It’s hard to believe July is nearly over. It’s been a very busy spring and summer at ICBND and it’s been my pleasure to witness firsthand some of the fabulous education and development programs that were established before my time as your association president. The Emerging Leaders summer conference in Fargo included a tremendous program with Steve Scheel delivering the keynote address along with a tour of Scheels corporate campus. The success of the Scheels organization is rooted in customer service, understanding customers’ wants and needs, teamwork, and accountability. It reminded me very much of the independent community bankers in our state. The talent, enthusiasm and camaraderie of the Emerging Leaders group is impressive and infectious. It’s not too late to get involved in Emerging Leaders for 2015 as the fall session in Riverdale on September 18 is sure to be another great event.

The 2015 ICBA Washington Policy Summit was held the last week of April in DC, and it was my first time attending the event.  With our North Dakota contingent of 21, it was a great opportunity to network with nearly 1,000 other community bankers and industry advocates from around the country.  Congressional leaders, including Senator Richard Shelby, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and regulatory agency heads provided informative and timely presentations as well.  As always, the ICBA did a fabulous job hosting the event and ensuring that attendees were prepared with the appropriate messaging and materials.  I felt a sense of cautious optimism during the event that maybe, just maybe, independent community bankers might get some regulatory relief in this 114^th Congress.   I want to thank those of you who attended this year and I’m already looking forward to next year’s summit.  I hope you as bank members consider attending or having someone from your bank attend to once again advocate exclusively for independent community banks.

Spring is in the air! I love this time of year because I know good things are just around the corner. Long days of warm sunshine, trees blossoming, green grass, and kids playing outside. I had a similar feeling of optimism in early March while attending the ICBA National Convention in Orlando with nearly 3,000 members of the independent community banking industry. It was a very impressive and uplifting event and North Dakota was well represented with nearly 50 bankers attending. Despite the current regulatory and policy burdens that have been unduly placed on community bankers, I could sense a passion and optimism for the future of our industry.

2015 is off and running! On January 6th, North Dakota convened its 64th Legislative Assembly. That same week, ICBND held its Legislative Reception at the beautiful new Heritage Center. We were pleased to welcome over 400 people through the doors despite some very inclement weather that evening. It was a terrific event and I thank those of you who were able to attend. For more information about the reception, see pages 15 and 16 in the January/February issue of the Community Banker.

The state legislative session has now kicked into high gear and we've been diligent in our advocacy efforts. We're following about 50 bills thus far that have varying degrees of effect to community banking, but overall banking-related issues during this session have been somewhat quiet. Human trafficking bills and "surge/ jumpstart" funding proposals, on the other hand, have been more high profile. By early-February, budget issues including tax relief proposals for the biennium will dominate the discussion. It's a whole new ballgame given the recent freefall in oil prices. As I write this column, WTI crude oil prices are hovering around $46 per barrel. That's about half what they were on October 1 of 2014 and over $20 lower than the day Governor Dalrymple delivered his 2015-2017 budget address. Oh, how things change! These dynamics will certainly consume this session and will undoubtedly affect our communities. I encourage you to stay involved in the political process. You may not think it matters, but it does.

Hello ICBND members and associate members! I have now been your association president for about a month. It has been a truly refreshing experience, albeit a bit overwhelming as it's been over 20 years since I've been directly involved in your industry. To say much has changed in community banking would be quite an understatement! Recent bank visits and attending the Eide Bailly Bankers Seminar have helped to reacquaint me with some old friends, meet lots of bankers, and bring me partially up to speed on the issues affecting our industry.

For those of you that I've had the pleasure to meet, I thank you for the warm welcome. For those I have yet to meet, I look forward to learning more about you and your business. To all of you, I appreciate your confidence in me as your new president. I am committed to furthering the cause of community banking through effective and efficient leadership of ICBND.