“When you think about what’s happening in America, there’s a bifurcation that’s happening,” says Orvin Kimbrough. “You have more and more people pushing to the upper echelons of economic continuum, and you have many more who are pushing to the lower end, and the middle group is being squeezed.”

Kimbrough — the CEO of Midwest BankCentre in St. Louis, who joined the bank as CEO in 2019 after a long career in nonprofit leadership — aims to build on his experience to bridge that gap and position the bank to succeed across customer segments. It’s a strategy that was recently recognized with an ABA Foundation Community Commitment Award for its community development efforts among St. Louis’ African-American and Bosnian-American communities.

On the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Kimbrough also discusses his unusual path to the bank C-suite, Midwest BankCentre’s partnerships with community and faith-based organizations, and ensuring that a bank’s board and C-suite represents all segments and communities the bank aims to serve.