Igniting Insights with Barry Binder: April 2026

Barry: John T., thanks for sitting down with me today. Can you introduce yourself — your title, your role day to day, how long you’ve been with ANB, and a little about your path here?

John T.: Thanks for having me, Barry. I’m John T. McElyea, Senior Vice President. I’ve been with the bank just shy of 29 years — 74 more days and I’ll hit that mark. My background: I was a manager at a finance company here in Amarillo, and my assistant manager had left to come work for ANB in the bookkeeping department. She called me a few weeks later and asked if I wanted to interview. The bank was looking to revamp their consumer lending area, and she recommended me. So I owe my 29 years here to Irma — she’s moved on to a different bank in a different town, but we still stay in touch.

My main focus is consumer lending — every type of consumer loan except mortgages, which is a separate division. I also handle a dozen or so commercial customers with their loan and treasury needs. We’re a large indirect lender; that’s the biggest part of our business. We buy auto loan contracts from dealers throughout Texas. We’re just shy of $1.1 billion in total consumer loans, with about 75% of that in auto. We have lenders in every branch across all our markets — 46 consumer lenders spread from Amarillo down to San Antonio.

Day to day varies. Most mornings start with meetings. After that, I have a to-do list that usually gets interrupted — reviewing a loan decision with a loan officer, talking to a customer who’s upset about force-placed insurance on their auto loan, or handling whatever issue comes up that we didn’t see coming.

Barry: You mentioned meetings. I understand your chairman has a rule about those.

John T.: No meeting over 30 minutes. Loan committee is the exception — we have a lot of loans that need committee approval. But everything else is 30 minutes or less, and people absolutely adhere to it. Same rule applies to memos: one page or less. If you can’t summarize what you need to say in one page, you probably need to refigure.

It puts responsibility on whoever calls the meeting. If you’re asking for someone’s time, you better be prepared to address the issue clearly and concisely. You can’t wander. You can’t get scope creep. You have 30 minutes — that’s it. And let’s face it, after 30 minutes, people aren’t paying attention anyway. They’re thinking about what else they need to get done.

It’s part of the culture. Everybody knows when they sit down that the meeting isn’t going longer than 30 minutes. You can plan around it.

Barry: I’ve worked with ANB for over two decades, and the thing I always come back to when I describe the bank to someone is the culture — how different it feels. Every time I walk through the door, everyone is genuinely friendly. It feels like they see me every day. And it’s not just here at the bank. I’ve experienced it at ballgames, out in the community, with vendors and clients you’ve introduced me to. It feels authentic. Is that something others share, or have I just been lucky?

John T.: Everybody experiences it. Two quick stories.

We had an officer in our trust department who was good friends with the CEO of a company that wasn’t yet in one of our markets. They were discussing banking, and the CFO thought ANB would be a great fit. So the CEO decided he wanted to come to Amarillo — he wanted to meet the family, meet some of our loan officers. He walked into our main lobby and was absolutely enamored. He said he had never seen that level of engagement in a bank — or any company — before. People greeting him, asking if they could help, genuine emotion from our frontline CSRs and tellers. He said, “I’m taking this back to my company.” And by the way, they’re now our customer — a great customer.

Second story: we were part of the ICBA, and one of their representatives flew in from Minnesota for a visit. She was taking an Uber from the airport, and the driver said, “Oh, that’s my bank.” He said it was the best bank in the world. He couldn’t imagine banking anywhere else. She arrived here already excited, then got the experience firsthand. I ran into her at the ICBA annual conference in San Diego a couple of weeks ago — a year and a half, two years after that visit — and she was still telling that story to everyone around her.

Barry: So where does that come from? Is it something about the people in the Texas Panhandle, or something ANB has deliberately built?

John T.: It’s both, but the bank and the family have definitely built it intentionally. Texans in general are friendly, but Panhandle people are something else. I moved here 36 years ago from Austin and never thought I’d stay. Here I am, 36 years later — and that’s because of the people. The weather’s not always the selling point. A couple of days from now, the wind’s going to be blowing 50, 60 miles an hour. But the people — help isn’t an ask up here. It’s a do. If you need something, people come. You don’t have to ask.

