Wesley Harmon Enjoying Second Community Presidency
By MARIA JONES
Assistant Editor
GILCREASE SUPPORTERS: Wesley and Addie Harmon are supporters of the Gilcrease Museum. The photo was taken at the Gilcrease Rendevous held last spring at the museum.
GTR Newspapers photo
Wesley Harmon, president of the West Bank location of the Community Bank and Trust Company at 2420 Southwest Blvd., retired from banking in October 2003 only to return in March 2004. According to Harmon, boredom wasn’t the reason he returned after such a short retirement.
“I was on a ski slope in New Mexico when the bank called.” Harmon says. “I had plenty to keep me busy, but they called and said they needed me, we negotiated a deal and I came back.”
Harmon first started in the banking field in 1964 in a small town in Arkansas. He worked for three different banks over a period of 21 years in Arkansas when he decided to look for a better banking opportunity. His sister, who lived in Tulsa, told him about a position with Community Bank. Harman applied and he and his wife Addie moved to Tulsa in 1985. He has been with Community Bank since, except for the period of his brief retirement.
According to Harmon, moving to Tulsa was quite a shock after living in a small town.
“We never lived in a large town before Tulsa,” says Harmon. “It took us five years to get used to it.”
Shortly after Harmon retired, Community Bank merged with Central Bancompany of Jefferson City, Mo. The new group of owners brought in a new format, new design, and new objectives. They looked for someone who could get the new programs implemented and bring in stability. Since Harmon was president of the West Bank of Community Bank when he retired, his return gave the bank’s customers and employees someone familiar to help get them through the changes, while his knowledge and experience ensured Community Bank’s commitment to bring services and products to a level with larger banks.
“We will be expanding our product lines,” says Harmon. “We will have a wider variety of accounts, more types of loans and expanded services such as electronic banking, internet banking and banking by phone. All are products and services you would expect from a larger bank.”
In addition to electronic banking, internet banking and banking by phone, treasury management services, mortgage lending, investment services and consumer related services will also give customers the same advantages of larger banks while giving the customers personalized service.
According to Harmon, the bank is also looking for expansion opportunities such as more locations to better serve the banks customers.
Harmon notes that he and his bank strive for personal service.
“We give friendly personal service,” says Harmon. “We know our customers and our customers know us, and that’s very important to us.”
Community Bank has three locations in Tulsa: the West Bank at 2420 Southwest Blvd., the East Bank at 9004 E. 61st St., and the Central Bank at 4880 S. Lewis Ave. Ken Skillman was recently named president of the Central location by Randy Allison, CEO of the Community Bank and Trust Company, and Sandy Bjornson is president of the East Bank location.
Updated 01-15-2005
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