May 27, 2024 • 12 mins
Don Barr is the president and CEO of Galion Building and Loan Bank. The company, which got started back in 1888, is a community bank providing home loans, construction loans, car and personal loans, along with home equity lines of credit.
Don, who has been with GBL Bank since 1976, was born in Galion and is a graduate of Galion High School. Barr went to college at Wittenberg University in Springfield. Learn all about the great services offered by Galion Building and Loan Bank, and more about Don Barr, on the podcast.
Don, who has been with GBL Bank since 1976, was born in Galion and is a graduate of Galion High School. Barr went to college at Wittenberg University in Springfield. Learn all about the great services offered by Galion Building and Loan Bank, and more about Don Barr, on the podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The CEO you should know, broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO, Don bar Presidentof Galleon Building and Loan Bank,
DoD Good morning, Good morning,Aeron, Thank you for coming in today.
Yes, we appreciate the time.I know I've heard the name and
(00:21):
I've heard about your company, butglad to have you with us here in
studio. So let's begin. Ialways start with everybody the same way.
Maybe somebody's new to the area andthey don't know about your company, Gallleon
Building and Loan Bank. Let's beginthere and tell us what you guys do.
Yeah, well, erin we youknow, we were basically a small
community bank and we make all kindsof loans. That our primary loans are
(00:47):
home loans. And back when Ifirst started in nineteen seventy six, all
we ever made was just had ahome loan and a past book. Well,
now we basically do everything that anyother community bank would do car loans,
we have personal loans, we havefirst mortgage loans, home equity lines
of credit deposit CDs. Now we'vegot the mobile banking, the internet banking,
(01:14):
all the new things that are requiredtoday to give our customers the electronic
services that they need. Sounds likeyou guys provide a great service. Again,
we're chatting with Don bar this morningand studio, president of Gallleon Building
and Loan Bankings this week's CEO youshould know. All right, So how
about some history. How long hasthe company been around? Let's go there.
(01:38):
Well, Gallleon Building Loan was startedway back in eighteen eighty eight and
it was started by local businessmen andGallion and they started. Their hours were
like nine o'clock am in the morningtill nine pm in the evening once a
week on Saturdays, and that's wheneverybody would come into Gallion to do they're
(02:00):
shopping. Farmers would come in,you know at that time me came in
by horse and buggy. So beenaround for a long long time. It
just continued to serve the community,continues to grow. We do basically everything
that any other community bank does.Now you mentioned continue to grow. You
(02:22):
serve residents for multiple counties. Talkabout the area cover. Yes, our
primary market area is start out atCrawford County and now we do a lot
in Morrow County, we do alot in Richland County. We stretch over
into Marion a little bit, butwe do. We do a lot of
construction loans. We go down asfar as you know Butler, you know,
(02:44):
we go as north as Shelby.That's one thing that's kind of fun
is going out and seeing these constructionsites and watching the houses being built and
working with the you know, thepeople too. They're so excited to get
their new home. It's fun towork with them and see their new house
(03:05):
grow. Well. It's great tolearn about your story and your company.
And Don Barr the voice you hearthis morning, he is the president of
gb L Bank. That is GalleonBuilding and Loan. You told me that
over the years you've kind of shortenedthat, right, Yeah, it seems
like all our customers they instead ofsaying Galleon Building Loan Bank, they would
all refer to us as I'm goingto GBL and so now you just kind
(03:28):
of shorten it to GBL bank,all right. And that's the website,
by the way, gblbank dot com. Where are you located at in Gallion?
