Banking on KC – PJ Thompson and Collin Thompson of CCB: Continuing a Legacy of Community Banking
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode are PJ Thompson and Collin Thompson, third generation members of the Thompson family who are continuing their grandfather, Byron Thompson's legacy of community banking. PJ is Country Club Bank's Chief Financial Officer, and Collin is the Vice President Corporate Banking. Welcome to both of you.
Collin Thompson:
Thanks, Kelly. It's good to be here.
Kelly Scanlon:
Community banking, what is it and why is it so vital for driving the growth of local economies like Kansas city's?
PJ Thompson:
It's kind of a uniquely American thing. Community banking. There are many special things about our country. I think this is truly one of them, where in most other places you've got some national institutions. In the United States, we had a different path where we had lots of local financial institutions powering those local economies, and we've been able to retain that structure. Local banks, the way we see it, they're plugged into their communities and they are powering the economic vitality of those local institutions. They're close to their depositors and borrowers and understand their specific needs. They live in the same community and they support the same organizations. So really just think of community banking as a partnership between the financial institution and the businesses that it serves.
Kelly Scanlon:
Collin, I know that you recently wrote an article for a client newsletter on community banking. What were some of your key points from that newsletter?
Collin Thompson:
When you know you're putting deposits into a community bank that your deposits are growing, the things that you care about. They're going to benefit you in some, either direct or indirect way. Which really is the main difference between a community bank and other banks. Some people would bifurcate a commercial bank from community bank, and it's like, "No, we are still a commercial bank with a lot of capabilities and highly talented individuals that we continue to add to every day." But at the end of the day, we are focused on Kansas City and Kansas City alone.
Kelly Scanlon:
Decisions are made here, and as you say, PJ, you go to the store and you see your clients, your clients see you are out at a chamber networking event or wherever it might be, you're involved in the community and in all the different community organizations. I mentioned you're both third generation family members. PJ, you're Paul Thompson's son who's the bank CEO and Chair. And Collin, you're the son of Mark Thompson, who's the vice chair of the bank and the chair of the trust company. You've seen a lot. That's a point I'm trying to make. You've seen a lot. You grew up with your fathers being involved in the bank, your aunts and uncles, your grandfather was still involved in the bank. Give us some historical perspective. Your grandfather, Byron Thompson's vision for it and how you're still perpetuating that today?
PJ Thompson:
There was always a culture in the family around integrity and treating people with the utmost respect. And that just lends itself seamlessly into the practice of banking. It's all about integrity. Your word is your worth. And for customers of this bank, they're entrusting us with their most important financial assets. And I think that from the very beginning, integrity was just the key to a healthy and successful life. That's what Byron imparted to his children. That's what his children imparted to theirs and what I certainly hope to impart to mine. And so I think it's a core tenet of living life the way we want to live life, but it's also a core tenet of banking. So in that way, we were always, like I say, steeped in the banking culture. And in terms of learning the business, one other thing that was a common characteristic of Byron's children was, he encouraged them to go and pursue other areas outside of banking, early on in their careers.
It's true for just about everybody that's working in the bank, definitely for myself, and I know for Collin as well, to go out and get experience outside of the industry. For a few of us at least, we came back to banking and applied those lessons, but I know each one of us counts those experience as being very helpful to us.
Collin Thompson:
PJ talked a little bit about integrity, and Byron was absolutely a man of integrity. At the same time, he was a man of high expectations, and we are going to achieve. That was something that is consistent throughout his time in banking is a focus on achievement. You can achieve, but if you don't have integrity into the actions that you take, it may not be the right kind of achievement, obviously over the long term. Now, as far as just the reputation that Byron had created, it was just an honor to be associated with that. And again, it drove my desire for achievement, which was just a core value in the Thompson family.
Kelly Scanlon:
And I don't know if everybody listening realizes that Byron was a true entrepreneur. He came here from St. Joseph with really no connections and whatever money he had, he had to build things from the ground up. And so it's a very entrepreneurial bank and it's family-owned as well. So from one family-owned business, to others who may be listening, how does CCB uniquely support family-owned businesses in Kansas City? Given that you're three-generation entrepreneurial family-owned bank, how does that give you insights and empathy and everything that goes with being a family-owned business when you're working with family-owned businesses?