Barry: That speaks to ANB’s culture. I’ve always felt that ANB and HUB Financial Services are cut from the same cloth when it comes to values. One phrase I hear from both organizations is simple and sincere: just do the right thing. By your employees, your customers, your partners. It sounds straightforward, but I think simple principles are the foundation everything else gets built on. What are the foundational elements of ANB’s culture?

John T.: Be nice to everyone and don’t steal.

That’s our motto. When a new hire watches the orientation video, Chairman Richard Ware is on there, and that’s what he says in the first minute: be nice to everyone and don’t steal. It’s simple. It makes total sense. If you’re nice to everyone who walks in — like you — and you greet people genuinely, everything else takes care of itself.

Beyond that, we say: don’t take yourself too seriously, be humble, and have fun. We work hard, but we play hard. If you don’t believe me, show up on Halloween. Every branch, every department — everybody dresses up. That’s part of the family, and it permeates through all of our branches and all of our people. The more fun you’re having, the better everything goes.

Barry: How does that foundation get laid? Is it intentional, organic, or both?

John T.: Both. They’re very intentional about the culture, which connects directly to hiring for a certain personality. But once you have that culture, it grows organically.

I can’t speak highly enough of the Ware family and what they’ve worked to create — like-minded individuals who value team over self. A lot of football coaches talk about culture all the time. There’s no “I” in team. Once you have that, the culture is ingrained. And if someone doesn’t fit, they’re not going to last. That’s not harsh — it’s just reality. They intentionally built this thing, and now it permeates every department, every employee.

Barry: How does it sustain over time? It makes sense for a while, but keeping that going takes work, doesn’t it?

John T.: It does, and I think the key is this: Richard Ware has always stressed — hire the personality, train the skill. That’s the DNA. Are you a fit? You might be a five-star performer on paper, but if you don’t have a good attitude and you’re not a good fit, you’re probably not going to make it. That’s the old Southwest Airlines model — Herb Kelleher, read his book Nuts. That was his whole deal. We’ll train you what to do. Hire the personality.

When you have senior management that’s all in, it takes care of itself. I don’t think there’s necessarily something you have to actively do to sustain it — you just have to keep hiring the right personality and the right fit. Do that consistently, and the culture is maintained.

Barry: Why does it matter? What’s at stake if the culture slips? What happens if the wrong person stays too long?

John T.: Everything. Think about what this family has built — the reputation ANB has. Everything is at stake. If that culture goes away, if we stop being nice to customers and to each other, we lose customers. That’s what you don’t want. It’s what sets us apart from every other bank I’ve been in or seen.

You can be successful, but if the culture starts to slip, you won’t sustain that success.

Barry: If you had to name the single most important quality of a healthy corporate culture, what is it?

John T.: Be nice and don’t steal is a great start — but trust. Trust is critically important. Can my employees trust me to follow through on what I say? They have to be able to. The Wares trust every one of us in senior management. They allow us to make decisions. We have lending limits and loan committee approval for certain things, sure — but in general, they trust me to hire, to fire, to make loans up to my individual lending limit. That trust allows us to be swift and efficient in ways most banks can’t wrap their heads around.

Some banks have a 22-step loan process. Customers look at that in disbelief. Our process? We walk up three floors to the Ware family. If we need to make a big decision, we can make it just like that.

Barry: ANB has been family owned for 134 years, no outside shareholders, no institutional pressure. You’re the largest family-owned bank in the country, over $10 billion in assets. How does family ownership show up day to day in the culture?

John T.: It’s simple — they’re here working every day. They’re engaged in our meetings. They lead by example. This bank is their legacy. It’s very, very important to this family, because it is their legacy. The fifth generation is here, and they have plans. Could the bank ever sell? Maybe — but if it does, it’ll be the tenth generation making that call. We’ll be long gone.

