By Pat Shaver
IOWA CITY—When Charlie Funk finished college, he wasn’t interested in banking.
After graduating with a business degree from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., he had dreams of playing basketball for the NBA. The MidWestOne Bank president and CEO played professional basketball in Europe for two years following college.
“It was a great experience. I was just out of college, the money was good, I was single and I got to see Europe,” he said.
He played for a team in Liege, in eastern Belgium, a town of about 500,000 people.
“I’ve always been a pretty competitive person, I think that’s served me well in the business world,” he said.
He also tried out for the NBA’s Kansas City Kings following college.
“I was in camp for three days and got cut, but I’ve always appreciated that I got a chance,” he said.
Mr. Funk grew up in Lancaster, Mo., a town of 700 people near the Iowa/Missouri border, about 20 miles south of Bloomfield. After returning from Europe, Mr. Funk went to work at the American National Bank in 1979 and stayed for five years.
“I’ve been fortunate to have worked for four companies in almost 34 years in banking; that’s pretty good longevity,” he said. “I started at the bottom, worked hard and had some good fortune.”
Mr. Funk joined MidWestOne Bank in November 2000 as president and CEO of Iowa State Bank & Trust Co., and remained in the same position after the banks merged in 2008 and became MidWestOne Bank, which was named the Coolest Place to Work in the Corridor last week.
MidWestOne is the fourth largest bank in the Corridor, with $578 million in deposits in 2012.
Prior to that, he held positions as president and central region manager and chief investment officer for Brenton Bank in Des Moines.
“Out of each of the four institutions I worked for, I was lucky enough to have one person who seemed to take an interest in me and gave me valuable advice,” Mr. Funk said. “I would encourage a younger person in business to find somebody they can talk to maybe a couple rungs above them on the totem pole.”
He serves on the faculty of the Colorado Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colo., and the Iowa School of Banking. Previously, he taught for the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Georgetown University. He also is a member of the Iowa Bankers Association’s board of directors and recently served as its chairman. He was named to the Most Influential list each year from 2006-2009 by Corridor Business Journal readers, as well.
Mr. Funk is a respected leader among his industry peers and coworkers. Known for his sense of humor and direct approach, he is the first to admit it he was not an overnight success in management.
“I think I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, a lot of them in my current job,” he said.
Holding people accountable and questioning their process, for example, we’re not immediately part of his leadership model.
“So often 15 years ago, people would say something and I would be apt to take their word for it. Today, I’m more inclined to challenge that person and say ‘what are the numbers to support this,’” he said.
Over the years, he’s learned that he doesn’t have all the answers.
“I think the most important change, I’ve always been a good communicator but my style of communication is much better today than it was even five to six years ago,” he said. “What I’ve realized is you have to tell people things multiple times in multiple ways. I thought by becoming a CEO if you tell people something once it will automatically take hold and get done and nothing could be further from the truth.”
Looking ahead, Mr. Funk said he wants to see the company grow and flourish.
“What I would hope is my health will remain good and that I can finish my career in the position I’m in now,” he said.
His health has always been a priority. For 23 years, he stayed active by refereeing high school and college basketball. At age 50, he retired that hobby because he was tired of the late nights.
“Everybody has got a different story. Everybody got to where they are through a different route. You can tell there’s been a common theme my whole life — sports are a great teacher of life lessons,” he said.
At age 52, he ran his first marathon. Now, at age 59, he has run 10 marathons.
“I run five days a week. If I set a goal, and that’s what it calls for, I’m going to do the run,” he said.
He just started an 18-week training program, where he runs 35-40 miles a week, to prepare for the Twin Cities Marathon this fall.
He’s even inspired a few MidWestOne employees to start running.
“To me, the real value of running marathons is your able to stay strong and have some stamina. One of the things about being a CEO of a company this size is you really do need some stamina. When I’m training for a marathon is when I have the most energy in my job,” Mr. Funk said.
Mr. Funk has run the Boston Marathon three times, which involves a selective process to qualify for the race.
“That’s got to be one of the top sports experiences I’ve ever had,” he said.