Talk about all that? You know, Originally our main office was down
on South Market Street, and thenwe build a larger office out on nine
to twenty Bcyrus Road the edge oftown, and during the COVID period just
(03:50):
basically had to shut down do allour banking through the drive through window or
closing loans out in the parking lot. That was kind of interesting. Since
then we just started having the lobbyopen in South Market Street. We just
had the drive through open there andwe do all our banking through the office
(04:10):
at nine to twenty Besireus Road.All right, Don, how long have
you been with the company in total? Well, I came in nineteen seventy
six, so I've been there fortyeight years. Have you had multiple roles
in terms of titles, so Iknow you're president now or has it always
been president? Well, when Ifirst came there was myself in basically three
(04:31):
tellers, and that was back innineteen seventy six, and at that time
my title was secretary and managing officer. So over the years it's kind of
you know, the titles have changedand I am president and CEO. All
right, terrific and president CEO galleonbuilding in Loan Bank, Don bar this
week's CEO you should know. Allright, let's step away from work,
(04:53):
find out a bit more about you. Let's step back to the beginning,
tell us where was Don barr Well. I was born in Gallien. I
graduated from Gallian High School and Iwent on to Wittenberg University graduated there in
seventy two. After that, Icame back and worked for my dad in
(05:13):
real estate. He had fred BarRealty, and you know, I learned
all about loan closings and everything atthat time because we would run the closings
through our Escro accounts. So thatwas a really great learning experience for me
going into banking later. And thenafter a while, I went down and
(05:33):
used my accounting and worked for aCPA firm down in Bethesda, Maryland for
a couple of years, and thenthe managing officer in Gallion passed away and
I ended up getting the job atthat time, back in nineteen seventy six.
I kind of enjoyed going back toa small town from where it was
(05:54):
before. Now, let me askyou growing up you had mentioned your dad
in real estate. Did you knowyou wanted to get in bank? And
growing up did you have other aspirations? Tell us about Don barr A was
a kid. As you're going tohigh school and college, what were the
aspirations? Well, when I wentto college, I actually worked for contractors
in the summertime, and I kindof thought maybe I would either do construction
(06:16):
or actually actually thought about going intothe ministry at one point, and Wittenberg
was a seminary, you know,Lutheran seminary, and I kind of thought
maybe I might even do that.But the thing I liked about the new
job in Galleon after being at theCBA firm in Maryland was that I could
go to Galliant and help people buytheir homes. And that's an exciting thing,
(06:41):
you know, for people to buytheir first home. And I enjoyed
doing that. And then I alsowas active in the church with youth groups
and have continued to be active inthe church throughout the years. All right,
well, let's find out a littlebit more about Don bars. We
found out from Gallian Gallian High School, Wittenberg for college. I don't know
if you're married, children, tellus about Don Barr and the family.
(07:02):
Yes, yes, I'm married,and we had four kids, and we
now have eight grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren, and that takes a lot of
our time, and I really enjoytime with our grandchildren. Then I also
I enjoy hunting deer hunting and alsofishing. All right, terrific to learn
(07:26):
about Don Barr and the family.He is the president of Galleon Building and
LOANBANKGBL bank dot com their website.All right, let's get back to work
and learn a bit more about thecompany. Roughly right now. You told
me you just hired somewhere the otherday. How many staff members do you
guys have? Yes, well,we have fifteen, and I tell you
for a small staff of fifteen,we do a lot. Everybody really works
(07:50):
well together. We work as ateam, and being small like that,
we spend a lot of time youknow, with each each other probably you
know, you figure it eight hoursa day. We all get along really
well and we support each other.And I'm very proud of our group.
Awesome to hear about a great stafffor you guys, Don. All right,
(08:13):
so let's talk a bit more aboutwork, because you think about anybody's
line of work. Now, technologyhas really changed things. You can do
at anything from a smartphone, thosekind of things, and I know,
and you think about banking. Youtalked about mobile You can deposit something,
you can you know, change thingsfrom accounts, all that kind of stuff.
Technology has become a big game changerin your industry. Yes, it
(08:35):
sure has, you know it.Uh. I think back to when I
first started. We had everybody's informationon these cards, and my my security
was I take the cards, putthem on a card, stick them in
a vault, and lock the door, and I had to worry about anybody
getting into personal information at all.But today, you know, it's gotten
(08:56):
to be to where you have tobe so very care careful about security.
