Ken Skillman Named President of Community Bank’s Central Location
KEN SKILLMAN
GTR Newspapers photo
Randy Allison, CEO of the Community Bank and Trust Company, has announced the presidency of Kenneth Skillman at the bank’s Central location, which is located at 4880 S. Lewis Ave. in Tulsa. The bank has two other Tulsa locations, the West Bank at 2420 Southwest Boulevard, and the East Bank at 9004 E. 61st Street. Wes Harmon is president of the West Bank, and Sandy Bjornson is president of the East Bank.
Raised in Perkins, Oklahoma, Skillman’s mother has worked for a bank in nearby Stillwater for over 20 years, and his father was employed by Oklahoma State University. Skillman “stayed home” for college, attending OSU, where he became a “Cowboy” while majoring in finance and economics and earning a bachelors degree in 1996.
After graduation, Skillman began his banking career in Ponca City, then transferred to Tulsa, where he was employed by two large banking companies. He was very exited to accept his current position at Community Bank, which was merged early in 2004 with the Central Bancompany of Jefferson City, Missouri. He comments, “Having been through banking mergers before, one of the most important factors in my decision to join Community Bank was the commitment I received from Mr. Allison and key personnel at the holding company that the emphasis was going to be on growing the Tulsa market while retaining the autonomy of a community bank. The merger has made us a much stronger bank. We already have very competent local management and can make local decisions. The merger has allowed us to be competitive with the larger banks as our ability to make larger loans has been greatly enhanced. This, coupled with new internet banking services, treasury management services, mortgage lending, investment services, and consumer related services will enable the bank to provide everything the large banks offer and still retain the community bank level of service expected by customers and clients who do not want to be just another number.”
The East and West locations have been in operation much longer than has the Central location. Skillman’s plans are to grow the size of the Central location to one on par with the other locations. However, that is only the beginning. Skillman says he looks forward to the day when Community Bank employees celebrate reaching $500 million in assets and then $1 billion. Reaching this size will mean more branches, more convenience for our clients and more opportunities for our employees.
Skillman says that one of the great things about retaining local decision making is Community Bank’s ability to design products for the market that might not be offered by other banks in the holding company. He cites as an example the new Community Bank product unique in the holding company to the Tulsa market, the Investor Account, which is a hybrid money market account where a person can make as many deposits as he or she wants and can make one withdrawal a month without a penalty. This account was started on the last week of March 2004 and has already generated $22 million in new deposits. A minimum of $25,000 is required to open the Investor Account. The annual percentage yield is 1.00 percent over the 90-day Treasury bill rate. The interest rate is determined by the last Treasury auction prior to the previous calendar quarter end. The interest is compounded monthly and the rate may change after the account is opened. A balance of $25,000 must be maintained in the account each month to obtain the disclosed annual percentage yield.
Skillman can be reached at 918-764-1336.
Updated 11-13-2004
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