Bill Alverson
William “Bill” Alverson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Traditional Bank, has announced that he is retiring at the end of 2019. He will remain on the Traditional Bank board of directors and will continue to serve the bank in a business development.
The Traditional Bank board of directors has announced that Andy Baker, who joined the bank in 1985 and has served as president and Chief Operating Officer since 2009, will succeed Alverson as Traditional Bank CEO. Daniel Mason, who joined the bank as Chief Lending Officer in 2010, has been name president.
Alverson began his financial career in 1984 with Citizen’s Union Bank in Lexington and first joined Traditional Bank in 1986. Alverson left in 1991, but continued to work in banking. He returned to Traditional Bank in 1999 to help guide the bank’s expanding Central Kentucky market, was promoted to president in 2009, and named CEO in 2015.
“If I were to choose three words to best describe Bill’s management style, they would be humble, caring and driven—with an equal measure of each,” said Traditional Bank President Andy Baker said. “You won’t find a CEO who genuinely cares more about their employees, customers and community than Bill. … We all feel very fortunate that Bill has agreed to support our business development efforts on a part-time basis in the coming year.”
Traditional Bank has achieved significant growth throughout Alverson’s time in leadership, including expanding into Frankfort last fall—an effort Alverson personally guided by relocating his office to that market.
He began serving as president under CEO Bill Bramblet when the bank’s asset size was approximately $920 million. Working with Bramblet, Baker and other management members, he has led the bank to an asset size of approximately $1.7 billion with 16 branches in six Kentucky counties.
“There are so many people in our organization who are key to our success. Some people look at one man with a title at a bank as running the bank, but it’s a team effort, thoroughly,” Alverson said in an interview with Business Lexington shortly after becoming CEO. “We’ve always been able to be in a meeting with the management group and we might not all agree, but when we come out of the room, whatever the agreement is, we’re all pushing in the same direction. That’s what’s really rewarding if you’ve been involved in sports or any kind of team experience—to move forward as a team and to maintain that culture. It’s paramount to us.”
Team-based leadership has been an important pillar in Alverson’s career. After graduating from Georgetown College, he accepted a position as a health and physical education teacher at his alma mater, Paris High School, so he also could serve as an assistant football coach. Alverson was a member of the school’s 1973 Class “A” State Champion team. He also co-founded the Paris Greyhound Football Foundation, followed by the Paris Educational Foundation.
Alverson has been actively involved in a large number of local philanthropic and civic organizations throughout his career, including serving on the boards of REACH, INC., Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, YMCA, Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority, Girl Scouts Wilderness Road Council, Paris Bourbon County Economic Development Authority, Home Builders Association of Lexington (now Building Industry Association of Central Kentucky), The Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group and Central Music Academy. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Teachers Retirement System of the State of Kentucky.
When asked about Alverson’s retirement, Traditional Bank board chairman Bramblet said: “Bill is never one to take credit for his accomplishments, preferring instead to shine a light on those around him. But our bank could not have achieved the growth we’ve seen in Central Kentucky were it not for his passion for business development and his ability to make genuine, personal connections with people from all walks of life. Bill takes to heart his role as a community banker, in the truest sense of the word.”