Missouri Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Max Cook will retire in 2023 after more than 30 years at the helm of the organization, he announced Wednesday.
Cook is only the 6th person to lead MBA, having joined the association in 1991. He is a former senior vice president of the Texas Bankers Association and Oklahoma Bankers Association.
“It has been an opportunity of a lifetime to lead this great association. I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful community of bankers who have become dear lifelong friends,” Cook said.
“Our focus at MBA has and always will be on how we can best be an advocate and resource for our members,” he continued. “I am extremely proud of the remarkable MBA staff and their dedication to the banking community.”
A search committee led by Brice Luetkemeyer, president and CEO of the Bank of St. Elizabeth, has been formed to find MBA’s next leader. The committee will work with a national firm as the search commences, MBA said in a press release.
The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the MBA board by the spring of 2022 with the next leader brought in to work alongside Cook prior to his retirement.
MBA represents more than 245 banks and savings and loan financial institutions throughout the state.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
