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 6 MEET KBA CHAIRMAN RON JOHNSON R on Johnson has been elected by his peers to serve a one year term as Chairman of the Board for the Kansas Bankers Association (KBA). His term began at KBA’s annual meeting in Colorado Springs, CO, on August 5, 2017. Johnson has served as the President & CEO of Community National Bank in Seneca since January of 2004. Johnson was born in Manhattan, Kansas, while his father completed his education at Kansas State University following his military service during the Korean War. His father got his first job at the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Program, and the family moved to Seneca, where Ron attended Mable Slocum’s kindergarten class. Little did he know that this small Kansas town would play a much larger role in his life down the road. After only three years in Seneca, his father’s employment took them to Salina, Kansas, then to Bismarck, North Dakota, and then on to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Ron often visited family in north central Kansas and always thought of Kansas as home. Johnson graduated high school in Bismarck and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Economics from North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 1976. It was during his time at NDSU that he went on a blind date and met his future wife, Mavis. Following graduation, Johnson pursued his plan to move back to Kansas and worked the summer on his Uncle Bill Roe’s farm in Republic County. Johnson makes note that his Uncle Bill’s brother in-law, Rex Headrick, was determined to make him a Kansas banker. During his summer working on the farm, Rex took Johnson to meet Linton Lull, President of Smith County State Bank and Trust Co., in Smith Center. “Looking back on it now,” Johnson stated, “I was so impressed that Linton would take the time out of his day to meet with someone he didn’t know, who wasn’t a customer or the relative of a customer and to talk to me about what it meant to him to be a Kansas banker. His passion for the bank, the banking industry and his community made a lasting impression and made me seriously consider a career as a community banker.” Linton Lull went on to be the KBA Chairman in 1979. Another officer at Smith County State Bank was Bob Rethorst, who was the ag loan officer for the bank. He allowed Johnson to tag along and shadow him several times on farm visits and customer interviews and introduced the concept of production cycle cash flow. On August 26, 1976, Ron Johnson began his banking career at Elk State Bank in Clyde, KS. Ernest Goernandt and Harold Poland had him start working as a teller and learning the back-office functions of the bank before graduating to an ag lender. Once he was established, Johnson married his college girlfriend, Mavis, in March of 1977. Two short years later, in 1979, the Johnson’s welcomed their daughter, Aleece, who was born at 27 weeks and weighed in at only 2 pounds. Johnson reflects on the regular commute to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita to nurture their baby girl in the neonatal intensive care unit. When Aleece was 15 months old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Mavis decided to stay at home with their daughter to coordinate the frequent trips to physical therapy and to aid in Aleece’s general development. At this point in the interview Johnson paused and leaned forward to say, “Aleece is our miracle child. I am so proud that she is OUR daughter and I wouldn’t change a thing.” Mavis added, “Raising a child with a disability has brought great joy as well as many challenges. She has always been a very determined young lady.” She graduated from Emporia State University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Vocational Rehabilitative Counseling & Therapy. Aleece was married in 2016 and resides in the Kansas City area with her husband, Darrell. Johnson stayed in Clyde for 8 years before moving to Humboldt, Kansas, where he took a job as EVP & Chief Lender with Bob Ames at the Humboldt National Bank. The Johnson’s remained in Humboldt for 18 years. Then, in 2002, Johnson was offered the opportunity to join Community National Bank as CEO, following the pending retirement of Dave Hollis. And, the Johnson’s moved to Seneca, the rural community where he had attended kindergarten some 42 years earlier. During his tenure at Community National Bank the bank has grown from roughly $90MM to $425MM. “Community National has two very distinct and different business models at work in the bank,“ Johnson stated. “In addition to the traditional community banking activities in Mavis, Aleece and Ron Johnson