? He said, yeah. He said, you can just mail it to PO Box. And I was like, I don't mail checks. Where are you at? I'll drop it off to you. Wow. It's
[01:16:07] Jon Harrell: very wise. Crazy. Yeah, crazy.
[01:16:10] Nick Beyer: Yeah. That is crazy. So they, they'll just take in that check fraud.
They just take your routing number and your account number and use it for stuff? Is that what you, you mean take,
[01:16:17] Jon Harrell: take the check and replicate it or replicate it? Wash it or wash it? Yeah. Replicate it. Change the payee. Gosh. Change where they deposit it, and it, it can be the same amount. I wrote you a check.
$50,000 and someone takes it, white washes it and change the, pay you to Cameron. Cameron deposits it and it's gone. Yeah. John Harrell, concrete companies, well, 50,000 it, it cleared. Wow. Wow. Yeah. And then all of a sudden you'd say, well, I didn't even get paid. Oh, we got a problem. Yeah.
[01:16:46] Max Harrell: Yeah. And, and that, that doesn't happen.
You don't get notified until Yeah. It's too late. Until it's too late. Right. Until someone goes, well, yeah, I didn't get, I didn't get paid. And you're like, well, yeah, I definitely paid you. Uh uh Oh, here we go. Yeah. [01:17:00] Um, yeah, so not non-bank interrupters I think will be a, you know, continue to be an issue. It's actually probably waned a little bit, at least as much as it's probably just 'cause other things have taken its place.
Um, from a priority standpoint. Yeah. They're still very much there. Um, to non-bank interrupters. I think another, another, I don't know. Yes. For challenges and opportunities, or was it more just challenges? Challenges, but I mean, if you, if yeah. First, if
[01:17:24] Cameron Clark: you, you know,
[01:17:25] Max Harrell: can identify where the opportunity is, love to hear it too.
So well, can more people continue to move the areas a major opportunity? Um, you know, but challenges, I think you're gonna find, um, I think you're gonna find that, um, you know, even l. Not, not non-banks, but you, you continue to see market investments become such a huge play, especially with the younger crowd.
Mm-hmm. Um, you know, isn't that weird saying younger crowd? I think we're in that crowd. Um, but you are, uh, the younger crowd is, [01:18:00] is is trying to put every single dollar to work. Yeah. And so when you're trying to put every single dollar to work there, there's definitely a, um, an ownership and a stewardship of that, that, that makes some sense.
And I, I, I think we understand that, but there's the flip side of, of like, we just, we're not seeing any real rainy day funds out there. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so there, there's the flip side of, hey, utilizing. Financial institutions for continual savings and growth. Um, you know, trying to, trying to grow those accounts.
And so, um, so what we're gonna continue, the loans and deposits will continue to, to, you know, almost the loans are gonna continue to outweigh the deposits as as it grows. And that's not a unique Generations bank problem whatsoever. We hear that everywhere in the industry. Yeah. Um, is that you're gonna, you know, typically there's a, you know, a $5 million loan does not always accompany with a $5 million checking account, [01:19:00] right?
Yeah. And so if those aren't, you know, match funded per se, we have to continue to, to look and, and grow, grow other opportunities from a funding or a, a deposit and which also is a funding standpoint there. Um, and so the regulatory environment has been really, really, I. Difficult from a, um, from an outside of your immediate, uh, banking trade area, um, funding source or deposit source.
They continue to push back on that pretty hard. Something's gotta break there. Yeah. In, in my opinion. Um, I, we, we've talked about this a number of times. Um, you still, we still, we are still community banks, uh, based and we still want to grow in the communities. Um, but to continue to continue to, to loan money and, uh, be able to do that well, um, there's just gotta be other sources available and, um.
Our, uh, our, our friends up north don't always want us to Sure. Participate that way. And so, um, [01:20:00] I hope they're not listening to this. Oh, they're,
[01:20:03] Jon Harrell: they're friends.
[01:20:04] Max Harrell: Yeah. We can have friendly
[01:20:05] Jon Harrell: conversations.
[01:20:06] Max Harrell: Yeah.
[01:20:07] Cameron Clark: Well, uh, couple wrap questions here for you. The, so you know, we're Northwest Arkansas Focus podcast, Northwest Arkansas Founders, what is your vision for northwest Arkansas and, and let's actually get more granular today.
What's your vision for Rogers? Um, it's your, your flags here in Rogers. What's your vision, you know, for the next 10 years? I.
[01:20:28] Jon Harrell: I think you're going to, my, my vision or not, Rogers gonna continue to grow and succeed. I mean, I think Rogers has done a tremendous job in planning, um, laying out how they want to grow.
Mm-hmm. It's right in the center of, you know, one of the hottest MSAs in the country. And, uh, so I think it's gonna continue to grow and I, I, you know, they'll be, well, you know, growth brings in more banks, by the way, and that's fine. I mean, uh, I don't blame people for wanting to be part of Northwest Arkansas, particularly in our industry.
I think it makes sense if you wanna stay [01:21:00] independent. I think that's where you have to, what things you have to do. But I, I think Generations Bank going with Rogers growing with the rest of northwest Arkansas, that that's what we pay attention to. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
[01:21:10] Jon Harrell: You know, with, with product services reaching a certain size, he talked about the influx of capital where the, the deals are bigger.
So I think the bigger we are, the more we can manage that process. And, uh, so I, I'm just very bullish. On all things Rogers in Northwest Arkansas, and then the impact it will have on Generations Bank going forward.
[01:21:30] Max Harrell: Yeah. Wow. Yeah. We, we, we want to be, we we're okay with, uh, you know, uh, not necessarily knowing the name Generations Bank.
