Dale & Quentin Leighty: A Legacy of Relationship Banking in Colorado
Quentin Leighty describes his father, Dale, as “the guy that if you sat next to him on an airplane, you’re going to know him in the first hour.” Dale’s engaging personality means he’ll learn plenty about you too. “He’ll pull it out of you,” Quentin adds with a grin.
BUILDING A LEGACY
You can’t miss the casual blend of good-natured humor and utmost respect listening to this father-son duo chat outside of their full schedules running First National Bank Colorado. Over coffee and fresh pastries, Dale and the middle of three boys, Quentin, kick back in Quentin’s and wife, Angela’s, Tri-Lakes living room.
There’s no filling 69-year-old Dale’s cowboy boots. Or walking in his workday dress shoes. There’s no need. Quentin, 43, is his own man, who accomplished much in the banking business before joining the Colorado community bank. The Leightys’ history with First National Bank Colorado traces its roots to a cup of coffee and Dale’s innate graciousness with strangers — and not just on airplanes.
THE LEIGHTY FAMILY STORY
Born and raised in rural southwest Kansas, Dale graduated in economics and finance from Kansas State University in 1975 and started work with a community bank in Colby, Kansas. One day in 1980, Dale noticed an older gentleman sitting in the bank lobby and offered to get him a cup of coffee. The two started talking and Dale learned the man and his wife were visiting from southern Colorado.
A year later the man returned and continued their conversation about the older man’s family-owned bank back in Las Animas, Colorado. The 1901-founded First National Bank was in transition, looking for a new owner. The benefits of bank ownership intrigued Dale, and after a few more cups of coffee, two local Kansas farmers invested money to buy the bank so Dale could run it.
“I could’ve never done this without the support of those guys that had faith in me,” Dale explains. “That was key.”
Dale’s wife, Verna, who he met in junior college and married in 1974, had faith in him too. Together they moved with their three young sons west across the state line. At age 28, Dale became a bank owner and president, something quite rare in the U.S. banking industry. Two members of the previous banking family continued with the Las Animas bank and helped Dale gain acceptance in the community.
NAVIGATING CHALLENGES, INSPIRING SUCCESS
“We started in ’82 right at a horrible time in banking. Interest rates were crazy high. Farmers were paying 21% interest rate on their loans. We were in the huge ag crisis and saw a lot of defaults and farmers go broke. A lot of banks failed,” Dale recalls. “We were blessed to not be amongst those statistics, but it was tough. Those first eight years were very tense and challenging.”
Dale never questioned his see-it-through commitment to be a bank owner, and he attributes much of his resolve to his faith.
“All blessings come from God. That’s the bottom line,” Dale shares. “He chooses whether or not we’re going to succeed. We’re a high-performing bank and doing well, but we don’t take that for granted. Our trust in Him is underlying our entire lives.”
There’s no mistaking this family’s faith and togetherness. One living room wall is lined with shelves of 18 framed family photos. Weddings. Great grandpa in his denim overalls. Grade-schooler Quentin scratching the ears of his puppy. “This Is Us” inscribed on weathered wood lends a folksy title to the heirloom photos.
“Faith in our family has been generational. My grandma made sure that my dad’s generation was definitely in church. It’s been a part of our DNA,” Quentin explains. “I was raised in the church, and not that I always followed through in tough times when I was young, but I’ve always had a strong faith in God and married a godly woman. There is not a time thinking back where faith was not the cornerstone of our family.”
FAITH AT THE CENTER OF THE FAMILY
Quentin volunteers with their church’s youth group. “I work with the kids, and I love doing that,” adds the father of four: Anna, 18, Noah, 16, Claire, 14, and Jenna, 11. Angela and Quentin met the first day of college at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley (UNC). The two started dating that January and married right after graduation in 2002.
As a teen, Quentin showed no interest in banking. He didn’t work at the bank in high school like his brothers. “I wanted to be outdoors roofing or flipping burgers or mowing lawns. I thought it’d be fun to be a teacher and coach sports,” says the former high school standout in football, baseball, and basketball. “I started college down that route, but I quickly decided, once I took a few business classes, that economics and finance just felt right.”
AN UNEXPECTED CAREER CHANGE
Quentin landed a teller job at a Greeley bank while at UNC. “I absolutely loved that job,” Quentin says. “I moved up slightly, and they wanted to keep me on after college, but my wife and I were heading to Seattle so she could get her master’s degree in psychology.”
For three years Quentin worked at a Seattle bank, absorbing all he could about the day-to-day of running a bank. He commuted to work two to three hours by bus, arriving early and staying late. “I worked my tail off because I really wanted to understand how all this worked. I would dig through every GL (general ledger) entry that happened the day before to make sure I understood what that would affect,” Quentin says. “We went to Seattle for my wife to get her master’s, but I really felt like I got a master’s in banking while I was out there.”
When the Seattle bank sold, Quentin and Angela discussed returning closer to family with their first baby girl. The Greeley bank would welcome Quentin back, but Dale and the First National Bank Colorado team were interested too.
WHERE TO NEXT?
“It wasn’t a slam dunk that he’d join us, but we sure wanted him,” Dale states. “The opportunity in the Monument office and in general felt like it was the best fit for their young family.” At that time the bank had offices in Las Animas, La Junta, and Monument.
In 2005 Quentin joined First National Bank Colorado in Monument and is now this bank’s president and the chief financial officer. In his earlier banking career, Quentin served in operations and finance, now he added lending to his duties.
