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From the CORNER CHAIR

Deneen Axtman | NDBA CHAIR | Cornerstone Bank, Fargo

Happy Thanksgiving!
I recently received an e-mail from a potential vendor that started out “With this year being
such a mess…” What a way to start a communication with a potential customer! Everyday,
we have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of our customers, our teams, and
our communities. Why would we look at it as a mess? I guess one might think that if we
start considering it a mess, we could figure out how we could clean it up or how could we
make it better. Or we could consider everything that’s going right in a time that our world is
sometimes considered messy. So what’s our role as community bankers? Let me suggest a few
considerations as we head towards the new year:
• Share: Our industry is ever changing and under scrutiny from the regulators and CFPB,
but both NDBA and ABA are powerful when we all join together. We have a voice... a voice
to make our industry better. As we head into a legislative session, let’s all use that voice.
It’s up to us to protect our industry and communities.
• Engage: Bankers who engage can not only help shape legislation, but can also help
shape communities. It’s your leadership in associations, organizations, and communities
that help shape what our world looks like tomorrow, the day after, and into the future.
I recently had a banker share that it’s hard to be the logical voice in the community
because not everyone likes your opinion. But without that voice, the community wouldn’t
have economic development – creating jobs, strengthening schools, and making the
community stronger. It wouldn’t have projects like new public golf course buildings,
community clinics, and skills and technology centers. Bankers are known for getting
involved – we have so many ways to make an impact.

• Advocate – we will all have an opportunity to do this come January. We need to first
understand the issues, but then we need to use our voices to get to know our local
legislators, to communicate with them, to help educate them. If you don’t know your local
legislators, now is a good time to build those relationships – before the session starts.
Share your perspectives, educate them on the facts, and get to know the legislation yourself.

You do make an impact! At this time of year, I’m so thankful for each and every one of you.
This is a great industry. Banking in North Dakota is strong. Let’s all work together to keep it
that way. Have a Happy Thanksgiving – considering all that we have to be thankful for each
and every day.

Deneen

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