We want you to know the people who work here and we want you to know, um, and care about the people who work here, who represent that name. Mm-hmm. Um, because that, that matters a tremendous amount to us. Um, and we want Rogers to be a place that is at. Five years [01:22:00] would love to be associated Generations Bank to be fully associated with Rogers, Arkansas.
I mean Northwest Arkansas as a whole. But obviously we'll, we'll, we'll, uh, um, speaking about Rogers here, I would love for that to be, you know, hey, generations Bank is a, is a Rogers, um, you know, headquartered bank. I think it'd be neat to hear someone say that, um, you know, that's moved here for the first time and kind of have a, have a full understanding.
And so that may be a little audacious, but, um, we like to have those types of visions and goals. So
[01:22:29] Jon Harrell: like, we like aspirational goals. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that those are important to keep in front of you.
Mm-hmm.
[01:22:34] Cameron Clark: Well, I think the, the tie to Rogers is, is here no matter what way. Yeah, it's already here. Yeah.
Um, well, former, a mounting quarterback here. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately it's not a podcast where we show high.
[01:22:49] Max Harrell: Uh, Daniel, can you put that on the end? Uh, and la last question. A lot of T yard runs.
[01:22:56] Cameron Clark: Last, last question for both of you. Want both of you to answer this one. How do you [01:23:00] define success?
[01:23:04] Jon Harrell: I think success. My, my perspective's gonna be different than Max is just 'cause I'm a generation older, but, uh, I can now look back and see success where he probably can't yet. So our definitions will be different, but I think we, we've been a success and we, we've been able to maintain a family business in a difficult industry.
Um, you know, over. Obviously multiple generations, but over my lifetime, certainly my professional career. Um, and then success to me is just the, you know, the, the opportunity to look forward, to build this into something really, really special that, um, can allow Max to continue to thrive and, uh, raise his family in northwest Arkansas and, and make an impact on the community he, he [01:24:00] lives in and his family.
And it's, um, you know, I, you know, that's what God has in plan for us and as he's, he's taken care of us so far. Um, I think that's success.
Hmm.
[01:24:15] Max Harrell: Yeah. Um, I think success is obviously contextual with, with, you know, the different facets of, of life that we find ourselves growing through. Um, I, uh. I think being able to, to have a vision, set aside a vision, and be able to articulate a plan to get there, um, through, um, you know, intentional, intentional prayer, intentional, um, you know, timing, um, intentional, um, you know, dedication, um, and being able to, to see that, you know, humbly and, and [01:25:00] gracefully through the process, um, you know, with, with a God aligned vision and a God aligned plan.
Um, and being able to see that all the way through would be a definition of success for me. Wow. That's good. Thank you, Beth.
[01:25:16] Nick Beyer: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think one of the things we, we love to do at the end is just wrap up with the big things we learn from, from our guest. And I think it's clear that the first thing that.
It's just really clear through the generation story is commitment. And I think that's a word that in our day, in our age, it's really easy to not be committed to something. It's really easy to flake out, cancel, but it's clear statistical anomaly, as we talked about earlier, six generations into the family business.
That takes a lot of commitment. It takes a lot of sacrifice, maybe a lot of tough conversations, sacrificing things that for, for the betterment of the family or the betterment of the, the business. And so I think that's just really cool. [01:26:00] 1907, longest business that that we've interviewed. And so a lot of rich history there.
And it wouldn't be without, without commitment. So really, um, really awesome. I think the second one, Cameron captured it earlier, was instinct. And I think that's definitely a gift you have. And, and even being in a business like banking that is extremely regulated. Uh, you look at the string of decisions planting, you know, a branch in Fayetteville planting, a branch in Bentonville, when you did moving your charter to Rogers, renaming the, the, the bank to generations, those were all really strategic decisions looking back.
And that took a lot of instinct on a lot of, um, just being able to trust your gut. And I, I think that's really powerful. And then the last piece I think is captured really well through my experience here, through Cameron's experience here. But the culture at Generations is, is at the top and everyone you interact with, um, whether it's someone at the front desk, [01:27:00] whether it's a teller in the line, whether it's a commercial lender, um, being able to have access to people who.
Treat you with respect. Doesn't matter if you have a dollar 50 in your bank account or 150, you know, million, it doesn't matter. Um, I think that's really powerful and you captured it best saying, you know, we just want people who care about and love other people. And, uh, I, I think those are the things that have been the growth engine for generations as we capture the story from 1907 to now, and it'll be, those three things will be the growth engine as we think about generations 10 years from now.
So thank you so much for your time. Max, John, the, the generations team, if there's a, a way for people to reach out to you to find more, more about generations, how, how could people do that?
[01:27:46] Max Harrell: Yeah. Um, well we've got, um, obviously Generations Bank has got an app. We've got social media, we've got, uh. Uh, we've got a website, um, you know, my email's not hard to [01:28:00] find and his email's just a, a letter different, um, you know, just mHarrell@mygenerations.bank.
And, um, so yeah, I would love to connect with whoever and, um, you know, be able to, to at least share the story we've been on and also the, um, help kind of facilitate the story that others are wanting to go on. Um, you know, whether that be through their business journey, through their faith journey or through their.
Um, you know, just through their general, uh, banking journey, whatever that might be. Perfect.
[01:28:32] Nick Beyer: Thank y'all. Thanks guys.
[01:28:33] Max Harrell: Thank you
[01:28:34] Cameron Clark: for listening to this episode of NWA Founders, where we sit down with founders, owners and builders driving growth here in northwest Arkansas. For recommendations are to connect with us, reach out at nwa, founders@gmail.com.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, then please consider leaving a rating, a review, and sending it to someone who you think would benefit from it. We'll see you in the next [01:29:00] episode.