The Jim Kennedy approach to banking: be small, think fast, have fun

RMA Journal, The, July-August, 2004 by Carol McGinn

Despite spending the first 16 years of his career in commercial and corporate banking at a large financial institution, Jim Kennedy has always been a community banker at heart. So when Bank of the Northwest--a successful, locally owned and managed Portland bank-went through two mergers with larger institutions in less than a year, he knew he was going to have to find another place to call home.

Along came Bank of the Cascades, a high-performance community bank that has been in the central Oregon market for nearly 30 years. The bank was open to the idea of a Portland office, but only if it could find a local group to put together what Kennedy calls "a prepackaged office that was prepared to hit the ground running and selling."

It seemed a perfect match. Bank of the Cascades wanted to enter the Portland market. A group of former Bank of the Northwest employees was looking to start up a bank, but Bank of the Cascades presented a more efficient alternative. So last September, with a team of 17 commercial and professional bankers familiar with the local metropolitan area, Bank of the Cascades became a presence in the Portland, Oregon market.

Bank of the Cascades is one of about 20 community banks in the Portland area. "About 12 years ago First Interstate (now Wells Fargo) and U.S. Bank had about 80% of the commercial business in the Portland metropolitan area," says Kennedy. "Now, cost-effective technology has leveled the playing field and has enabled smaller institutions to compete for business that was once the main territory of the larger banks."

Kennedy says that success in the Portland marketplace is becoming increasingly defined by the ability to deliver on service commitments. "Everyone uses the phrase 'customer service' in their marketing brochures, but not everyone can deliver it consistently. Our team honestly feels that we need to earn our clients' business every day. We are all aware that customers have a lot of choices and that they are the only reason that we are in business."

What's important to his job? "Listening." he says. "The ability to communicate. Honesty, imagination, strong credit skills and, most important, fun. If it's not fun, I don't want to be involved."

Apparently, RMA's Fun

Kennedy became involved in RMA as most members do. He attended meetings early in his career, then slowly got more involved. He has been on the board for five years and is nearing the end of his term as president of the Oregon-Southwest Washington Chapter. He will then serve on the chapter's Past Presidents Committee. That committee has a number of duties, including oversight of the chapter's scholarship program and additional board nominations.

"I've been fortunate to learn from and work with a fantastic group of people in our chapter," Kennedy says, "people who are committed, motivated, and want to get things done. Being president of this chapter has been relatively easy!"

And--need we say it?--fun.

[C] 2004 by RMA. McGinn is a Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania-based freelance

writer and desktop publisher specializing in financial and business topics.