Pub. 8 2019 Issue 3

The CommunityBanker 6 Chairman’s Message M E S S A G E By Brian Plum VACB Chairman Blue Ridge Bank Community Banking Abides C hances are you have at least heard of The Big Lebowski, a movie released in 1998 that continues as a cult classic to this day. Ardent fans, includ- ing yours truly, can often be heard citing quotes from the film. At the center of the film is Jeffrey Lebowski, who in- sists on being called the Dude as opposed to his real name. The film follows the Dude, an avid bowler, through a short period of his relatively aimless and meandering life and concludes with him continuing, well, his relatively aimless and meandering life, but we are reminded at the film’s ending “the Dude abides”. My previous column touched on the need to continue evolving and challenging ourselves every day with how we succeed and grow. Our industry is not as fortunate as the Dude; if we are going to abide it demands commitment, energy, and a willingness to take measured risks. A commitment to learn- ing more every day about where the industry is going and how our communities and customers want to interact with our banks, energy to invest the time and resources into new ways of doing business, and a willingness to take the measured risks necessary to grow and suc- ceed while constantly tweaking our business model (and sometimes that constant tweaking morphs into a fundamental shift). There is no better time and place to reflect on these forces than VACB’s 42nd Annual Convention. We will join together in the cradle of Western democracy, America’s His- toric Triangle. Our great Common- wealth recently celebrated the 400th anniversary of the Virginia General Assembly, the Western Hemisphere’s oldest continuous legislative body. During its long history Virginia has not gotten everything right, but we stand here today stronger and more diverse than we have ever been as a result of continued reflection and resulting en - acted improvements. Virginia did not just abide, it has thrived and succeeded, which is often reflected in our rankings for best states in which to conduct business and live. We can harness that Virginia spirit from our time together and bring it back to our banks. The VACB team has done an incred- ible job building meaningful convention content that adds value to bank manage- ment teams and directors alike, so please plan to bring representation from both groups. It will be time well-spent and dollars well-invested. If you have not signed up yet go to the VACB website and knock it out today. Also, I am excited about our first Fintech Forum slated for October 15th in Charlottesville. Stay tuned for more de- tails but block the date off now. We see a tremendous opportunity for VACB to play a role in helping you, your management team, and your board of directors better understand the technology landscape and how your bank can THRIVE, not just survive, in our changing world. Lastly, as we head into the conven- tion I head into the homestretch of my time as VACB Chairman. It has been and continues to be an honor to serve you. I hope that, like my predecessors, I made a positive impact on our organization and its direction. I am optimistic about our future as community banks. There are limitless op- portunities for our success through serv- ing our communities and customers and collaborating with one another on bank- ing services and advocacy. Our industry, like all industries in today’s economy, faces uncertain change at an accelerating pace, and I know working together we can leverage those changes for a brighter future. We do that, and decades from now we can borrow from the Dude to still say “community banking abides”, and just like Sam Elliott’s character in the movie, “I take comfort in that”. “Well, you know, the Dude abides.” – Jeffrey “The Dude” Leboswki