Joe Armour was born and raised in historic St. Charles, Missouri. From a young age, Joe knew that he wanted to be a banker, making him the first to choose this career path in his family. “I think the reason why I went to banking is that, as a banker, you get to help people. Many people don’t see banking that way, but that’s what bankers do, they help people,” Joe said.
While attending St. Louis University, Joe worked in the grocery business to help pay his way through college. After graduation, he stayed one more year in grocery and then started his career in banking, participating in the Super Money Market program. The program provided overall training in all facets of banking, including lending, deposits, management and more. Joe started off working as a teller, then a personal banker, a credit analyst and a lender. He was able to learn about the banking business from the ground up, gaining an understanding of what each employee must do in their role to ensure that the team as a whole and the bank thrive. This experience has served Joe well over the years.
In 2010, Greg Smith, a colleague, asked Joe if he would like to make a move with him and join the management team at 1st Advantage Bank. The bank was only 5 years old at the time, along with being in the middle of the Great Recession. Joe said, “Greg brought me along as part of the management team. He selected me along with a few other talented people and gave us the opportunity to continue developing.” He liked the challenge of being able to work out a difficult situation and help the bank grow.
Greg, now retired, was the CEO of 1st Advantage Bank. Joe credits Greg for helping him get to where he is today. “Greg worked here with me for 17 years, and he was certainly a huge part in the development of my career. Greg took a chance on me and helped mold me into where I am today,” Joe recalled.
“Attitude is everything,” Greg would often say. He made a point to teach those around him that you can accomplish so much with a positive attitude. Joe took that lesson to heart.
Today, Joe is the CEO and president of 1st Advantage Bank. He enjoys the fact that no two days are the same. Taking on the challenge of the day is something Joe looks forward to. In fact, when we were speaking with Joe, the challenge of the day was snow. Yes, you read that right, snow. Joe explained, “It’s amazing how things have changed over the years with people’s attitude towards snow. It used to be that you either came to the office or you didn’t, and now we are trying to get people to work from home if they can. We need to be flexible but, ultimately, still have to have the bank open.”
One of Joe’s most memorable experiences happened during the recent pandemic with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
“During PPP, we were working sometimes over 20 hours a day, 24 hours a day in some cases. There were a lot of employees involved in that, and I don’t think I ever had to ask somebody to help out, they just came in and did it,” he said. “We were a team, and it was an awesome feeling.”
Joe continued, “We are able to be adaptive to the many changes because we were a smaller bank and had a little bit more flexibility. That was a huge advantage of community banks during that time. We were getting calls from bigger banks, asking if we could help them out. Community banks rose to the occasion and led the way during PPP, both in Missouri and nationwide.
“We were constantly in contact with our customers; people’s livelihoods were at stake. We would get calls at all hours. Once, we even answered a customer’s call at 3:00 a.m. We were in the office working anyways, so why not?”
Having an amazing team of employees doesn’t happen by chance. “I’ve been at a couple of different banks over the years. I’ve been here for coming up on 15 years. We really have a great group of people at this bank. We’re a bank with 22 employees, and we have done a fantastic job. It is not ‘Joe Armour,’ it’s all of us, all the team members at 1st Advantage Bank,” Joe said. “It doesn’t matter what your title is. We pick up trash from the parking lot if needed, and we do what needs to be done to make this bank successful and to give the level of customer service that our customers expect. Attitude certainly is everything!”
It is important to Joe that he gives back and helps others outside of work too. He is currently involved with Community Living Inc., a nonprofit that provides services to adults and children with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Prior to that, Joe sat on the board of directors for nine years with Boone Center Inc., an organization that helps developmentally disabled adults learn skills and find employment. He is also on the board of directors with the O’Fallon Chamber of Commerce.
Joe explained that membership in MIBA is important: “Our bank has been a member since day one, and I’ve taken an active role over the past five years. I am currently serving on the Bank Services Committee and the IT Committee.” He continued, “The biggest thing MIBA provides is opportunities to network — holding conventions of like-minded community bankers with banks of all different sizes from all areas of the state as well as the many vendors that show up. We’re able to get ideas from each other; it is helpful to be able to talk to other bankers around the state and learn more about what they’re doing or what challenges they might have.”
It is safe to say that Joe’s childhood ambition of helping people has come full circle. Whether it be in banking or in the community, serving and helping others is a way of life. “I could not do this without the support of my wife, Amy, and children, Joe and Allison,” Joe said.
When Joe is not at work or serving in the community, he enjoys traveling to the national parks and hiking them with Amy. To date, the two have hiked through 22 of the national parks, 23 if you were to count the Everglades. From Acadia National Park in Maine to the Olympic National Park in Washington and many places in between, their goal is to hike through every national park.
