Pub. 5 2010-2011 Issue 6

www.nebankers.org 16 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. Nebraska Bankers Gain National Notoriety MATTHEW H. WILLIAMS Gothenburg State Bank ABA Vice Chairman JEFFREY L. GERHART Bank of Newman Grove ICBA Chairman-Elect Education Gothenburg Public Schools, undergraduate degree in business adminis- tration and law degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Newman Grove Public Schools, attended the University of Kansas, graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado. Family Wife Susan (celebrating 42 years in August); son Robert Williams and his wife Meredith of Omaha; and daughter, Julie Rickertsen, her husband Luke, and their children Ainsley, Maddox, and Jax of Gothenburg. I am married (31 years) to Rebecca (Scherich) Gerhart (bank director). We have two adult children: son Patrick and daughter Kyle. Both are involved in the bank as directors. My parents, Bud (bank director) and Georgianne Gerhart (former bank director), and before that my grandfa- ther Buzz Gerhart and my grandmother Dorothy Gerhart were involved in the bank from the time that I was growing up to their later years. Yes, it is a family affair. How did you get into the banking business? Our family founded the Gothenburg State Bank in 1902. I’m the fourth generation in the bank. Following graduation from law school, Sue and I had planned to pursue a career practicing business and tax law. My father died following my junior year in law school and it became apparent that the family needed us to return to Gothenburg. Following graduation from law school, we took advantage of this opportunity and have never looked back. I began my banking career in the bank during my youth, working the teller window and proof machine, filing checks, sweeping off the sidewalk in front of the bank, taking out the trash (you name it, it came with the job). After college, I worked for a short time in Colorado for a couple of banks before returning to Newman Grove to work alongside my grandfather and father. How many years have you been in banking? I’ve been directly involved with banking for 38 years. Most of my life in one way or another—growing up in the family busi- ness gives one a good opportunity to learn about banking. W HEN ONE THINKS ABOUT POWER AND INFLUENCE IN Washington, D.C., rural Nebraska is not likely to be first of mind. Perhaps it’s because of the humble, unassuming, hard-working nature of most Nebraskans. But within the financial services industry, Nebraska’s small-town, traditional bankers are making a huge impact on the national scene. Two prime examples of Nebraskans who are working hard to make a difference for the banking industry at the national level are Matt Williams, chairman and president of Gothen- burg State Bank, and Jeff Gerhart, chairman of the Bank of Newman Grove. Williams was elected vice chairman of the American Bankers Association (ABA) in October 2010. He is in line to become chairman of the ABA in 2012. Gerhart becomes chairman-elect of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) inMarch 2011. Gerhart will take over as chairman of the organization in 2012. Here’s an up-close and personal look at the 61-year-old Williams and 58-year-old Gerhart. Z