And we have a top notch companythat monitors all our websites. Monitors are
file servers and everything that goes throughyou know, the accounts, so that
there is no one hacking into thesystem. We spend a lot of time,
(09:18):
we spend a lot of money tryingto make sure that everybody's information is
secure. You know, you talkabout security and that that is, you
know, such an important topic.You mentioned that when you know customers,
you know, working with the bank, that they feel secure and customer service
is I know it has to beright at the top of your priority as
well. Yes, with this technologytoday, there's a lot of questions.
(09:41):
There's a lot of people don't quiteunderstand maybe what has gone through their accounts
or like I say the security.There's so many people that are getting calls
all the time telling them that,oh, this is Johnny your grandson,
and I'm you know, I'm injail. I need you to send me
some money, and so they getspoofed, and then we try to walk
(10:09):
them through this and just say no, this is not a real transaction.
Don't send them any money. You'retalking about those scam calls that the people
will get where you mentioned the wordspoof, where the number may show up
like it's a legitimate number. Sothose are the kind of things you want
to, you know, talk tothe police, talk to your bank,
make sure you don't send that moneyout right, correct? Yes, right.
(10:30):
Don bar is with us in thestudio. Very good, very important
information. He's this week's CEO.You should know. He's the president of
Gallion Building and Loan Bank. Theirwebsite gbl bank dot com. Before I
let you go, a couple morethings. You said they can call you.
Do you want to throw out thephone number for the Yes, phone
number is four one nine four sixeight three one one three. All right,
(10:52):
So that's the you can get allthe information on the website as well,
right, all right, terrific,Don. Before I let you go,
it's been a great conversation. Ikind of wanted to give you a
moment to tell people, you know, what makes you guys special. Everybody
talks about their company, mentioned greatstaff and things like that, but what
makes you guys unique at Gallon Buildingand Loan Bank. Well, I think
(11:13):
from the moment you walk in thedoor and our tellers greet you by name,
or our loan officers greet you byname, that it's more like a
family, and that the people Ibelieve, enjoy coming in and doing their
banking someplace that people know them,and so they also because we know them,
(11:35):
if they have any questions or anything, that we are really easy access,
easy to talk to, and we'revery willing to help our customers and
anything they want, and they're notafraid to ask whatever question. And then
just like I say, it's likea family. Well, you mentioned that
great local personal touch. Yes,yeah, always accessible, always right there.
(12:00):
And you mentioned they know you byname as well. Yes, awesome,
awesome, great to hear, greatstory this morning, Don bar President
Galleon Building and Loan Bank. Thewebsite, great website. You mentioned mobile
banking, all kinds of great optionsthey have. Their website is gblbank dot
com. Well, Donn, it'sbeen great to learn your fantastic story.
(12:20):
We thank you for coming in andwe wish you continued success. Yes,
well, thank you, Erin DonBarr, President of Galleon Building and Loan
Bank. The CEO you should knowrita bio cee a photo and here the
extended interview at WMA n FM dotcom. This is John Roby of RFME
Insurance. It has said that agood leader sets the bar high because he
(12:43):
or she wants to reach goals andmake the best of their teams. We're
proud to introduce you to some ofthe community's leaders on the CEO series
The CEO you should know, broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO, Don bar Presidentof Galleon Building and Loan Bank,
DoD Good morning, Good morning,Aeron, Thank you for coming in today.
Yes, we appreciate the time.I know I've heard the name and
(00:21):
I've heard about your company, butglad to have you with us here in
studio. So let's begin. Ialways start with everybody the same way.
Maybe somebody's new to the area andthey don't know about your company, Gallleon
Building and Loan Bank. Let's beginthere and tell us what you guys do.
Yeah, well, erin we youknow, we were basically a small
community bank and we make all kindsof loans. That our primary loans are
(00:47):
home loans. And back when Ifirst started in nineteen seventy six, all
we ever made was just had ahome loan and a past book. Well,
now we basically do everything that anyother community bank would do car loans,
we have personal loans, we havefirst mortgage loans, home equity lines
of credit deposit CDs. Now we'vegot the mobile banking, the internet banking,
(01:14):
all the new things that are requiredtoday to give our customers the electronic
services that they need. Sounds likeyou guys provide a great service. Again,
we're chatting with Don bar this morningand studio, president of Gallleon Building
and Loan Bankings this week's CEO youshould know. All right, So how
about some history. How long hasthe company been around? Let's go there.
