Viewpoint Bank N.A. president and CEO Kevin Hanigan says he never has a typical day—and he hopes he never does. In addition to meeting with investors and the bank’s board and working on those related matters, Hanigan does a lot of walking around, he says, talking with employees to make sure they know what’s going on in the company, and with customers to make sure their needs are being met.
He joined ViewPoint in April, when the Plano-based community bank’s parent completed its acquisition of Highlands Bancshares Inc., parent of First National Bank of Jacksboro, which operated in Dallas under the Highlands Bank name. Hanigan previously was Highland’s president and CEO. The merger was a good move, he says, for him, the bank’s nearly 600 employees, and shareholders: “Our stock price is up 50 percent since we announced the deal.”
Age: 56
First job: Caddy at a local country club.
Worst job: While I was in school and during the summers, I had several jobs that kept me off the golf course—cleaning services, retail sales, and call center operator.
Best part of your job: The opportunity to be a small part of others’ success, whether it be other teammates at the bank or our customers.
Management style: Open and empowering, within a culture of high expectations.
Strengths: A high energy level and a refusal to be limited.
Weaknesses: Ha! I’m a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan.
Biggest pet peeve: Egos—people who use “I” too much and “we” not often enough.
Biggest challenge: Allocating my time and resources. I tend to cram quite a bit into a day.
What’s next for ViewPoint Bank: Our strategy is sound; it’s all about continued execution and providing value for our customers. I’ve learned that if we take care of our employees and we take care of our customers, everything else takes care of itself.
Competitive strategy: We launched a new program Oct. 1 as part of our “Absolute Checking” product, which reimburses our customers for ATM fees that are charged if they use another bank’s ATM. Where our program differs from others is that we don’t require customers to submit a receipt in order to be reimbursed. Our system recognizes the fee and automatically refunds the customer’s money. We’re going to use the big banks’ locations and turn them into our locations.
Changes in banking: The regulatory burden has increased, but the fundamentals haven’t; we’re still in the business of serving the loan and deposit needs of our customers.
Family: My best friend and wife, Michele, and our three great children and two beautiful grandchildren.
Weekends: Exercise, golf, and movies and dinner with Michele and friends; trips to Houston to see the kids and grandkids.
Reading material: Mostly boring industry stuff. But on long flights I enjoy a good mystery or thriller by authors like James Patterson, Vince Flynn, and David Baldacci.
Television: I don’t often watch TV, but when I do I watch Squawk Box on CNBC. And when I don’t have the remote, I admit I’ve been dragged into the likes of The Bachelor and Big Brother.
Best advice you’ve received: Reputations take years to build and can be lost quickly, so never sacrifice yours.
