Independent Banker - June 2023 - 59

The road to succession
Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust's succession planning professionals have built up their expertise
to better serve the community bank's retail business customers. By William Atkinson
or community banks, serving retail
business customers involves more
than just providing loans; they also
help these customers successfully
grow their businesses. And one
critical piece of assistance banks
can offer to their retail business
customers is succession planning.
An effective succession plan can
ensure that these businesses continue
to exist and prosper after current
management has retired or moved on
to other endeavors.
Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust (CRBT)
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a $2.2 billionasset
subsidiary of the publicly
traded $7.9 billion-asset multibank
holding company QCR Holdings, Inc.,
has developed a strong reputation
for its succession plan offerings
for customers.
The community bank's succession
planning support initiative is led by
Josh Moore, senior vice president,
commercial banking, and David
Stoltenberg, first vice president,
commercial and industrial manager,
commercial banking.
F
" Having regular conversations with our
clients about their goals has led to us
gaining knowledge of plans for succession. "
-JOSH MOORE, CEDAR RAPIDS BANK & TRUST
Planning is a critical part of
addressing business succession.
According to Moore and Stoltenberg,
over the next 10 years, almost half of
all privately held firms in the U.S. will
be looking to transfer ownership of
their businesses.
According to Moore and
Stoltenberg, business succession
needs to plan for:
A well-defined exit strategy for
owners to ensure their business
is sustainable
Maximizing the value of their
business enterprise that they have
worked years to build
Name:
Cedar Rapids
Bank & Trust
Assets:
$2.2 billion
Location:
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The business employees and
the business legacy within the
community
Family member(s) or key
employees to whom to transition
the business
Impact on customers
Since it opened in 2001, CRBT has
been a partner to many Iowa-based
businesses. " We partner with our
clients to assist their businesses with
the appropriate commercial banking
products and services for each stage of
the business life cycle from start-up,
growth, maturity and succession, "
says Moore.
Stoltenberg and Moore both have
more than 25 years of commercial
banking experience and proudly
lead what they say is one of the most
experienced commercial banking
teams in the market.
" Through our relationships with
clients over our careers, we have
seen many businesses transition to
new ownership, which provides for
a good share of our knowledge and
experience, " says Stoltenberg. " Over
the years, we have established longtime
connections and relationships
with our client's key business
advisors, such as their accountants,
attorneys, insurance, valuation
advisors and wealth advisors. "
The two are also members of
the Employee Stock Ownership
Plan (ESOP) Association, the Exit
Planning Institute and the Iowa
Bankers Association, and they attend
seminars, conferences and workshops
on succession planning.
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Independent Banker - June 2023

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