Indiana lender serious about growth - for himself and his bank

Northwestern Financial Review, Jul 15-Jul 31, 2003 by Hilgert, Jackie

Rod Lasley, senior vice president of North Salem State Bank, Salem, Ind., believes in the power of networking. It was, after all, his emerging network that led the 2003 North * Western Financial Review Rising Star to a permanent position at the $98 million bank soon after graduating from nearby DePauw University in Greencastle. A decade later, Lasley has emerged as a successful community banker with innovative ideas for his bank's growth, a plan to help the state's other young bankers rise through the ranks, and his eyes keenly focused on the president's chair.

Lasley's thoughts on the bank's current challenges turned quickly to a list of solutions. "Right now, interest rate margin is a challenge for a bank our size," Lasley said. North Salem State Bank is pursuing ways to capture non-interest income, including SBA lending, pursuing a title company and expanding into insurance. The bank hopes to partner with other companies to provide its customers with a resource for whatever they might need, Lasley said. "It may not always be in-house," he added, "but it will be with our assistance."

That's a strikingly different approach to rural banking, said the bank's current president. John Colvin has been at the helm of North Salem State Bank since 1984. "I'm a tough old bastard," Colvin said. The president admits he's very conservative and wouldn't have looked at implementing a tool like Internet banking without Lasley's vision. "Rod neutralizes my toughness," Colvin added. "I take care of the good-ole-boy business and he brings in a more-educated, more-sophisticated customer."

As a result of Lasley's forward thinking, North Salem State Bank has more than doubled its size in the last decade. More noticeably, the bank's assets are more diversified than they were 10 years ago; at one time, 60 percent to 70 percent of the bank's assets were classified ag, now it's around 30 percent. "We just added a $12 million loan to our books that we participated in," Colvin said. "I don't think I ever would have looked at that before."

Lasley hasn't focused his energies exclusively on the bank; he's also taken on a challenge at the Community Bankers Association of Indiana by steering the once stagnant Future Leadership division into relevancy.

"We're trying to come up with ways to gain some identity for the organization as well as gain a reputation of strength for the future leaders who are coming up through each of our organizations," Lasley said. Lasley has served on the board of the Future Leadership division for four years and this year he is the group's president. He intends to leave his mark. "We're targeting the people who are coming through the ranks, the ones who expect to be on the senior management team within three to five years."

"Rod has been a real inspiration," said S. Joe DeHaven, CBAI's president and CEO. Some of Lasley's plans for the Future Leadership division include a three-day future senior management conference this fall, a possible Future Leadership division convention - separate from CBAI's traditional convention - and a day at the statehouse next year. "He has a lot of ideas and a lot of enthusiasm," DeHaven said. "We're going to try to recruit new members based on a lot of the things his energy is allowing us to look at."

With an impressive list of accomplishments already posted on his resume, the 32-year-old father of two young sons keeps looking forward. "Our president is stating that he will retire in five years," Lasley said. "My career goal is to be able to step into that position when he retires."

Colvin, who has known Lasley since the up-and-comer was a teen, has watched him grow from a loan review and collections position into a strong senior lender who also handles the bank's compliance and marketing. Colvin, considering Lasley as his possible replacement, said, "I don't see anything that will keep him from achieving it. I believe it and I think the board believes it."

Colvin said he would prefer, however, to turn over the reins in three years, not five. Lasley's brass ring may be closer than he realizes.