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LEADERSHIP Business Leader Profiles
READY FOR CHANGE When Bill Turner started in the S&L industry, he had no idea his industry was about to change. But he was ready. BY TOM CARLSON
he banking business has changed a lot in the years that reat Southern ank hairman ill urner has been in the industry. oday, competition is fierce and the banking landscape is uickly evolving. Locally, few banks in the country have been more successful than reat Southern in ad usting to the changing world of finance. When ill urner took over reat Southern Savings and Loan in , it had employees and one branch. In , the bank is operating branches with , employees. he ansfield native had tried other pursuits before he settled on his banking career. e spent four years working at raft oods ompany in ansas ity, then he and his wife, nn, started a wholesale food business at Lake of the arks until it was destroyed in a fire. When urner drove to the Small usiness dministration office in ansas ity in hopes of securing a loan to rebuild the family business, the S had other plans and offered him a ob. hrough his work with the S , urner eventually crossed paths with ill arclay, who owned uto agic car washes. t the time, arclay was applying for an S loan through iti ens ank in Springfield. urner approved the loan, and in the process om Watkins, who ran the bank, became impressed with urner and offered him the number three ob at the bank. he lending process was more informal back then. he underwriting criteria boiled down to reviewing a credit report and determining if the borrower was a good risk. urner says the
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THE CENTENNIAL
Bill Turner (left) helped turn Great Southern Bank into one of the largest banks in the state. His son, Joe (right), followed his father into the industry and now serves as bank president.
No. uality a banker must have is good udgment. ne day this guy came in and wanted to borrow money to buy olstein steers, urner said. I looked at his credit report, and I told om that I did not think we should make the loan. e said, I don’t give a damn. I want you to make the loan.’ So I did. bout si months later, an appraiser went to inspect our collateral, and there were only head there. We had to charge it off. he bank took the hit for the loss, but Watkins took responsibility for it. A KEEN EYE In those days, banking was a much more conservative and highly regulated business. anks couldn’t have branches as they do now, and interest rates were regulated. ut banking was changing. o circumvent the rule against a bank having branches, . . ud reen came to Springfield and opened separate banks that all used similar underlying ownership. anking charters were hard to get, but reen hired erald Lowther, who was overnor Warren earnes’ law school classmate, to apply for charters. With Lowther’s help, reen opened up merican National ank, irst ity ank and mpire ank in the early s. reen’s bold approach was uickly noticed.
reen wasn’t afraid to try something new, and he shocked many local bankers by staying open on Saturday, urner remembers. I parked across the street and started counting the cars. irst week there were cars that went through the drive-in, then the ne t week, then , and and so on. So then I went back and talked to im and Watkins. Watkins said, h my od, we would never do that.’ nd I
