After making it in the big leagues, small town native eyes retirement

Northwestern Financial Review, Jan 15, 2001 by Bengtson, Tom

[industry watch]

Jim Campbell, the son of a banker from Byron, Minn., gave a group of community bankers some insight into his plans for the next couple of years. Speaking at the Wells Fargo Executive Management Conference in Minneapolis last month, Campbell said he plans to retire summer of 2001. Campbell is a 36-year veteran of the company, most of those years spent with Norwest Corp., before it merged with Wells in 1998. Campbell, group executive vice president, will be 60 years old upon his planned retirement date.

"It feels really good, although it is not easy to do," said Campbell who compared retirement to landing a DC-10 aircraft. "A big airplane takes a long time to glide to a stop. I am going to need 18 months to ease my way out of here."

In the meantime, Campbell said he will focus on a few favorite areas, including correspondent banking.

Ironically, Campbell's brother John Campbell, has been designated to take over. Pat Donovan had been in line to take over for Jim Campbell but resigned unexpectedly, setting up the opportunity for John Campbell, who is 13 years younger than Jim. John Campbell has been working for Norwest/Wells Fargo in Arizona for the last seven years.

Jim Campbell commented that John and he traveled to Scotland last summer together. "Maybe well both show up here next year wearing kilts," he said. (If they do, you can be sure the Financial Review will get a picture of it.)

Jim Campbell is well known in Upper Midwest banking circles for his civic mindedness. Campbell told the Dec. 7 crowd of 300-plus bankers that he is involved with a group of business leaders who are trying to get an outdoor baseball stadium built in Minneapolis. The group meets Thursday mornings at the Wells Fargo branch located at Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis. The bank office is located on the exact site of the old Nicollet Field, which served as the stadium for the minor league Minneapolis Millers baseball team decades ago.

If you attended the American Bankers Association convention last September, you probably feel pretty good about President Bush's selection for Secretary of State. Gen. Colin Powell spoke on the convention's opening day, praising the banking industry's participation in his pet project, America's Promise. He was probably the most eloquent speaker I heard all last year.

Although banking wasn't a hot political issue during the presidential campaign, then-Gov. Bush wrote a letter to Thomas Sheehan, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America prior to the election. Bush wrote:

"I believe that we need to remove the regulatory barriers that put small banks at a disadvantage and potentially limit competition. If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, I will look forward to working with the banking committees of Congress and the regulatory agencies to provide the regulatory relief so smaller banks can compete on a level playing field."

The quote is included in a booklet ICBA presented to Bush on Dec. 18. The booklet outlines key issues facing community banks, including deposit insurance reform, tax reform, tiered regulation and the role of the Federal Reserve in the payments system. Sheehan is the president of Grafton State Bank in Grafton, Wis., and will wrap up his year as ICBA president when the organization meets in Las Vegas in March for its annual convention.

The Community Bank Day tailgate party hosted by the Community Bankers of Wisconsin attracted about 80 bankers and guests. Conducted prior to the Packers/Lions game Dec. 10 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, CBW threw the party to thank the 115 member banks that participated in the Community Bank Packer Campaign. The association ran ads on the Packers Radio Network during the regular season. Approximately 450,000 people heard the ads broadcast during each game. The games are carried by 55 radio stations throughout Wisconsin.

CBW will keep the publicity momentum going by sponsoring game summaries presented at the state high school basketball championships in March. CBW executive vice president Daryll Lund said the exclusive arrangement means the ads won't compete with ads for credit unions or other kinds of financial institutions.

The television ads will reach more than 3.6 million households in the Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison, Wausau, Eagle River, La Crosse, Eau Claire and Superior markets.