Collin Thompson:
One of the things that sets Country Club Bank apart, like you say, Kelly, there's a lot of family-owned organizations in Kansas City and even other family-owned banks in Kansas City. But Country Club Bank is focused on a very specific market in this city and that in a lot of ways, our most ideal client is the multi-generational family business. And oftentimes it might've had a founder similar to the profile of what Grandpa Byron had. Basically creating a business, adding value to it and being known for that success. And so when people come to work with us at Country Club Bank, first of all, we support them with a variety of banking services, wealth management. You can come to the bank for a one-stop shop, but one of the things that sets us apart is we have family members that are really a part of all the different services that you can get at this bank.
There's a family member of the Thompson family that's part of that. That is going to be there alongside you, whether they're working directly with you or in the background. And that resource is always there. And I think that that means a lot to, again, our ideal clients of other family-owned businesses that want to do business with not just an institution, but they want to do business with the person. That's always meant a lot to me, representing our family and the commercial lending side of the business means a lot, and getting to know our clients. Understanding the unique struggles that they may be going through financially and how we can assist them to get through that.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, and just the dynamics of working in a family business, trying to navigate all of that and still making sure they can sit down and have a nice Thanksgiving dinner together. That's important.
PJ Thompson:
We know it because we live it.
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly.
PJ Thompson:
Exactly. So we can relate to that. If you own, operate or work in a family-owned business, that word family tends to show up a lot. You want to treat your fellow associates like a family. You want to treat your customers like a family. To have that culture of connectivity and that bond, that is unique to family a lot of the time, where you go the extra mile for someone, you sacrifice for someone, you understand the unique complexities of this person and appreciate them for what they are, and you're committed to working with them through thick and through thin. That's the difference between an associate and a family member is, family is for life. Family's a true bond, and I think a lot of organizations strive to create that culture of family. I know that we do, and I certainly think of the associates here at Country Club Bank, and our customers as part of the extended family.
I really do. I know Byron thought that way. Our parents and aunts and uncles who work here feel that way. And in some ways it's natural because it's just an extension of that family culture. Being a family-owned business, as you mentioned, Kelly, it presents unique circumstances, sometimes unique challenges, and sometimes it's nice to know that the person across from you is also experienced in that dynamic and understands it. And as Collin mentioned, we've got people working across the different spectrum of supportive services that can be helpful for family-owned businesses. And that's how Byron designed it for this organization to be multifaceted. And he went through it himself. He went through different stages of his career where he acquired a business and then he grew that business and then he created wealth and, "Okay. What do I do with that wealth? How do I take care of it? I'm establishing trust, taking care of my family."
Those are all things he went through and thought, "I need to be able to do this. We need to be able to do this for other people who are in my position." And that's what led us to the structure that we have today.
Kelly Scanlon:
Let's talk about the values, because the values that you have here at the bank, like what you said about the family, PJ, you extend those to your clients, to your associates, to the community. In fact, the larger community, you have an acronym called ACEIT. So take us through that. What are those core values and how do you make sure that they are live?
PJ Thompson:
Yeah, so as you mentioned, ACEIT is the acronym that's achievement, compassion, enthusiasm, integrity and teamwork. And arriving at those core values was a very, I'd say collaborative approach, but it was certainly embarked upon by those who knew Byron, understood the origin story of this bank and all the foundational pieces that led it to where it is today. And each element is uniquely important. I think the building block, as I mentioned before, is probably integrity. That's the first thing that most people think of when they think of Byron Thompson is integrity. But the other pieces in there, achievement. Collin mentioned it earlier, Byron was always focused on not resting on his laurels. And what's the next thing? Being entrepreneurial, taking risks. Sometimes achievement involves risk and putting yourself out there and trying something new and then doing it with enthusiasm, being excited about what you do every single day.
There's no one who's ever met Byron or really anyone in his family that could accuse them of being not enthusiastic. That was just something that wasn't really tolerated, and it was just so viciously instilled in everybody is, have enthusiasm for what you do. And then the compassion piece, to be honest, the person that most comes to mind, at least for me with compassion, would be Jeanne Thompson, Byron Thompson's wife, our grandmother, had the utmost compassion for others. Definitely the model that I think of most in my own life. And Byron had it too. No question about it. A compassionate person. But Jeanne, by the way that she dealt with others and her dedication towards servant leadership and really just the way that she viewed the entire world, she brought such a feeling of love and wanting to extend compassion to others and make sure that everybody around her felt that compassion that she was extending towards others.