Amarillo is very important to the Wares. And now Lubbock, Fort Worth, Austin, College Station, San Antonio — all of it matters to them. They treat their employees well. They take care of us. And they always remind us: just take care of our customers. Don’t worry about stock price. Don’t worry about shareholders. Take care of your customers, and everything else follows.

Barry: The fifth generation — William and Patrick — is now stepping into leadership. How do you see them shaping or evolving the culture?

John T.: They’re excellent leaders. The bank is as important to them as it was to their father, their uncle, their grandfather, their great-grandfather. They fit right into the culture they grew up in.

One thing that struck me early on — Bill Ware got up in a meeting and said, “Family is very important to us, and we know it’s important to you. If you ever have a sick child, it’s okay to miss work. More important things than work.” I never want to miss a day of work — but that said something to me about who they are as people. They genuinely care about you as a person, about your family.

And they’ve worked every single department in this bank. Maintenance. Teller. They collected loans for me. They were spoken to — not always nicely. They’ve done everything. Nobody can look at them and say, “You don’t understand.” They understand. That makes it easier for them to make decisions and to keep fostering this culture.

Barry: ANB’s commitment to community is something I talk about all the time. I’ve been on the ground with you — packing school lunches for kids. I always tell people about the $100 charitable donation to a nonprofit of each employee’s choosing. Tiny gesture, huge message. How does that community orientation reinforce the culture?

John T.: It’s $200 now, actually. And here’s the cool part — a lot of employees will choose the same organization, and rather than writing separate checks, they’ll pool it. One person organizes the group, and they all go together to make the donation in person. Fifteen people showing up together. How cool is that?

Beyond that, the Ware family gave over $11 million to educational and charitable organizations across our markets in 2025. Over $11 million. When you talk about culture reinforcement — they’re giving us money to give, and then on top of that, giving from the bank and from their foundation. Who knows how many of our own employees have been helped over the years by organizations the Wares have supported.

It sends a clear message: the Wares care about our customers, and they care about our communities. That’s not lip service when you’re writing that kind of check.

Barry: How does that extend outward to everyday employees and the broader community?

John T.: They expect us to volunteer our time. Over 4,000 hours of employee volunteer time are given every year — serving on boards, packing school lunches, United Way’s Day of Caring, manual labor projects. And they allow it during the workday. Non-officer employees can step away during business hours to go volunteer. The family encourages all of us to be involved. Take care of our community. Nothing says community more than that.

Barry: The strongest partnerships I have are with people I feel genuinely aligned with — shared values, compatible culture. When ANB is evaluating a third-party partner or vendor, do you look for cultural fit, or is it more of an informal sense you develop over time?

John T.: Short answer is yes — you want to work with people you enjoy, people who share your values and goals. Now, sometimes you don’t always get that right. There might be a product that fits your needs, and the company behind it doesn’t share the same culture. But I’ll tell you what — when that happens, it’s a lot easier to leave them when you find a vendor who does align with you. If the fit is right, it’s very hard to walk away. If it’s not, it’s easy.

With HUB, we’ve had a relationship for 20-plus years. With Karen, who’s been here 30-plus years — different iterations of what you do, different companies over time — but we have similar goals. I think we’re a great fit for each other.

Barry: So the DNA matters not just for your own employees, but for the partners you work with. If a partner isn’t meeting the standards you’d expect, what does that look like, and what’s the recovery?

John T.: It would be a short marriage. And we’ve had some of those. Luckily, most of those failed partnerships haven’t been customer facing — a product working behind the scenes on loans or new accounts, not something customers ever see. When you make a change there, it’s not a big deal. Customer-facing is a different calculation entirely — that’s a major decision, and it stresses the employees more. But our customers typically wouldn’t notice the change.

Luckily, we haven’t had to change our partnership with HUB in about 26 years and counting.

Barry: All right, so we’re getting ready to wrap up here. So these are a few questions that I’m going to ask you – questions I ask anybody – a client, someone if I’m sitting down at a bar or restaurant having a drink and strike up a conversation. So let me throw just a couple off the cuff business or personal or otherwise.

