Caris promises to lobby for Iowa’s community banks

Dave Caris is taking over leadership of the Community Bankers of Iowa from outgoing CEO Don Hole..His first day on the job was February 15, and the first weeks on the job have been spent getting up to speed on running the organization and industry issues. Caris has been a quick learner, Hole said.."The board of directors undertook a task to name my replacement and went through a quite rigorous process," Hole said. "I think they've selected a great candidate, and I think Dave will take CBI to even greater levels of success.".Caris was quick to praise Hole's leadership of the organization. "Don has really added many things in terms of services to our members," he said. "He's really ramped up a lot of good things that we're providing to our members, so I come in and I think my job is to make sure those things continue to be very stable. Obviously we'll always be trying to grow those, but given my skills and background and experience, I intend to be pretty involved in advocacy on behalf of community banks, both at the state and federal level.".Caris' experience will be useful in tackling one of the biggest issues facing community banking: regulatory burden. "As I look at it, over-regulation is the biggest issue that differentiates community banks from the bigger banks," Caris said. "That's the big one right now.".Caris has spent most of his career in public affairs focusing on the utilities industry, largely with MidAmerican Energy Company. For more than 30 years, he was involved in direct lobbying at the state and federal levels, legislative and issue strategy development, PAC management, lobbyist and campaign regulatory compliance, media relations and corporate communications..Hole joined Community Bankers of Iowa in March of 1998, continuing a 25 year career in banking. Hole worked for independent banks as manager of branch administration, retail management, sales and marketing, as well as a stint with Norwest as a result of an acquisition. He has an undergraduate degree in business and journalism from Central Michigan University and a Master of Business Administration from Michigan State University. With his retirement on April 1, Hole completed a 43-year career.