And it's really important in creating relationships. Building off of the value of giving back to the community, it's not just our customers here at Country Club Bank that we have compassion for within the Kansas City community. It's the whole city. We want to see this city grow. We want to see the city prosper, and we look at those within the city who need help, who need assistance, who need services, and we invest in organizations that serve them. Whether or not, again, it's that organization's of a customer, of ours, and for our associates as well. We really try to create opportunities for them to show their compassion and to make the city a better place. It's a hugely important thing.
Collin Thompson:
A lot of these core values are almost hedges of one another because if you're strictly focusing on achievement, like I mentioned earlier, you might have to cut some corners to truly achieve. And over the course of a long period of time, it's not really going to look like achievement. But if you have both achievement and integrity, that's going to be a quality, a combination that will lead to successful results. Similarly, if you strive for achievement, even if you achieve nine times out of 10, that means that maybe one time you didn't achieve. So what are we going to be mad? Or are we going to be angry? No. There's obviously going to be some compassion in how, what was the story behind why we didn't achieve? And let's dig to the bottom of that. And that pulls in. Were you bringing in a team to help you achieve, or were you just trying to be a sole winner?
Byron was always bringing in people that were smarter than him, he would say, that knew more than he knew, because he knew at the end of the day, one person can't do everything. And so it requires teamwork. ACE IT, teamwork comes at the end. And at the end of the day, if you are not working with your team effectively, you're not going to achieve. And you have to have that team mentality, come into work every day, ready to work with others to achieve. The thing that's so interesting to me about ACE IT is, it actually was unintentional. ACE IT as just a mantra was something that Byron would absolutely... Whether he said ACE IT or not, exactly in those words like...
PJ Thompson:
Big report card guy.
Collin Thompson:
Exactly. Yeah.
PJ Thompson:
They're going to be all...
Collin Thompson:
He was expected all...
PJ Thompson:
We want A's. We want all A's.
Collin Thompson:
We want your report card, we want all A's. But it was interesting because we're looking at the different core values, and I don't even know who it was. It might've been PJ, it might've been your dad or it was Joe Close.
PJ Thompson:
It was Joe Close. Got to give him credit.
Collin Thompson:
Okay, there we go. Joe Close identified that you could use the first letter of each of our core values to spell ACE IT. It truly was just a perfect storm. All facets of how we incentivize our people do, they tie into the core values.
Kelly Scanlon:
You have a strong culture of community service. Share with us how that's been embodied by previous generations, and then how that's still alive today and how the bank empowers associates to serve clients in the community.
PJ Thompson:
Byron and Jeanne too, through their family, they were always passionate about giving back to the community and were also passionate about education. Byron was the first in his family to attend college and was so passionate about what that education gave to him. You mentioned before coming from humble beginnings in St. Joseph and then eventually making his way down to Kansas City and starting in one trade and then having some mentorship to get into owning a bank. And I think the Byron quote is like, "Oh gosh, whoever bought it, how could you ever buy a bank?" And then he eventually went, did it in 1985 and made Country Club Bank what it was. But I think really for him, what he learned going to school, the education that he got, he found that that was the key to his life's success. And so he was always passionate about finding ways to provide and support education for others who might not otherwise be able to afford it.
So he supported numerous organizations over the years that were working towards helping to provide education. And particularly Catholic education. It's a value that was always his faith, huge, hugely important. Definitely a cornerstone of his life and his family's life. And so he's supported so many organizations over the years that provide education of all kinds, but particularly Catholic education as well. And we're extremely proud of that here in Country Club Bank, the role that the organization has had in fostering that here in the community. And at the bank itself, even before we had the core values, including compassion and thinking about community. Being a community bank, it's always going to be part of the mission to try to better the community as best you can. There had always been a culture of volunteerism. But around 2018, 2019, the associates of the bank started to come up with a committee or a group that we called Team Impact, that really the main thing that it did was, try to identify organizations within the bank's footprint that needed assistance and to try to create more volunteer opportunities to help all those different organizations.
And really, Collin's very qualified to talk about this since he's the chair of it, but I've worked in it before so I'll just say, yeah, every single month we meet to do two things. One, we donate funds that are a volunteer payroll deduction every single month. We pool all those funds that are deducted by all the associates of our bank, and we come up with one charity per month that we donate those to. And then we also seek out volunteer opportunities and broadcast them to all of our associates to say, "Okay, here's an organization that you can volunteer at, and each associate has eight hours of paid volunteer time off." And so it's just one little way that we speak to the importance of aiding the community and then also give employees the ability, the visibility, the platform, and even the funds to be able to go and do that. So I'm really proud of Team Impact and Collin's done a tremendous job leading it this year.