Job Related: what’s your favorite part of your job and what do you look most forward to when you come to work?

John T.: The people. I mean, I truly enjoy everybody that I work with. We have a great, great group. Many of my best friends work here at the bank.

We hang out. You know? Outside of work – a lot! And I love helping customers right? If we help them out of a bind, or we help them get the new car they need and want – it’s just a good feeling. It really is the people. I’m a people person – I love being around people so it’s fun.

I wake up every morning and I never have – what are they called – the “Sunday Scaries”…

Barry: I’ve never heard of that…

John T.: You’ve never heard that? So – you know you get to Sunday evening and you get the Sunday Scaries because you have to go to work the next day. I don’t have that. I enjoy coming to work and look forward to it.

Barry: If you could go back in time and give 25 year old John T. one piece of dive, what would that be?

John T.: Don’t wait until your 28 years old to come work at ANB! That’s my only regret – that I didn’t come here sooner. It all worked out just fine. Just that and buy amazon stock. Their IPO came out what – 1987, 97? Whenever it was.

Barry: Yeah that comes up in a book by Chuck Klosterman, he asks, “What would happen if older me called me and just said: Buy apple stock.” Like what would you do in 1987? You wouldn’t even know what that means – it wouldn’t resonate with you. So buy amazon stock right – yeah!

Okay last one: Do you have a daily habit or some sort of personal hack professional, personal, doesn’t matter – that you’d be willing to share? What’s something that you lean on daily just to make life more bearable.

John T.: I exercize at lunch. Unless I have a customer lunch or something specific – something like that – so here at the bank we have a gym. It’s a very large gym with an indoor track, a pool, a cross-fit room. It’s the real deal so it’s very simple. I walk across the street and go to the gym – everything is there that I need and I’m not having to drive across town. But anyway – I do that. It’s a great break in the day, you know? It splits my day in half and it’s a good stress reliever. It lets me clear my head. You know I always say healthier body, healthier mind. So, that’s my hack that I think it’s important #1 it’s just important to move. I get up and I stand at my desk most all day – I have one of the desks that can move my computer up and down. I stand most of the day so that helps me move around a little bit more and I’m not slumping in the chair like I am now (laughs). 

That’s kind of my daily habit – personal hack – that is good for me and, again, I think that having that break in the middle of the day is fantastic.

Barry: Never thought about it that way. I work out in the middle of the day sometimes but I never think about it as splitting the day – it’s not routine for me to do that. But I’ve never thought about it like a break in your day. If I do it in the middle of the day, it’s because I can fit it in. But if you it, it literally splits your day in two halves.

John T.: And I do – I schedule it. The workouts are on my calendar and I try to schedule everything else around it that I can. Of course if a customer’s got something or I need to help an employee I’m going to do that, obviously. But in a general sense, its on my calendar and I know, my assistant knows when she’s scheduling for me, she knows that’s blocked off.

Barry: I bet it probably makes you a better employee in general, right?

John T.: I think it does!

Barry: Because you have something that keeps you going. Some people won’t get up from their desk all day long and that’ not good for you right? You get stuck in the slog and you’re just grinding and grdining. But if you have it scheudling that there’ gonna be an hour in my day that’s going to break my day into two halves and I’m going to clear my head and then I will come back and do the hard work as well – but that’s something for me. There’s balance there. That’s awesome.

John T.: Absolutely.

Barry: John T. – it’s a pleasure. Thank you so much for being open, thoughtful – this is the first one of these that I’ve done.

John T.: Well cool! I’m glad to be the first!

Barry: I appreciate you doing it. Any parting thoughts before we end the conversation?

John T.: Appreciate you, appreciate the partnership that we’ve had for a long time. Thanks for having me on and talking about it. We do have it great at ANB – I can’t imagine working anywhere else and I never want to work anywhere else so I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me. I’ll just leave with this: be nice to everybody and don’t steal.

Barry: Thanks John T.!