Journey just beginning for new Glacier Bank president

Randy Chesler has the opportunity of a lifetime.

On Aug. 3, Chesler began what for many people in the financial world would be their dream job — president of Glacier Bank — but that is just the beginning.

For the next year and a half, Chesler will have the opportunity to observe and work with longtime Glacier Bancorp President and CEO Mick Blodnick in preparation for taking on the larger role when Blodnick retires at the end of 2016.

Glacier Bank is the corporation’s sole banking subsidiary, and president of Glacier Bank is a newly created position that will help “ensure a smooth leadership transition,” according to Blodnick.

Chesler fully realizes what a tremendous opportunity he has been given.

“Operations are going great and I don’t really have to come in and change anything, from an ego standpoint,” Chesler said. “We’re really looking to start positioning the company for the future.”

Chesler has had a busy first month on the job, making contacts within the company and meeting investors for the first time. It was the first phase of Chesler’s 100-day introduction.

The first 30 days were spent on the road, meeting the presidents and key people in Glacier Bancorp’s 13 divisions across six states. Their tour ended in Missoula and Kalispell, where Chesler said he met the IT and other functioning departments.

“It was important to me to meet people from all the divisions; they’re part of why this company runs as well as it does,” Chesler said.

Blodnick and Chesler traveled as far as Philadelphia, New York City and Baltimore to meet three of Glacier Bancorp’s top 10 investors.

“With any change of management with a public company, it’s just natural that there’s going to be some hesitation among investors. Investors don’t like change,” Blodnick said. “After our first road show, meeting with some of our largest investors, I think they were very comfortable with Randy and the length of the transition.”

Chesler is coming from the president’s role at CIT Bank, a Salt Lake City subsidiary group. He has more than 30 years of experience in the finance industry and helped manage the growth of CIT from a $300 million industrial loan company to $20 billion commercial bank.

Glacier Bancorp currently has $8.5 billion in assets. Once a company reaches the $10 billion mark, they’re met with a new set of rules and regulations. Chesler’s expertise in those rules is a key component of his skill set.

Now in the second 30-day phase of the 100-day plan, Chesler will begin to dig in to the operation of the company. He plans on finding out what the business’s priorities and issues are, and identify key strategies how to approach them.

Chesler said the strategic planning process has three parts: continuing the basic business of serving customers, refining operations in preparation for the future, and implementing the regulatory structure that will come when Glacier Bancorp reaches $10 billion in assets.

“When we meet those requirements at $10 billion, we need to be ready by building it into the company. That way it’s a non-event,” Chesler said.

In the next and final phase of the 100-day plan, Chesler and Blodnick will meet with the presidents of each Glacier Bancorp division again to close the loop on what Chesler understands so far about the company.

Chesler said he’s happy with the long transition before he takes over Blodnick’s desk, knowing that it gives him the opportunity to work closely with Blodnick, who’s run a healthy, acquisitional bank during the last 20 years.

“It’s already extremely well run, so now it’s about the projects that put the right systems and technology in place so when we implement something new in mobile banking or other technology, we’re ready,” Chesler said.

Projects are already underway to put the 25-plus banks that Glacier Bancorp has acquired on one platform for an easy translation of data and information through computer software.

A California native, Chesler and his family moved to New York City during his youth. His father was an insurance salesman and his mother was a nurse.

“We were kind of a paycheck-to-paycheck family,” he said.

Chesler started his banking career at Citibank, and let his career take him back west. After a short career in Silicon Valley, he later became president of a consumer-payment software company, executive vice president of VISA U.S.A. and held several other executive positions before moving to CIT in 2005.

When the opportunity for Blodnick’s job opened up earlier this year, Chesler jumped at the chance to move to Montana with his wife and youngest daughter, who is a freshman at Glacier High School. Two older children are attending college.

The commercial lending of CIT is a different model than found in a community bank such as Glacier Bank, but the fundamentals are the same, Chesler said.

Chesler believes the economy of the Western United States, including the Flathead Valley, is set for growth in coming years.

“The lifestyle here is going to attract more and more people. You don’t really have to be attached to a desk to work for a company anymore, and that’s a pretty important trend,” Chesler said. The lifestyle expands beyond the available outdoor activities and into the character of the community, Chesler said.

“It’s just the warmth and the type of people that make me feel at home here, it’s really nice,” he said.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.