Kelly Scanlon:
And so that is something that is continuing through the third generation here. I think about Byron and you hear the story of Operation Breakthrough and how he gave Sister Berda funds to, I think those were personal funds that he gave-
Collin Thompson:
Right. Exactly.
Kelly Scanlon:
... for operation breakthrough now, but it's still alive today. That's whole same ideology and whole culture of giving still exists today.
Collin Thompson:
Definitely. The culture of giving is so apparent in Country Club Bank. We have our team impact committee, which is totally associate led and associate driven. Action defines team impact. Whenever a new associate starts at the bank, they're informed about what Team Impact is, what resources they have to volunteer in our community, and they're also given the opportunity to, like PJ mentioned, direct funds out of their monthly paycheck to Team Impact. So it's associate funds that can then be directed to an associate identified organization to make an impact to that organization. So Team Impact is about really two primary things. Making an impact financially through our associate contributions and then making an impact in the actual volunteer work and really teamwork, kind of gritty, roll up your sleeves type of work at Hillcrest Transitional Housing. Last week I was building these racks where they were going to put supplies on these racks. I was a little bit concerned that I wouldn't have the wherewithal to put together this large metal rack. But again, through teamwork and through just sheer will, I guess...
Kelly Scanlon:
Enthusiasm.
Collin Thompson:
Enthusiasm. Exactly. Yeah. And there's always a lot of enthusiasm towards these, we call them VTO events. You have your PTO, your pay time off, and you have your VTO, which is your volunteer time off.
Kelly Scanlon:
And I want to point out this isn't just one event a month. Sometimes you have five or six or seven that are available.
Collin Thompson:
I think we probably... I could go back and count it, but we might've had seven or eight in April because April is national volunteer month, and so we encouraged people to sign up for as many events as they are able to, and that's one of the things that Team Impact. We want to eliminate as many barriers to volunteering as possible. We want to encourage active participation in community efforts. So are they being paid to volunteer? No. They're being paid to do their job here at Country Club Bank. And in that job, we want them to be out and involved in the community through VTO events.
Kelly Scanlon:
When you think about community banking, when you think about your involvement in the community, banking decisions are made locally. You're out there doing good work in the community for people, for organizations that need helping hands or they need financial support. But in critical times, and I'm thinking specifically during COVID, when many businesses were struggling to find a representative to get the PPP loan dollars, Country Club Bank doors were open.
Collin Thompson:
Yeah. They were. Absolutely.
PJ Thompson:
Yeah, it was a crazy time. There was a tremendous amount of volume obviously, and we did higher volume of notes during those few months than we typically do in an entire year, and it was completely unprecedented. A lot of banks, but us included, were learning the rules and the parameters of the program as it was happening. Truly the car's being built as it's driving down the highway, but we recognized the importance of it. If you can really transport yourself back into those times at the beginning of the pandemic, there was just so much uncertainty. So we adopted things to be able to be more efficient and reach more customers. We had people that were literally logging into a portal at 2:00 AM because that's when it would open up and they would try to get applications through, because they were so committed to making sure that we served as many people as we could while the funds were available.
Compared to the overall asset size of our institution, we did as many or more PPP loans, pound for pound as any institution in Kansas City. We're extremely proud of that fact. We think it's indicative of the dedication that we bring to this community
Collin Thompson:
Really, that includes people that were not previously banking with customers. People that are like, "Hey..." Again. I think that the banking industry as a whole really provided an incredible benefit to the community through the administration of the PPP program, but I just have to hand it to Country Club Bank. I was not here at the time, so I don't... Again, this is not something that I achieved, but this is something that this team here achieved, and I am proud on our behalf of just the work that was completed to really get that done, get that across the finish line.
Kelly Scanlon:
How has CCB adapted to technological changes in the banking industry? But at the same time, maintaining community-focused approach that you've talked so much about today?
Collin Thompson:
When investing in technology, Country Club Bank is very strategic about the technology that we adopt. And we make partnerships in the same way we talked earlier about family businesses and how we work well with other family-owned businesses. Every relationship that you have in business is one that is built on trust. And even a technological service provider, whether it's for loan originations or for financial reporting, they are relationship-driven, and there's people that we're working with on an individual level to make sure that we get the service that honestly we require to make that kind of a partnership. So we've really invested a lot in the last couple of years in some new systems that allow us to spend more human time, with our face-to-face time with our clients. And that's something that's incredibly important to us. We're a relationship-based financial institution. So the more time that we can spend with our stakeholders in the community, the better.
