Pub. 6 2017 Issue 6

l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s 22 Kent (Mike) Berkley Mike Berkley grew up in Tescott, the son of a community banker. After leading the Tescott High School’s undefeated basketball team to the High School State Championship he attended the University of Kansas where he was a member of the 1957-58 basketball team and a teammate of Wilt Chamberlin. He graduated KU School of Business with a degree in accounting and then attended the KU Law School. After passing the bar he went to work at an accounting firm in Colorado and then sat for his CPA license. In 1967, Mike returned to Kansas and worked at the Bennington State Bank as a teller. Upon the death of John Berkley in December of 1968, Mike was named president of the bank in 1969. Under Mikes leadership Bennington State Bank has grown in asset size from $5 million to approximately $730 million in 2017. Bennington State Bank has consistently been rated a 5-star bank by Bauer Financial Rating Service and in 2014 was a top 100 performing community bank by SNL Financial. Mike was inducted into the Salina Business Hall of Fame and has served as the Salina Chamber of Commerce President among numerous other boards and committees throughout Kansas. He is an avid traveler and enjoys scuba diving, skiing and playing basketball with kids 50 years his Junior. Mike is a member of the Berkley family, a true banking family. Mike and his siblings and other extended family members own controlling interests in five community banks in Kansas and Colorado with approximately $2 billion in assets. Barbara Taylor Barbara Taylor has been working in banking for 75 years and is still going strong. She began as a teller at First National Bank of Edna in Edna, Kansas, after graduating high school in 1940. After 25 years, Barbara accepted a position as head teller at Condon National Bank in Coffeeville. She later transferred departments to become an administrative assistant, where she remains today. In 2017 she did change to a part-time status. Condon National Bank became Condon Bank & Trust in 2011 and later became Community State Bank after it was acquired in 2013. Barbara is a native of Edna, Kansas, and graduated from Edna High School. She received her pilots license in 1948 and flew a Piper Cub. She also married the late Charles Taylor in 1948. Taylor has one daughter. The employees of Community State Bank recently celebrated Barbara’s 50th anniversary at Community State Bank. She celebrated her 93rd birthday in August. Elsie Sells Elsie Sells was raised in England and came to the United States after WWII as a bride of a US soldier. They settled in Chase, Kansas and she has never lived in any other community since coming to this country. Elsie went to work as a teller at the Chase State Bank in 1958. She has remained employed at the same bank for 59 years, through many ownership and name changes. She has held positions as teller, assistant cashier, vice president, member of the board of directors and is currently serving as a Senior Vice President and Branch Manager for First Bank in Chase. At 91 years old, Elsie has many stories about the changes in the banking industry and events that she has lived to tell about. She began using adding machines and general ledger books where all interest was calculated manually. Elsie can describe the 3 inch by 9 inch cards that the call report and P&L reports went on, so much different than today. She loves banking and going to work each day to help customers. She has also been known to clean the bank when the janitor was sick. Her dedication was also demonstrated one night when she was called by the police because the alarms were going off and she arrived at the bank in her robe and slippers to see the owner had arrived in the same attire. She also experienced a robbery at gunpoint in 2012. In March 2018, Elsie will celebrate 60 years in banking. She is thankful for the excellent employers who have made banking a pleasure for all this time. 50 YEAR CLUB