LEAD FWD- Recap from Mani Swarnam, Georgia Primary Bank, 2024 CBA-ICBA Scholarship Winner

Mani Swarnam, Senior Vice President and Commercial Team Lending Leader, Georgia Primary Bank, Atlanta, recently attended the ICBA LEAD FWD Summit, representing Georgia.

“We are always thrilled to hear about leadership development opportunities of our bankers.  Continuous professional development not only fosters secure banking practices but also cultivates talent success and drives institutional innovation. Thank you, Mani, for sharing about your recent opportunity to network, connect, and learn as these are invaluable,” said Kristi Greer, SVP, Director of Professional Development at CBA. 

I recently attended ICBA’s LEAD FWD Summit held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee on September 9th and 10th.

Starting with a good venue (just across from the Fiserv Forum, few blocks down from Marquette University, the Lake and a quick walk to the Riverwalk) to excellent programming, terrific keynote address and some good camaraderie with fellow bankers from across the nation – it was a great and productive experience.

The Summit kicked off with a keynote address by Connor Emeny – the only person who has successfully completed Iron Man in all seven continents (yes, seven including Antarctica) and that too at a young age (in his 20’s). Quite an inspirational journey to remind us that if we put our mind, heart and soul into, we can accomplish anything we set out to no matter how daunting the goal might be. “Always start with Box Breathing to recalibrate yourself to relieve stress and re-focus”.

The conference included several peer-to-peer discussions and activities on both days which gave an opportunity to learn from fellow bankers about the challenges they face and how they address them. What was interesting is that the industry challenges such as staffing, fraud (check and ACH), margin compression and price competition from National Banks and Credit Unions alike, were fairly consistent across the geography of our great nation. Take away – it was very evident from the stories I heard from fellow bankers that community bankers across the country are doing very important work for Main Street America, in our respective communities. To me “Community Banking is here to Stay”.

The conference topics and presenters were thoughtfully put together – whether it is on profitability without compromising Safety & Soundness by Marty Mosby or on Fraud by Michele Barlow from Macha – the topics were pertinent and on-point.

And I was delighted to see our very own Derek Williams, President and CEO, Century Bank and Trust and the past chairman of ICBA, in a fire-side chat. I am sure his comments on community banking and the important work we do as community bankers was very inspirational to the attendees. Derek also gave us a good reminder about the importance of getting involved in our Association both at the state level and with ICBA. I truly enjoyed the conference.