Strong Sectors Build Strong Communities

Why I’m Passionate About the Financial Sector Partnership

I did not grow up dreaming of becoming a banker. I grew up with an earnest desire to help people.

My career path has charted through entertainment, nonprofit work, manufacturing, construction, entrepreneurship, and eventually community banking. It has not been a straight line. There have been successes, plenty of failures, and more than a few moments when I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do next.

That is one of the reasons I am so passionate about the Financial Sector Partnership.

Strong Sectors Build Strong Communities

At their core, sector partnerships exist because the individual organizations that make up an economic sector are stronger when they work together.

Yes, banks, credit unions, insurance companies, accounting firms, investment companies and other financial organizations compete. But we also share enormous common interests.

We all benefit when people understand our industry. We all benefit when talented people want to build careers in it. We all benefit from a strong workforce, healthy businesses, good educational opportunities, and a thriving local economy.

A sector partnership gives us a place to pool our knowledge and resources to work on those things together.

We can increase awareness of the financial industry and the careers within it. We can work together to attract top-notch talent. We can identify common problems that would be difficult for any one organization to solve alone. And we can give our educational, civic, and nonprofit partners a clearer understanding of what our industry actually needs.

I would even argue that participating in this work is a small act of patriotism.

A healthy economy isn’t something that simply happens around us. It is something we actively participate in building. When businesses invest their time, knowledge, relationships, and resources into strengthening an entire industry—not just their own organization—we strengthen the economic foundation of our community.

We compete on Monday morning. But we can still sit around the same table and ask: How do we make the financial sector in Northern Colorado stronger?

That’s the power of a sector partnership.

Telling the Story of Financial Careers

The financial industry has an incredible story to tell about careers, and I don’t think we always do a very good job telling it.

Our industry needs lenders and analysts, but it also needs relationship builders, technologists, marketers, cybersecurity professionals, operations specialists, accountants, financial advisors, insurance professionals, compliance experts, branch leaders, story tellers and people who simply know how to solve problems and work well with others. A lot of times our industry needs individuals who have a number of these skill sets.

I believe there are people throughout Northern Colorado who can thrive in these careers but may not know they exist.

Our academic, civic, workforce, and nonprofit partners are already doing tremendous work preparing people for careers. Employers don’t need to reinvent that wheel. Instead, we can bring something uniquely valuable to the table: our real-world experience.

We know what is happening inside our industry today. We know which skills are becoming more important. We know what makes someone successful after they get the job. And, perhaps most importantly, we know that careers rarely unfold according to plan.

Sometimes it Starts with a Conversation

That’s the idea behind our Workforce Ambassador Program.

We’re asking financial professionals to do something remarkably simple: have a candid conversation.

Tell someone what you actually do. Tell them how you got there. Tell them about the career you didn’t know existed, the opportunity you almost missed, or the failure that ultimately taught you something important.

If I could go back in time and sit down with my 20-year-old self, I would have a lot to say. He probably wouldn’t listen to most of it—but I’d try.

I can’t have that conversation now. What I can do is help create opportunities for today’s professionals to have those conversations with the people coming up in the workforce.

That’s what excites me about the Financial Sector Partnership.

A banker shouldn’t design educational programs alone. An educator shouldn’t have to guess what employers need. A workforce organization shouldn’t have to guess where opportunities exist.

Put those people in the same room, however, and we can compare notes, identify gaps, connect existing resources, and try new ideas.

Maybe someone discovers a career they didn’t know existed. Maybe an employer meets its next great employee. Maybe a job seeker gets the advice or encouragement they needed to take a chance.

Maybe one candid conversation changes the trajectory of one life.

And maybe, collectively, hundreds of those conversations make our industry and our community a little stronger.

That’s enough reason for me to keep showing up.

Nyle Kenning

Workforce Committee Chair