Ehsan Taqbeem, President & CEO of mQrg Profile

Charles Wagner
CEO & President
United Trust Bank


Ehsan Taqbeem, President & CEO of mQrg Certificate

“Look at ways to expand your business and assist others”

Charles Wagner, Chairman, CEO, & President, United Trust Bank, graduated from the University of Georgia with a BBA in Finance. His passion is assisting people and organizations to achieve success in all aspects of life and business.

One of the traits Charles possessed that contributed to the success of his firm was a collaborative leadership style that included the whole team in the brainstorming process. He even projected that the ideas would fail if "Charles" was the only one to come up with them.

Charles has learned from his experiences as a leader that during debates, emotions are virtually always present and the truth is almost always in the middle of the issue. Charles is now able to make more thoughtful judgments. Every team member begins to consider themselves when there is a change in the workplace, so the leader must continually answer and reassure the "me" question.

Charles instantly begins searching for the next challenge or speed bump when everything in business is going smoothly since nothing in business is ever flawless. He pays attention and makes an effort to apply some of the criticism to his regular workday. As an illustration, many years ago, one of his senior executives informed him that everyone felt uneasy whenever he was on a call with his door closed. He, therefore, began answering even the most challenging calls with his door open so that his employees could unwind, absorb the information he was handling, and even determine whether the company was experiencing problems. It significantly reduced the business-related rumors.

"United Trust Bank is a turnaround story," adds Charles. This bank has been in trouble since its inception in 2000 and has blown through close to $15 million in the capital. When a bank or business is a long-term failure, you typically have a people issue or a process issue. When I got involved in this bank in very late 2018, we had both issues. Our management team, our board, and our team were lost. Our processes were arcane. Today, we have remade our Board of Directors into strong business minds who challenge management in a constructive and productive way. We have remade our management team while also coaching the legacy management that was willing to change. We have remade our operations and sales teams as well. We are now all partners in the business and everyone has a say, even though I may have to have the final say. Today, we are working on bringing our technology up to industry standards as a failing bank did not have the resources to complete this opportunity. Things like our bank-branded mobile banking and online account opening technology for both deposit and lending customers.

Big banks can outprice us, outspend us on technology, and on advertising, but customers want access to the bank's leaders. They want to be known to everyone in the bank, so we give them our cell phones and talk to them at all hours and it’s simple. A small bank like ours has to be high-touch and high-service. We don’t make a loan to a customer unless both they and we, as the bank, believe it will help them. We have agreed with customers that our solution does not help them and both agreed to not move forward, asserts Charles.

In its 22 years of existence, this bank has been profitable for three years. Prior to my arrival, the amounts were insignificant in 2005, $1.6 million in 2021; and $2.5 million in 2022. Most of the negative earnings years were 7-figure losses. Prior to late 2018, the regulators, board, and leadership of this bank had all but abandoned it. We are now a thriving business. We have saved businesses during COVID (not using PPP funds) with our lending. We have helped our customers save their family house or buy a new family house. We have helped our veterans consolidate all their debts into one payment and improve their cash flow drastically. We also expect to have our primary regulator deem us out of trouble later this year and we are out of trouble, but regulators take time to acknowledge it.

I have personally invested financially in five businesses that we started up, says Charles. As a banker, I try to find good-character individuals who need both financing and guidance to work with. Being an entrepreneur is hard, and having a solid circle of guidance around you is important.

Charles is ecstatic to share the news that they will be increasing their footprint and moving to the southeast to coincide with the concentration of wealth in that region. He is also certain that they will go on to great things ahead!


Company

United Trust Bank

Management

Charles Wagner
CEO & President
United Trust Bank

Description

At United Trust Bank we provide financial solutions to our customers while being fully committed to offering exceptional service and value. Unlike many banks and mortgage lenders, our bank is owned by our employees, not just stockholders. This important difference allows us to be more focused on the people we serve. Across the nation, our team has improved the financial future of thousands of customers -- helping them secure cash, lower their rates and reduce their monthly payments. We maintain a strong commitment to creating lifelong relationships with our customers in communities nationwide.


Inspiring Leaders Magazine 2022