By George Martinez and Anat Bird
George Martinez and I met years ago after he read my first book about SuperCommunity Banking. I have served on the board of the first bank he founded, which eventually was sold to Comerica. He repeated that achievement and more. He is a true visionary. The article below is about his tenacity in turning his vision of making commercial banking an accessible career path for black students into reality.
While George was not alone in establishing this program, he certainly spearheaded it. Too many people and financial institutions, including those among our largest, have contributed to the success of this initiative. I’m sharing it with you today to spark excitement around this initiative, hoping you will duplicate it in your market.
George’s partner in making the Leadership Program happen was John Scroggins. John joined Allegiance Bank in 2017 and shared his dream to form a banking school at TSU. With the help of Brent Cox, Vice President, and University Alliance Director at the Texas Bankers Association, these three bankers envisioned and formed the program in partnership with TSU’s Business School.
This unique Program is designed to address the shortage of Black commercial bankers in our industry. Many banks in our forums have experienced the same difficulty. Diversity, including Black bankers, has advanced in many banking areas, but not in commercial banking.
With that in mind, the Program aims to attract your Black college students and educate them both academically and practically to facilitate their hiring into commercial banking divisions in their area. Program elements include the following:
- The curriculum is anchored by the Risk Management Association (RMA) Credit Essentials Course.
- It is a two-year program starting with the Junior year. Required courses must be completed in the Freshman and Sophomore years.
- The Program is donor-funded, primarily by partner banks, so it is sustainable over time regardless of changes in the administration.
- The budget is $10 Million, to be raised in three phases over seven years. The budget includes a significant endowment to support the annual operating expense of the Program.
- Every student spends the summer between the Junior and Senior years as an intern at a partner bank.
- The target audience is Black sophomore-year students with an interest in entering the commercial banking business.
The commercial banker’s role remains central to our communities’ economic health. This is especially important in Houston because half of the 90,000 Black businesses are un-banked or under-banked. Furthermore – and this is very important – diversity is acutely needed at the senior leadership level of the banks, and bank leaders primarily come from the ranks of commercial bankers.
George’s bank initiated a donation to help fund the program, and others followed. The State Bankers’ Association was an important participant, which helped spread the word among its members.
With nothing more than a promise, a small team of four started soliciting other nearby banks and obtained pledges from eleven partner banks and two foundations. The federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) agreed to a match for first-year gifts to the endowment of at least $10,000.
About the time that the idea of the Future Bankers Leadership Program was being presented and approved, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. That death provoked a paradigm shift in how business and society viewed diversity. According to Linked-In, the number of postings for chief diversity officers grew by 84 percent that year. As tragic as the event was, it contributed to significant increases in public awareness of the importance of diversity and the many obstacles to achieving it.
The first-year results of the initiative were impressive. Jones Business School at TSU delivered big on its promise:
- 100% of the Fall 2021 beta class of seven students passed the RMA exam with high scores. After graduating, most went to work for partner banks.
- Likewise, 100% of the 1st cohort of nine students passed the exam and were hired by partner banks.
- 100% of the 2nd cohort of fourteen students passed the RMA exam. They had internships in 2023 and will graduate this year with full-time offers from partner banks.
- All thirty students who have completed the Credit Essentials Course and taken the RMA exam have passed. RMA has acknowledged this result as extraordinary in its experience.
- We are just starting the Spring semester of the 3rd cohort of twenty-one students. They will take the RMA exam in Spring 2024, have internships in the Summer of 2024, and will graduate in Spring 2025.
Beyond preparing for commercial credit analysis, the students learn about commercial bank management and selling of financial services. Between their Junior and Senior years, they intern with the partner banks for hands-on experience. They learn the soft skills and the hard skills necessary to succeed in this demanding field. It is worthwhile noting that the faculty was comprised of both academicians and practitioners, which made the program more practical and applicable to the students’ internship period.
We no longer have to rely on the program vision and promise for fund-raising. The outcomes are what we promote now. The interns and the graduates demonstrate the program success every day inside their banks.
Other universities and banks are now considering implementing this initiative in their local markets, based upon the success of this beta site.
None of this could have been accomplished without the dedication of the partner banks. A Banking Advisory Committee has been assembled from the partner banks. The Committee members serve as guest lecturers to assist the professional lecturers. They provide guidance in what needs to be taught. Their personal success demonstrates what’s possible for the students. As mentioned, the partner banks award summer internships and hire the students for fulltime work after they graduate.
After classes started in 2021, thirteen more donors joined, including six additional partner banks. Among them was Jamie Dimon who arrived on campus to meet with the students, share his own experiences, and answer the students’ questions. He then announced JPMorgan Chase’s pledge of $1 Million to the Program.
Now that the success of the Program is well underway, the founding group is raising the stakes:
- Expand the offering to add curriculum beyond lending.
- Have dedicated faculty teaching the students.
- Complete the budget commitment/funding that will ensure the Program’s sustainability.
- Expand the program to HBCUs in other geographies.
I hope you will adopt this program and implement it in your market. It’s a splendid example of do good and do well. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in learning more from George, John and the team. They are doing God’s work!