Independent Banker - August 2018 - 70

to know him. So it was easy for our board to
announce that he would take over as president
in April this year. "
When he leaves in early 2019, Emmons
intends to make a clean break from the bank
and the industry, believing it's the right time to
jump off. " I'm really of the mind that having a
past executive on the board has certain benefits,
but it can also be disruptive, " he says. " And,
honestly, I feel for the incumbent and really for
OPEN-DOOR POLICY
Sue Eno, Citizens National Bank
t the end of March, Sue Eno stepped aside as CEO
of Citizens National Bank in Cheboygan, Mich.,
which holds assets of just under $300 million. It
was a position she had held since 2008. After serving at the
bank for almost 50 years (she started there in 1971 while she
was in high school), she's ready for a new phase of her life.
" I just turned 64, " she says, " and I was in a position where
I felt I could retire. At the bank, we need to grow loans, and
that's not my expertise, and the world is changing, and we
A
" I've always been very
practical about what the
lifecycle of a CEO should be. "
the organization that it's best just to step away
and let the new leadership do what they do. "
Instead, he is looking forward to not making
plans, apart from staying on as a trustee at
the local hospital, Maine Medical Center.
He laughs: " It's funny, when you say you're
retiring, everybody says, 'So what are you going
to do now?' My family and I have thought
about a lot of different things, and we've
contemplated some short-term things that we'd
like to do, travel plans.
" But we're not going to commit to any real
longer plans, because I think we're looking
forward to the opportunity to just be nimble,
willing to do what comes at the time, and
not commit ourselves in any one particular
way. I think that part of the fun is just to see
what opportunities come along and seize the
moment as best we can.
" For the moment, " says Emmons, " we'll take
it one day at a time. "
70 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q August 2018
need to change.
" We've done a good
job of moving the bank
forward. We've converted
to the universal banker
model. The next big
hurdle was to get our
arms wrapped around
loan growth, and I really
did not feel I was the
right person to make
that happen. "
Eno advised the board
of her plans in January
2017, and they engaged
a head-hunting firm.
They ultimately chose
Matthew Keene, Citizens
National Bank's executive
vice president. Eno
stayed on to mentor
him and continues to do
so, admitting that after
nearly half a century
with the bank, she
" You just breathe deep
and you go, 'We need to
change, and that's what
we're doing.' "
couldn't leave without a great successor.
" If he has a question and wants to call me, there is an
open-door policy. If not, that's fine too! So we get together
every once in a while. Sometimes he chooses to take my
advice, and sometimes he has his own ideas! " Eno would be
Independent Banker - August 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - August 2018
