Kansas Community Banker to Receive Award from Graduate School of Banking at Colorado

BOULDER, COLO. – June 24, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Graduate School of Banking at Colorado (GSBC) is pleased to announce L. Kent Needham, Chairman, President and CEO of First Security Bank in Overbrook, Kan., as the 26th recipient of the James C. Scarboro Award.

Scarboro co-founded GSBC—formerly the Colorado School of Banking—in 1950, and died in 1973. In his honor, the GSBC Board of Trustees honors a commercial banker who has provided outstanding leadership to the banking community with this award.

Needham is a 1984 graduate of GSBC. He served on the Board of Trustees from 1994-2001, and fulfilled the role of Chairman in 1999. Needham will accept the award at GSBC’s 65th Annual School Session graduation celebration in Boulder, Colo., where his son, Michael, will also be graduating.

“Kent has devoted much of his career to improving the banking industry, and exhibited great leadership during his time on our board. He is very deserving of this award,” said GSBC President Tim Koch.

Needham grew up in a banking family, and began learning banking at a young age. Upon completion of his MBA, and after a brief stint in Texas, he returned to his home state of Kansas and fulfilled the role of Executive Vice President and Director at Farmers Bank & Trust, N.A. of Great Bend, Kan. In January of 1993, he arrived at First State Bank and Trust, Tonganoxie, where he served as President and CEO until December of 2007. Needham then purchased the First Security Bank of Overbrook, Kansas where he assumed his current position of Chairman, President and CEO.

Needham has stayed active in many professional organizations throughout his career. He currently sits on the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka. He is a past Chairman of the Kansas Bankers Association (KBA). He has served on the Administrative Committee of the Community Bankers Council for the American Bankers Association (ABA), and the board of the KS/NE Schools of Banking, and represented Financial Services Volunteer Corporation in New York City by traveling to Russia on its behalf. He is a past President of the Barton County Community College Foundation, a past Trustee of the Fort Hays State University Foundation Board where he also served as a member of the Executive Committee and Finance Committee, a past Trustee of the Kansas Masonic Foundation and a past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Manhattan Christian College.

Needham holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Wichita State University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Fort Hays State University. In 2012, he received the Alumni Achievement award from Fort Hays State University which recognizes graduates who have contributed significantly to their communities and professions.