Becoming a WBA BOLT Member – What’s in it for You?
BOLT (Building Our Leaders of Tomorrow)
The WBA BOLT Board of Directors has been working diligently to obtain a goal of getting 100% of the WBA member banks to have at least one bank employee be a member of BOLT.
Why do we find that such an important goal?
BOLT is about leadership, education, networking, personal growth and advocacy within the banking industry. BOLT has two statewide summits a year; a one-day winter summit and a day and a half summer summit. Both events are a great opportunity to network with fellow community banking peers and share experiences in a non-competitive environment. BOLT members get to expand their leadership roles and learn to identify other emerging leaders with potential for growth.
A couple of commonly asked questions by fellow bankers are:
- Is there a fee to become a BOLT member? No, it’s free! Take advantage of the free membership. By becoming a member, a banker is added to our membership list to receive updated information on upcoming events, articles from your fellow BOLT bankers, and more!
- What are the commitments? Two summits a year are available at a very reasonable cost for those who can attend, but attendance is not required. We understand there will be times you can’t get away from the office, or you might have other personal commitments. However, once you’ve attended one summit, you won’t want to miss the next!
- Am I too old to be a BOLT member? Absolutely Not! BOLT members are bankers of all ages who have many different years of banking experience. Anyone interested in professional and personal growth, along with networking, advocacy and education, would be a great candidate for BOLT.
- "I'm already a leader, so BOLT must not be for me." Wrong! BOLT is for current and emerging leaders. Bankers who are already in leadership positions will get something out of BOLT, we promise! Fine-tune your skills, make industry connections, bring your colleagues with so you can bring new ideas for leadership back to your bank, and learn from other community bankers – whether they are new to leading or as experienced as you!
BOLT Summits give employers a chance to develop and retain talented bank employees who are new and upcoming leaders or for those experienced leaders, who still have room to move up the ranks within their organizations.
Out of all the events I attend each year, the BOLT summits are by far my favorite. I enjoy networking with peers and discussing challenges along with opportunities within the banking industry. I like to make connections to be able to reach out to other bankers when introducing new products or software at my bank. I am passionate about education and leadership development. I come from a banking environment where employees are encouraged to learn and prepare for future advancement. BOLT is a great venue for this.
Join BOLT now!
I hope to see you at our next summit, November 7 in Stevens Point. If you haven't experienced a BOLT Summit yet, please register to come and see what it is all about. I can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed. For those returning bankers, see you there!
Penelope (PJ) Childers serves as vice president of business banking at Tomahawk Community Bank and also serves on the WBA BOLT Board of Directors.
By, Lori Kalscheuer
