Ask bankers what they want from a graduate school of banking program, and they'll tell you.
That's what Chris Kelley and fellow board members found in 2001, after the estate of Paul W. Barret, Jr. granted $8 million to what was then the Mid South School of Banking in Memphis, Tenn. Barret was the chairman of Barretville Bank and Trust Co., Barretville, Tenn., established by his father in 1920.
Kelley worked with a team that surveyed and conducted focus groups with nearly 1,000 bankers. The insights they gained continue to guide decisions for the school, which was renamed the Barret School of Banking.
As a result, the program at Barret has stayed smaller. "We purposely cap our first-year classes in the graduate school at less than 100, creating a waiting list at times. Once on campus, we break them down into even smaller groups, making the learning opportunities easier," Kelley said.
Students spend one week on the Christian Brothers University campus each of the three years and complete a series of inter-session projects that give them insight into how their own banks operate and compare with others. The tuition is among the lowest in the industry, due to an annual tuition subsidy of more than $2,000 for each student from endowment funds.
A former banker and a graduate of the school himself, Kelley never stops thinking about the next session or the directions the school can take. He has served as executive director/president of Barret since 2003.
"I went from a participant in the school to the alumni association to the board and then got to know the board members. We got the funding and then it was time for a full-time director. I was more than happy to accept because it was a clean slate; we could focus even more on what banks really want," he said.
Applied learning
"The Barret School of Banking allowed us to attract more faculty members, more quality speakers. So at the end of every session each year, we have a speaker lecture section, and we're bringing in some of the top minds in the country," said Trish Springfield, executive vice president–retail banking, at Southern First Bank in Greenville, S.C.
Springfield teaches the course Non-Traditional Financial Income. "Students have to write a paper and implement something that improves the profitability of their banks. So, then they come back with emails: 'What about this? Is this crazy? Do you have some resources to help me vet this opportunity?' and it's fascinating to see the direct impact sending a student has on a bank."
"We've sent many employees through the program over the years, and it's a great learning experience," said Jim Gowen Jr., president/CEO of Merchants & Planters Bank in Newport, Ark. "Employees in operations or marketing are going to learn about loans and lending relationships; conversely, lenders are going to learn about marketing and how to motivate other employees that they work with or supervise."
"When I began my time at Barret School of Banking, I was primarily involved in managing the operations department of my bank. My background was accounting and I had never been exposed to lending," said Jennifer Nunley, who is now executive vice president and chief operations officer at Security Bank in Dyersburg, Tenn. "Now, I've been able to apply what I learned to lending, financial statement analysis, marketing, human resources and more."
New webinars, podcast
The school has added lectures, lunch-and-learn sessions and webinars throughout the year. More than 150 bankers from 25 states participated in two free, one-hour sessions on the Community Reinvestment Act in the fall, Kelley said.
"It's always based on the feedback we get from our past participants, our board members and what I call friends of Barret — so people that have come to our programming that tell us, 'Hey, we need something like this, can you put it on?' "
In addition, Barret uses social media, a blog and now a free podcast, called Main Street Banking, featuring many of the school's faculty, to educate bankers.
The school's next session will be May 19-24. Instructors like Springfield look forward to the energy each new group brings.
"I think the greatest benefit, for me and for the students I see, are the 'aha' moments," Springfield said. "They're exposed to the finance or technology or regulatory side of banking and how fast that's changing, and they leave saying, 'Wow, I need to learn a lot more.' "
