In 2014, Carter Leak IV came home to St. Francisville join the bank his father built.
His career began in KPMG’s Baton Rouge office in its financial audit practice. From there, he moved on to the Shaw Group and CB&I, serving six years at the latter as vice president and controller in the Engineering, Construction, and Maintenance Segment in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In April, the board of directors elected him president of the Bank of St. Francisville. For Leak, leaving behind close friends and the community in Charlotte was difficult, but he couldn’t resist what awaited him in his hometown.
“I thought the opportunity was very unique: to be able to be a part of a thriving community of young professionals in St. Francisville and to participate in the continuing progress we are making in the community.”
As a CPA at KPMG, Leak was tasked with understanding and documenting clients’ business activities, including evaluating their risks and whether they were managing them effectively. That experience helped him as banker.
“I believe I am responsible for doing the same thing to maintain a strong bank and to share my insights with our clients to help them become more successful,” he says. “We don’t just make or deny loans. When working with a customer, our focus is on more than just economic need. We try to counsel people by providing comparative industry data and provide the benefit of our experience with many different types of companies.”
Leak also faced another life-changing experience while at KPMG. Weeks before starting his career at there, he was diagnosed with advanced melanoma, which resulted in several major surgeries and a year of treatments.
“I was young and a bit foolish, so I just kept on plugging away at studying for the CPA exam, while working at least 50 hours a week,” he says. “I matured pretty quickly during that difficult year and a half; I believe I learned perseverance and to see every day as a gift from God.”
Read the full Executive Spotlight feature. Here’s a sample of what you will find:
In an era of bank consolidation, how much harder is it for community banks like yours to survive?
The increased regulation from Dodd-Frank and other legislation that was designed to put controls around the largest banks in the country have created a significant cost increase for community banks. However, we believe that if we continue to separate ourselves through our relationships with our customers and focus on the long term, we will continue to thrive.
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