Bankers hours - Three longtime Flathead Valley financial executives retiring

Valley Bank founder leaving family in charge of two institutions

One of the most prominent men in independent Kalispell banking recently retired.

In 1964, Jack King joined with Jack Hensley to purchase the State Bank of Somers and move it to Kalispell, renaming it Valley Bank.

Until just a few weeks ago, King was still working there, most recently as executive vice president. King also chartered a second bank in 1974 with First Security Bank of Kalispell, now known as Three Rivers Bank.

King, 83, believes the key to his long career in banking is fairly simple.

“I liked people,” he said. “After a time, your friends come and bank with you. They did business with me, and it was a two-way street. I tried to take care of what their needs were, and some of their friends came over time.”

When King and Hensley, who died in 2011, purchased the State Bank of Somers, it was the smallest commercial bank in the county — but things changed fairly quickly with the move to Kalispell.

“That little $1.8 million bank went to $100 million in a hurry,” King said.

King’s business savvy was demonstrated early, since Valley Bank was able to thrive as a newcomer looking for a market among the already-established institutions.

“When our bank moved to Kalispell, we found the banks in existence in Kalispell pretty much had all the Main Street businesses and most of the Main Street business people were happy with that,” he said. “What they didn’t have was the forest business: loggers, road builders, things like that. When I was in Columbia Falls, I concentrated on those people plus the aluminum workers. That paid off for us big time, and I suggested we do that at Valley Bank.

“We wound up with a majority of all the woods people in Flathead and Lincoln and even some in Lake County,” he said.

King made big contributions to the community throughout his life and was recognized with the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce’s prestigious Great Chief award in 2008.

His list of volunteer endeavors is extensive, including work with the Columbia Falls and Kalispell Chambers of Commerce, the Northwest Montana Historical Society, Kalispell Regional Medical Center Foundation, Kalispell railroad corridor cleanup, Rotary and the First Presbyterian Church.

He was named president of the Independent Bankers Association of America in 1984, when the group had 7,800 independent community banks under its umbrella. He represented independent bankers in testimony before the U.S. Senate and was named to Federal Reserve councils and U.S. Senate committees.

King played football for the University of Montana until his senior year, when a knee injury took him out of the sport.

He has been married to his wife, Almeda, for more than 60 years, and the couple’s children are carrying on the family banking legacy.

Their son-in-law Ron Rosenberg is the current president at Valley Bank. Grandson Joel Rosenberg is also at Valley Bank as an assistant vice president. King’s sons John and A.J. are chief executive officer and president, respectively, at Three Rivers Bank.

“They’re pretty good bankers, too,” King said.

Wells Fargo manager giving up 800-mile circuit

Wells Fargo district manager Steve Clawson has appreciated his career in banking, and there’s one thing about Montana that has made his job even more rewarding.

“Montana is one of the best places to do banking because we have the highest credit scores in the country,” Clawson said. “There’s no other place that pays their bills better than Montana.”

 Clawson, 57, is retiring from Wells Fargo on Dec. 31. He’ll continue working in some capacity — in a field such as small business consulting, investments or teaching — but he needs time to decompress from the long work weeks and travel that his job has required.

“You really are working all the time,” he said. “I’ve loved it, but it’s a good time for me to do something else.”

As district manager, Clawson is in charge of both Kalispell Wells Fargo locations. Since 2008, he assumed responsibilities for eight banks along the Hi-Line in Conrad, Valier, Shelby, Chester, Rudyard, Havre, Chinook and Big Sandy. It is an 800-mile round trip to cover the circuit.

Clawson was born and started his banking career in Havre. While attending Montana State University-Northern in Havre to get a teaching degree, Clawson started working at a bank part time. After graduation he established his banking career with a full-time job at the same bank, later spending 11 years in Wyoming and five years at Bozeman banks before coming to Kalispell.

Changes in banking along the way mostly have involved the regulatory environment, and Clawson only sees a stricter situation on the horizon.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing what those bankers are going to have to put up with,” he said. “It will make it tougher to do business. It’s a good time to get out.”

Wells Fargo has expanded under Clawson’s directorship, especially after the second Kalispell location was added in front of Lowe’s on U.S. 93 in 2005.

“We’ve continued to grow and add staff over the years,” Clawson said. “We have not really had to lay people off or shrink the staff.”

Around 100 people worked for Clawson, with about 35 of those in Kalispell. An open house was held at the Kalispell North Wells Fargo on Friday, but that’s about as much fanfare as he wants on his retirement.

“I’d just as soon sneak out the back door,” Clawson said.

Clawson’s successor has not yet been named.

First Interstate head to take it easy

In his 32 years with First Interstate Bank, Bob Schneider has seen the banking industry become a more crowded place.

Schneider, who is retiring as president of seven branches of First Interstate Bank at the end of March, started with the company in 1980. That decade, he said, was one of rapid change.

“Brokerage firms were allowed to get into the banking field, insurance companies were into banking, banks wanted to get into brokerage and insurance,” he said. “Everyone wanted to be in everyone else’s business; they saw it as a way of being profitable.”

He also has seen more organizations enter the lending business.

“Credit unions used to be organized for a particular group of people — teachers, auto workers — then they expanded and got into commercial lending countywide or statewide,” he said. “Credit unions and mortgage companies are now major competition with banks for residential lending.”

Regulations and disclosures, much of them meant to protect consumers, have also increased dramatically since he started in banking, Schneider said, “but it’s not all bad.”

Schneider, 66, was a federal bank examiner in the early 1970s, then moved to Montana Bank in Bozeman.

He started with First Interstate at a major downtown branch in Billings, then became president of the Billings Heights First Interstate Bank from 1984-1999.

He transferred to his current job after that, taking charge of three branches in Kalispell and branches in Whitefish, Bigfork, Polson and Eureka, with about 120 employees combined.

All of the branch managers report to Schneider, and loans over a certain amount are run through him. He also coordinates rates on lending and deposits so branches aren’t competing against one another.

He’s retiring because, as he said, “you get to be a certain age and you realize you won’t live forever, and my career has been 40-plus years.”

He’s planning a full-time retirement, he said, to spend time on pursuits such as travel, golf and fly-fishing.

Bill Weber, president of the Great Falls office, will step into the president’s job.

Business reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or by email at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.