Dear Fellow Community Bankers,

Our 2020-2021 year together was a time of many firsts and unknowns. Through the ebbs and flows of COVID, over the last 16 months, community bankers have met the enormous challenges head on and served both our communities and employees with amazing leadership. The one thing that this past year has shown us is that leadership is critical to the vitality of our organizations and communities.  

It is with great sadness that I note that a great leader among us has recently passed, Pat Satterfield, who served as the CEO of the VACB for 27 years. Pat was the epitome of a community banker and represented Virginia’s community bankers with great passion, dedication, and effectiveness. Shortly after retiring from the VACB in 2012, she was quoted as stating that her best career move was “Joining the VACB, which allowed me to meet local bankers and community leaders all across Virginia.” When asked what the best advice she had ever received was, she answered “Be very thoughtful in the decision-making process and include as many viewpoints as possible.” Pat’s thoughts speak directly to leadership, as great leaders use critical thinking in their decision making and the most successful of them lean on their team for valuable insight.  

The foundation of community banking has and always will be built upon leadership and as fellow bankers, we are all leaders. We lead the way by partnering with local organizations and businesses to help strengthen and transform communities. We develop our staff into high-performing leaders, who also contribute to the success of our customers and many constituents. During a crisis our communities look to us for financial advice and guidance. With a cautionary eye, we have pivoted from this year of unknowns and will continue to develop those around us into leadership roles as we look ahead to the many opportunities for community bankers. 

As we look to the near future, I am more than proud to hand off the chairmanship to our Chair-Elect, Dennis Dysart of First Bank. Dennis is a seasoned, well known, and well-respected community banker. Those of you who know Dennis know that he will occasionally ask a question or two, or three, or four, but I have to say that the process of contemplating those questions has made us all better, so thank you, Dennis. I am confident Dennis will do an outstanding job in representing banks across Virginia as he assists the VACB in furthering our mission of Undiluted Advocacy for community banking in both Washington, D.C., and our great state.

Despite the many challenges we have faced throughout my time as chairman, it has been a meaningful and rewarding year for me to personally serve as your Chair. I look forward to seeing you in the near future and continuing my involvement with the VACB over the coming years. I would like to thank each of you for your commitment to community banking and to Steve and the VACB staff for their outstanding leadership.  

It truly is a great day to be a Community Banker!