LEXINGTON, KY - Linda Rumpke, an experienced banker who grew up in a family of civil servants is stepping down in October as President of Chase Bank of Lexington to join the administration of Mayor Jim Newberry. After 23 years with Chase and its previous incarnations in Lexington, Rumpke has been nominated by Newberry to succeed Kyna Koch as Commissioner of Finance & Administration. Koch left the city earlier this year to take a job within state government.
It was Rumpke who at the recent Commerce Lexington Leadership Visit to Madison, Wisconsin issued a challenge to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government as well as the business community to begin implementing concepts and plans after many years and often layers of studies and discussions about how Lexington can improve. Implementation -getting things done- still figures high on her list of priorities, tempered now, however, by the times. "I think most importantly, what we're looking to do as a team is to step back and learn how to work in this financial environment," she said. "We obviously have some tremendous challenges with our revenue and learning how to be more efficient and doing more with less is a common theme both in the public and the private sector. I think that's what I can bring to the table, working at a firm such as JP Morgan Chase, we have learned how to grow in the private sector not only by growing our client base but also by managing our expenses in an efficient and wise fashion. I think I can bring that to the public sector and apply some of those same principles."
Newberry said in a statement that he is delighted that Rumpke has agreed to join the administration. "Linda Rumpke is a well respected business leader who will find new ways to improve the efficiency of our government," Newberry said. "Our goal is to operate government faster, better and cheaper. Linda has spent her career with that goal in mind in the private sector, and she brings that wealth of experience to city hall."
Rumpke makes the transition from private to public sector as Mayor Newberry enters the 4th year of a 4-year term and with a reelection campaign now in its early stages. Could the move be interpreted as confidence in Newberry's 2010 electoral prospects? "He was one of the first people I met when I moved to Lexington, in his former role as legal council for the then-Bank One. I've always been impressed with his integrity and I've been impressed with the team that he has put together. I think they have accomplished tremendous amounts of things over the last three years and I'm very hopeful that that will continue in the next term," she said.
Rumpke arrived in Lexington 23-years ago from Springfield, Ohio. Her grandmother, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins all worked in the public sector, most as employees of Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
At Chase, Rumpke served as Community Reinvestment Act officer for the entire state of Kentucky for 10 years. "Many of the people who I will be working with at the Urban County Government are people who I have had relationships with going back to 1986," she said. "A lot of the agencies and non-profits that are here today I was a part of in a grassroots way. I think I have that kind of experience to draw on and really that's what led me back to the public sector."
Rumpke is succeeded by Donald Hellmann who has spent the last 11 years of a 34 year banking career with Chase in Lexington. He will continue to manage Chase's commercial and equine banking teams in the Lexington area as he was before being named to the new post.
"I'm going to have a bit more focus on the regional side than just Lexington - central and eastern Kentucky as well as east Tennessee," Hellmann said. He pointed out that while many Chase clients have felt the effects of the economic downturn, they have survived relatively well. "They were prepared for it. We have continued to grow during this time period because we were prepared for it."
Hellman said he anticipates no further changes in Chase's local operations. The bank has 17 branches in the Lexington area.
Rumpke is a trustee of the St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, a director of the United Way of the Bluegrass & Executive Committee, a director of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and a trustee of Commerce Lexington. her husband, Rob Rumpke, is president of Bluegrass Tomorrow.
Hellman serves on the boards of Blue Grass Tomorrow and the Living Arts and Science Center.