Banker Greg Vetter - City Magazine

How did a young man who grew up on
CM: a farm choose banking as a career?
VETTER: This time of year on a farm, especially
when you have cattle as we did, it’s sloppy! I never
really enjoyed that part of it, even though during
high school I worked for a veterinarian and in
sales barns. During the spring, it was a terrible
mess! I enjoyed the work and learned a lot from
it, but I wanted to be more of a business person
that worked more with numbers and with people.
Even in high school I wanted to be a banker.
How did your rural upbringing shape
CM: you?
VETTER: You had specific duties at a pretty
young age, along with my 11 brothers and sisters.
I had the chickens to take care of when I was real
young. That was my job; if it didn’t get done, my
parents knew exactly who to come to. I grew up
with parents who had an eighth-grade education.
Looking back now, from a business perspective,
the way they managed was nothing short of
fascinating. It was well organized; we all had our
roles. We were typically one of the first to be in
the field in the spring, and we were pretty much
the first ones to put the combine away in the fall.
It was a good background for me. Growing up
with that sort of discipline helps me in business
today.
What’s the biggest challenge you ever
CM: faced?
VETTER: Having a son born 11 weeks premature
who spent his first two months in the neonatal
intensive care unit. You don’t know it at the time,
but it changes your perspective. When he was
born 11 years ago, I was 34 and on a fast track,
career-wise. I had “swagger,” but that incident
brought a lot of humility back. His doctor gave
us some good advice when our son was still
in the hospital. He told us to live life in small
increments: 12 hours, 24 hours. He also said that
you really don’t want to know what you’re going to
be faced with because it’s an overload and may not
be accurate. I try not to worry about tomorrow.
I don’t know what adulthood will bring for my
son, but right now as a fifth-grader he’s doing all
his coursework using all the technology that’s
available to him, and that’s wonderful. The lesson
is to accept and enjoy the moments we are given.
You’re one of 12 children and you
CM: have a large, extended family that is
extremely important to you. Can you sum up what
family means to you?
VETTER: To me, it means support. My closest
friends are my family members. The things that
I talk most deeply about are to guys like Paul
(two years younger) and my other brothers. We
might sneak away for a beer and talk. That even
bleeds into my extended family. I know all my
first cousins and there are almost 100 of them. We
get together on the Fourth of July and that’s been
a staple in my life. There’s the old saying that you
can’t pick your relatives—I wouldn’t trade mine,
on both sides of the family.
Establishing investment centers within
CM: banks was considered quite innovative
25 years ago, wasn’t it?
VETTER: Yes, it came about through the
relationship of Tom Gunderson, Sr. and Myron
Pfeifle (president of American Bank Center at the
time). Gunderson had this idea that investment
centers could be housed at community banks.
Myron saw that as being very beneficial for his
customer base and moved forward with it. Back
in 1985, that was a big deal for community banks.
Myron had some banker friends who said he was
letting the fox into the hen house. Now, 25 years
later, Investment Centers can be found inside 230
banks and we continue to see the fruits of that
relationship.
As a banker what’s your reading of
CM: today’s economy?
VETTER: Nationally, I would say that the word
“fear” doesn’t have capital letters any more and
people are seeing that we’re not going to blow
away. Greed got us on the way up, fear got us on
the way down, and now we need to find that new
equilibrium. The new equilibrium isn’t going
to be what it was in the past—it’s going to be a
better approach. You’re going to see saving rates
go up and people managing their credit. For
an extended period, you’re going to see a more
moderate approach where people aren’t going to
just throw the dice. Long term, for the nation’s
health, that’s a good thing.
See Greg Vetter’s answers to the “City Mag 10”
questionnaire by visiting thecitymag.com and
May 2010
clicking “extra content.”
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