Mark Sloan’s life has been interesting, to say the least, and his journey to become a banker is nothing short of unexpected. In his own words, “I try to make life interesting; it’s only one that I get to live.”
He was born in Hannibal, Missouri, and shortly after, moved to West Plains, Missouri. At the age of six, his family bought a motel in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The family moved there and put down roots. Sadly, his father left, and Mark ended up being raised by a single mother in the quirky and artsy town.
At the age of 17, Mark decided that he needed to go his own way and moved to California. He spent most of his time in the cities of Palm Springs and Torrence. He worked hard to support himself, finish school and started attending a local college.
During this time, Mark would travel home now and again to Truth or Consequence to visit his family. During these visits, he got reacquainted with a local girl, Ila, and they started dating. Eventually, they married, and Mark joined the Coast Guard.
During the first half of Mark’s time in the Coast Guard, he was in an operational role stationed in the San Fransisco Bay area. While serving there, Mark had many interesting and eventful experiences.
One example was on Dec. 11, 1994. While on Coast Guard Cutter Munro, Mark helped respond to a mayday from the Greek-registered 798-foot container ship, the Hyundai Seattle, that was approximately 550 nautical miles south of Adak, Alaska. The freighter reported an engine room fire that left the ship dead in the water. An HH-65 helicopter attached to the cutter hoisted all 27 crewmen to safety before their freighter sank. Because of the Coast Guard’s quick action, no injuries were reported, and the crew of the Hyundai Seattle returned safely to land.
After serving in an operational capacity, Mark was transferred to Pacific Area Command and was able to complete his education and graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California with a business management degree.
The events of 9/11 brought many changes for the country and Mark. The military transferred him to Topeka, Kansas. He knew it was time for a change and wanted to control his own destiny. He made the decision to leave the military and start a career in the banking industry. He took a job with Bank of America in Kansas City and was accepted into their management training program. Within a short amount of time, Mark was managing multiple bank branches in the Kansas City region as a retail bank manager.
After his time in retail management, Mark was interested in becoming a Commercial Lender. Mark took a job at Marshall & Ilsley (M&I) Bank — now known as BMO Financial Group as a junior lender. He enjoyed getting to know that side of banking and spent another five years working hard and gaining insights and experience.
2008 brought upheaval. The financial crisis happened, and M&I had some difficulties navigating through that. During this time Mark said he received the most valuable lesson he has ever received in his banking career. The bank was having to work out a large number of commercial credits and Mark was now assigned some special asset work. Unfortunately, lots of customers lost their homes and businesses. “When I first started in banking, it was hard to find bad credit. We were growing year over year and there was no downside to lending. This practice led to a lot of complacency in lenders and no one was planning for a downturn. The crisis of 2008 was a huge eye-opener to all lenders and a very valuable experience,” he recalled.
Mark was offered a job as a branch president in San Antonio, Texas, for the Farm Credit System. So, he moved to San Antonio and went to work at Capital Farm Credit in the ag side of banking. At the same time, Mark missed the beauty of the Ozarks and the peaceful rural living that Missouri afforded. He would come back every year to spend time with his family and couldn’t wait to get the opportunity to move back.
A job became available at Community First Banking Company in West Plains and Mark jumped at the chance to move home. He bought his grandparents’ house, moved home and settled in. His life had come full circle — he was now living and working where he always wanted to be.
Today, Mark is president and CEO of Community First Banking Company. He enjoys working at a community bank and does a little bit of everything in his position. “Managing the bank requires everything from meeting with people to keeping up on ever-changing regulatory issues to protecting bank assets by ensuring that the latest cybersecurity protocols are in place. Whatever it takes to keep things moving forward,” he said. “You have to be familiar of all aspects of the banking system.”
Community First Banking Company has a great team of employees and Mark is proud of all they accomplish. The bank’s success comes down to “the customer relationships and the people,” he said. “Unfortunately, banking is kind of the same everywhere. So, the only thing that makes you different is the culture that you provide and the presentation you give to your customers. And I think we have a very friendly, down-home, family atmosphere at the bank.”
“I never liked working at a bank where I had to tell somebody, I’m going to have to run this up the chain and see what happens,’ or ‘I’m going to have to get with other people.’ Luckily in a small bank like this, you get to make most of the decisions at the frontline level, which is unique compared to a lot of larger banks,” Mark said.
The bank supports the community in many ways and belongs to a number of civic organizations. Personally, Mark belongs to the West Plains Downtown Revitalization Board, which is doing a lot to revitalize the downtown area. “West Plains is just like a lot of older, smaller towns with a town square that used to be a focal point. Then as big box stores came in and opened up on the other side of town, it changed things,” he said. “We’re trying to revitalize the downtown area and make it more unique for our community.” Mark has also been involved in the Ozark Farmers Agriculture Cooperative and was the president of that for almost three years. “It’s important to help small farmers get to the marketplace, so we started a farmers market to put farmers in contact with consumers.”
Since its origination in 1997, the bank has been a member of MIBA, something that Mark is proud of and continues to support to this day. “I think it’s very important to be able to have a centralized location for smaller banks to lean on for industry help,” Mark said. “Whenever you’re looking at training, guidance on new laws and insight into where the industry is going, MIBA is there to help.”
Mark and his wife Ila spend time together gardening and enjoying the outdoors. Mark also enjoys kayaking and riding motorcycles. They have a German Shepherd named Merlin.