Dale made sure that his son was not given special treatment. Under some initial watchful eyes, Quentin worked diligently to prove himself an astute banker. As Dale told one bank director, “Quentin is not going to have an office in the basement with no electricity, nor is he going have a penthouse office.”
BALANCED APPROACH TO TEAMWORK
That sensible, balanced approach has paid off for Dale as his son has assimilated into banking throughout southern Colorado and the Front Range. Since Quentin’s arrival, First National Bank Colorado has more than tripled in growth. Quentin stretched the bank to expand and consider a wider variety of investments.
“Quentin brought a skillset that we did not have. His analytics in investing require a different sophistication than I ever had,” Dales points out. “Quentin really has the respect of the directors. If he brings something to the table and has done his analytics, they have great confidence in that.”
Although Quentin’s and Dale’s bank offices are over 100 miles apart, they stay connected daily through phone calls and emails. “We work really well together. We have a level of respect for one another not just personally, but also in the business world,” Quentin shares. “I appreciate that it took a lot of hard work and sacrifice to get to where the bank is today. And I love that I get the opportunity to work for a business that I have a say in the results and the actions that are taken.”
COMPLIMENTARY LEADERSHIP
The two complement each other’s leadership strengths. Dale excels with his people management skills, while Quentin revels in running the daily numbers and looking at risk and reward. Together they’ve built a loyal officer team that shares in the bank’s ownership.
Micromanagement is not on the balance sheets at First National Bank Colorado. The Leightys believe in transparency and the board and officers invite input and discussions with their entire banking staff.
“We really believe in surrounding ourselves with good people, and we’ve done that with our dedicated team of officers and staff,” Dale explains.
“Who you spend your time with is important. First National Bank Colorado has experienced steady growth because of the professionalism, openness, and trust we share among all of us who serve our customers.”
As a community bank, one of First National Bank Colorado’s greatest assets is the community. When deposits are made at a local bank, the money stays locally. Community banks offer more than 60% of America’s small-business loans and more than 80% of agriculture loans. First National Bank Colorado employees also give back to the community with their time. In 2022, employees from all seven bank locations volunteered 3,000 hours to over 70 different local organizations.
OPEN DOOR POLICY
“We have open door policies. Every day customers come in just to catch up or ask questions or push me on a rate. Here, customers have access to decision makers. There’s not a huge bureaucracy,” Quentin explains. “In our community bank model, if you bring in deposits to us, we’re going to lend them back out and reinvest in the community.”
Dale puts 40,000 miles a year on his pickup truck driving to visit all seven bank offices and interact with employees and bank customers. He and Verna make regular trips from their home in Las Animas to see their sons’ families in Monument, Indiana, and in western Kansas. Dale owns a cow-calf operation 50 miles north of Dodge City that son Brian runs and grows wheat, milo, and corn. Every June, the extended Leighty family gathers there for wheat harvest.
“We work together every summer at harvest. That’s some of the best memories ever, and some of the worst memories ever,” shares Quentin who recalls a favorite memory running the grain cart flanked by his dad, brother, and son on combines and trucks.
HARDSHIP AND CHALLENGES
But not everything about harvest season brings happy thoughts. Older brother, Justin, suffered a fatal equipment accident during harvest 2017. At times the grief is still painfully raw.
Dale and Quentin are not impervious to weathering life’s storms. Yet through it all they are cognizant of their blessings from above. A plaque rests on Quentin’s and Angela’s fireplace mantle with the Bible’s words from Psalm 118:24: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
“That verse is a reminder every day to be joyful because I have blessings beyond what I ever deserve — my wife, my kids, and my parents. And a job that I truly enjoy,” Quentin emphasizes.
Quentin notes his father is a let’s-get-to-the-point man and let’s solve the issue and move on. Years of wisdom and building trust is why Colorado locals turn to Dale as an executor of their will or ask his help with estate planning. Dale is quick to point out Quentin’s humility, natural leadership, and his solid judgment.
“We never dreamed Quentin would pursue banking. We never pressured any of our kids in that direction,” adds Dale who never missed a single high school game of Quentin’s. These days Dale and Verna cheer on their 10 grandkids — Noah is the only grandson — in their sports, music, cheer, and other extracurricular endeavors.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Noah and Claire clean the Monument bank and Noah mows the lawn. “We’re starting them out at the ground level,” Quentin says of his middle two. “With four kids, maybe one will be interested in banking, you never know. We definitely won’t push it.”
Papa Dale thinks 14-year-old Claire has the CEO mentality and dad Quentin affirms her people-person charisma. Another generation of Leighty bankers may be budding. The Leighty family is grateful they see eye–to–eye on so many things, but they disagree with what Papa calls their meals. Dale still sticks to his Kansas upbringing of breakfast, dinner, and supper. Quentin’s family? Not so much. “My grandkids correct me all the time. I’ve never convinced them as to what is right,” Dale jests.
A personable conversationalist, especially over coffee, Dale has no need to talk clients into joining the community family of First National Bank Colorado. The bank’s 120-year track record of standing steady through the Great Depression to the pandemic speaks volumes, so does the father and son’s long-term decisions to help their communities, employees, clients, and shareholders.
SOLID VALUES. SOLID RELATIONSHIPS.
“We’re pretty conservative. We sock more away for our loans than most, we carry more capital than most, we carry more liquidity than most,” Quentin adds. “We’ve been through a lot over the years, and we just sleep better knowing that we’re solid.”
Solid values, solid business decisions, and solid relationships.
First National Bank Colorado. Your local, community bank. Relationship banking since 1901.