Banking still remains one of the industries primarily led by men, despite research showing long ago the need and benefits for greater, more complete participation by women in the financial services industry. Having diverse, experienced leaders who can envision and work on the long term best interests of the company is the prop er test and research has shown that such companies out perform male led companies. Women are proving that skill every day. However, bank boards still do not show adequate representation of women

The Lead Bank Board of Directors is led by Chairperson and majority owner, Sarah Rowland. Maureen Mahoney, the Chief of Staff of the current, and former mayors of Kansas City, Kansas, Ursula Terrasi, a banker-turned-successful retail entrepreneur, were joined in 2019 by two exceptional women: Bridgette Williams, the first woman and person of color to serve as the Executive Director of the Kansas City Heavy Constructors Organization of Kansas City and the first woman and first person of color in the nation’s history to be a President of an AFL-CIO Chapter; and Susan Chambers, acknowledged as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” by Fortune Magazine for five consecutive years and former executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Walmart, joined the Board, bringing national perspective to Lead Bank.

In 2018, Lead Bank became one of the only, if not the only community banks in the United States with women comprising a majority of independent directors (those directors not employed by the company.) In total, women make up half of all directors of the Bank. While it is too early to see if Lead Bank will achieve the levels financial outperformance predicted by research, we are hopeful about our continued success.

Melissa Beltrame