"Retirement may be an ending, a closing, but it is also a new beginning."   ~Catherine Pulsifer 

Professionally and personally, 2018 was a great transition year for me and my family. My fifteen year tenure as President and CEO of ICBA ended in May, and I began a new adventure as a consultant.

 My decade and a half as CEO of ICBA were some of the most exciting and rewarding years of my professional life. Together with my colleagues at ICBA and our incredible volunteer banker leadership, we accomplished so much for the community banking industry beginning  with defeating Wal-Mart's bid for a commercial bank charter (a feat nobody in official Washington thought was possible at the time), and culminating with the passage of S. 2155, the community bank regulatory relief act, in the same month that I retired - what a great retirement gift! During my time at ICBA, we were recognized as one of the top 10 most powerful associations in Washington, and by the time the Great Financial Crisis hit, we had gained seats at Washington's top financial policy tables.

 We have come a long way since my first days in Washington, D.C. in 2003 when it was "ICBA who?" to being honored at the White House in May 2017, when both the President and Vice President addressed over 100 top ICBA leadership bankers - the first national financial trade group to have been so honored. One year later, when I retired in May, I took pride in handing off to my successor an association that is widely known and respected (and in some quarters feared) by not only policy making Washington D.C., but also in European governmental and financial association circles as well. 

 After retiring from ICBA, I started my new consulting adventure. I was retained by ICBA to consult and assist with advocacy issues, and in July, Visa retained me as a consultant to the executive management team for all things community banking. I have enjoyed these assignments, but I will candidly admit that the transition from CEO to consultant has been more of an adjustment that I had imagined. Ha! I had the honor to speak to a couple of groups last year, and I have some speaking engagements lined up for 2019. We will see how that goes. :)

 As a new year begins, I want to thank the many, many hundreds of volunteer bankers who helped and supported me during my time at ICBA. I want to especially thank the members of the Executive Committee and Board of ICBA. A more dedicated, passionate bunch of bankers one will never find. Great men and women all. And I have a special place in my heart for all the wonderful men and women who work so tirelessly at ICBA to defend, promote and advance the community banking industry. All of my former colleagues are very special people, and I cannot thank them enough for all that they did for me and Debbie during our incredible fifteen year journey at ICBA. 

Debbie and I wish you all a happy, healthy and successful New Year!