The more information we're going to get, the better we're going to know their needs and be able to respond to them appropriately. And at the end of the day, invest in the right technology to have a value add to them. We don't want to invest in the wrong thing, and it's like, "Well, this is a great bell and whistle, but it's not really what I need." We want to provide our stakeholders with what they need and then be there for them in person and building that relationship at a human level, rather than strictly leveraging technology.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you have the technology internally that allows you to streamline processes and automate certain functions so that you can spend more time with the client. But on the other side of it, you have mobile banking and you have a lot of the applications and technologies that banking customers would expect a bank to have.
PJ Thompson:
Absolutely. Technology adoption is in service of improving the relationship. In the modern era, banking is increasingly becoming a technology-focused business that certainly includes us. Absolutely 100%. And so we're making strategic investments that fit those needs, but it's always in service of improving the relationship. That is always the focus and making sure that the customer has a full-fledged relationship with Country Club Bank, with us. They can always come talk to us. Technology is fantastic at doing the basic blocking and tackling of banking and giving you a little bit more autonomy, visibility. It can happen faster. Those are great advancements, and we love that those have happened within the industry. But at the end of the day, a lot of times when that breaks down, you need someone that you can talk to, you need someone that you can call. If you're trying to structure a deal when you need funding, there are nuances that technology can't always capture. So it really helps to be able to talk to someone, and that's where we feel that we have significant value that we provide to the community and to our customers.
Kelly Scanlon:
Looking forward, what are your hopes and your plans for the future of Country Club Bank under your leadership?
PJ Thompson:
I would say our hopes and our plans are to match the exciting growth that's happening here in Kansas City. Kansas City has so much potential, and we're just starting to unlock that potential. So we want to hitch our wagon to this city as we always have since our inception. I've been listening to this podcast for a while, Kelly, and I know an early guest, Tyler Enders of Made in Kansas City. He talked on that podcast and he's talking to other places about the dollars that are invested in Made in KC and how much stays local. So if you spend money at Made in KC, I think it's something like 95% stays here in Kansas City. We think that community banking provides that same engine for Kansas City. We keep the dollars local. That's certainly true of Country Club Bank, and it's going to continue to be true.
We loan dollars and take deposits from people who are local here in Kansas City, and we really want to continue to power the Kansas City based businesses here. It's such an exciting time for our city. We've got the World Cup coming up, got exciting developments that are happening in the West Bottoms and in the riverfront and the streetcar. It is just a tremendously exciting time, and we want to continue to be part of that. And we're going to continue to lean in to Kansas City. It's who we are, and it's who we always will be.
Collin Thompson:
I'll just say quickly, because if you think about the state that the bank was in when Byron bought it in the '80s, he immediately basically bought the bank and immediately created a capital markets group that's grown into what it is today. Since then, we've added Bank M&A Group, we've added a corporate transactions group for M&A. We have a wealth management arm that has a vast variety of services that really are just intended to meet the needs of our ever-growing population of clients that they have ever-growing needs, and so we want to grow with them. I think that over the next years and decades, you'll see that Country Club Bank is going to respond to the needs of our community by hiring individuals that are going to add value, and I'm just really most excited about some of the human capital that we're going to be investing in over the next couple of years and decades.
Kelly Scanlon:
It's been wonderful to have both of you come on the show. Share your perspectives of growing up in the footsteps of Byron Thompson. You have a lot on your shoulders as you go forward, but you have such a great, great foundation for continuing to carry out everything that Country Club Bank is known for, the reputation and the community service and all of the different things you talked about. So thanks for sharing that with us. Good luck with everything.
PJ Thompson:
Thanks so much, Kelly.
Collin Thompson:
Thanks, Kelly.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to PJ Thompson and Collin Thompson for being our guests on this episode of Banking on KC, and for sharing your insights into community banking and the values that have guided Country Club Bank through three generations. As PJ and Collin explained, community banking plays a vital role in building local economies. Our former chairman, Byron Thompson, believed that being a better banker meant fostering meaningful relationships with associates, with clients, and with the community. At Country Club Bank, we're not just bankers, we're your neighbors and partners in every sense. As we continue to serve and grow with this community, we remain dedicated to the core values upon which Country Club Bank was built. Achievement, compassion, enthusiasm, integrity and teamwork. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, Member FDIC.