During my time at the Virginia Bankers Association back in the day, we worked with the General Assembly on a bill that required the date a checking account was opened appear on the face of the check. The issue – merchants were getting so many bad checks, primarily on newer accounts, and losing lots of money.… Read more »

Earlier this month the ABA and Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) held the annual Washington Visit. While I have attended many previous Washington Visits, traveling to our nation’s Capital this year was very special in my role as Chairman of the VBA. As I anticipated this trip, I reflected on what “I” have done to be… Read more »

We had just put our Richmond home up for sale as I was returning to SWVA to go back into banking. Rather quickly, we had an offer. Excitement and good news! Then, reality. Discovered by the home inspector, carpenter ants had been gnawing away at the floor underneath the shower in our bathroom. The real… Read more »

A couple Saturdays ago was my day to work at the Wise office. It was a cold and snowy morning. It had snowed another four inches that night, and the roads were a bit slippery and covered. As customary, I went by Hardee’s in Wise before work to pick up breakfast for my teammate (and… Read more »

How are you doing? If you are like me, you may be a little stressed right now… Covid-19 not going away. Cold weather. A bit of cabin fever. So what are we going to do about it? First, I realize that I work at a Bank that cares about me and allows me to put… Read more »

Thomas Edison is thought of as a great innovator. Ask people who the most famous inventor was, and I bet most would list him at or near the top. One of his strengths was recruiting and hiring talented people to work with him on developing new processes and technology. Edison took a personal approach to… Read more »

One of my favorite TV shows of all time is Hill Street Blues. The show was ahead of its time and portrayed a grittier version of police in the city. Many, many shows later followed this concept, but Hill Street Blues was the first. Every show started with the policemen getting ready to go on… Read more »

As Forest Gump said, life is full of surprises. Christmas was nearing. My hardworking father had been laid off at the mines and was trying to find whatever odd job he could just to literally keep the lights on. The season of Christmas, which was always modest in terms of gifts anyways, was expected to… Read more »

Perhaps you are a collector of bobbleheads. You know, those cute figurines you see on someone’s desk or on the dashboard of a passing car. Often during sports seasons, teams will offer everyone attending a bobblehead of a player as a special treat for attending the game. This week I experienced the passing of two… Read more »

If you have not had a chance to watch any of the History Channel’s America Great series, I recommend it to you. On Thanksgiving (naturally), I watched a show called, “Foods that Made America Great”. A common theme among the shows relates to once dominant companies that either lost out to, or at minimum missed… Read more »