Top ag banking award goes to Nevada banker

The American Bankers Association Center for Agricultural and Rural Banking will present Phil Burns with its annual Bruning Award for his commitment to agricultural banking.

Burns serves as chairman, president and CEO of Town and Country Bank, Las Vegas, and as chairman of the four banks in the West Point Bancorp, Inc., Nebraska, holding company. He will receive the award at the ABA National Agricultural Bankers Conference, Nov. 12 to 15 in Las Vegas.

His dedicated service to his customers and the banking industry earned him the Bruning Award, which honors a lifetime commitment to providing credit and financial guidance to farmers, ranchers and businesses in rural America. Burns believes this mission is at the core of everything he does.

"The most rewarding elements of banking have been the interpersonal relationships with customers and in particular, helping young producers get started and becoming more and more successful over time," he said. "It makes one feel that as an individual, you really can make a difference."

Growing up on a grain and livestock farm in Northeast Kansas, Burns saw banking as an obvious career choice that would enable him to remain involved with agricultural producers and agribusiness. He began his career as a cashier at City National Bank (currently UMB Kansas) and worked his way up to vice president before moving to Farmers & Merchants National Bank in 1979.

Burns was president of the Nebraska Bankers Association, chairman of the American Bankers Association Agricultural & Rural Bankers Committee and past member of the American Bankers Association Rural Development Task Force. He served as director of the Nebraska Bankers Insurance Services Company and was director & chairman of the Kansas/Nebraska Schools of Banking.

But the difference Burns has made reaches further than the financial community. As a director of the West Point Chamber of Commerce, West Point Library Foundation and St. Francis Hospital Board, and chairman of the Central Catholic School Board, Burns daily has demonstrated his commitment to making a difference in the life of his town and its citizens.

Burns graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in agricultural economics. He and his wife Shirley have three grown children and four grandchildren.

The American Bankers Association, on behalf of the more than two million men and women who work in the nation's banks, brings together all categories of banking institutions to best represent the interests of this rapidly changing industry. Its membership-which includes community, regional and money center banks and holding companies, as well as savings associations, trust companies and savings banks-makes ABA the largest banking trade association in the country.

Date: 7/27/06

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