(01:38):
Well, Gallleon Building Loan was startedway back in eighteen eighty eight and
it was started by local businessmen andGallion and they started. Their hours were
like nine o'clock am in the morningtill nine pm in the evening once a
week on Saturdays, and that's wheneverybody would come into Gallion to do they're
(02:00):
shopping. Farmers would come in,you know at that time me came in
by horse and buggy. So beenaround for a long long time. It
just continued to serve the community,continues to grow. We do basically everything
that any other community bank does.Now you mentioned continue to grow. You
(02:22):
serve residents for multiple counties. Talkabout the area cover. Yes, our
primary market area is start out atCrawford County and now we do a lot
in Morrow County, we do alot in Richland County. We stretch over
into Marion a little bit, butwe do. We do a lot of
construction loans. We go down asfar as you know Butler, you know,
(02:44):
we go as north as Shelby.That's one thing that's kind of fun
is going out and seeing these constructionsites and watching the houses being built and
working with the you know, thepeople too. They're so excited to get
their new home. It's fun towork with them and see their new house
(03:05):
grow. Well. It's great tolearn about your story and your company.
And Don Barr the voice you hearthis morning, he is the president of
gb L Bank. That is GalleonBuilding and Loan. You told me that
over the years you've kind of shortenedthat, right, Yeah, it seems
like all our customers they instead ofsaying Galleon Building Loan Bank, they would
all refer to us as I'm goingto GBL and so now you just kind
(03:28):
of shorten it to GBL bank,all right. And that's the website,
by the way, gblbank dot com. Where are you located at in Gallion?
Talk about all that? You know, Originally our main office was down
on South Market Street, and thenwe build a larger office out on nine
to twenty Bcyrus Road the edge oftown, and during the COVID period just
(03:50):
basically had to shut down do allour banking through the drive through window or
closing loans out in the parking lot. That was kind of interesting. Since
then we just started having the lobbyopen in South Market Street. We just
had the drive through open there andwe do all our banking through the office
(04:10):
at nine to twenty Besireus Road.All right, Don, how long have
you been with the company in total? Well, I came in nineteen seventy
six, so I've been there fortyeight years. Have you had multiple roles
in terms of titles, so Iknow you're president now or has it always
been president? Well, when Ifirst came there was myself in basically three
(04:31):
tellers, and that was back innineteen seventy six, and at that time
my title was secretary and managing officer. So over the years it's kind of
you know, the titles have changedand I am president and CEO. All
right, terrific and president CEO galleonbuilding in Loan Bank, Don bar this
week's CEO you should know. Allright, let's step away from work,
(04:53):
find out a bit more about you. Let's step back to the beginning,
tell us where was Don barr Well. I was born in Gallien. I
graduated from Gallian High School and Iwent on to Wittenberg University graduated there in
seventy two. After that, Icame back and worked for my dad in
(05:13):
real estate. He had fred BarRealty, and you know, I learned
all about loan closings and everything atthat time because we would run the closings
through our Escro accounts. So thatwas a really great learning experience for me
going into banking later. And thenafter a while, I went down and
(05:33):
used my accounting and worked for aCPA firm down in Bethesda, Maryland for
a couple of years, and thenthe managing officer in Gallion passed away and
I ended up getting the job atthat time, back in nineteen seventy six.
I kind of enjoyed going back toa small town from where it was
(05:54):
before. Now, let me askyou growing up you had mentioned your dad
in real estate. Did you knowyou wanted to get in bank? And
growing up did you have other aspirations? Tell us about Don barr A was
a kid. As you're going tohigh school and college, what were the
aspirations? Well, when I wentto college, I actually worked for contractors
in the summertime, and I kindof thought maybe I would either do construction
(06:16):
or actually actually thought about going intothe ministry at one point, and Wittenberg
was a seminary, you know,Lutheran seminary, and I kind of thought
maybe I might even do that.But the thing I liked about the new
job in Galleon after being at theCBA firm in Maryland was that I could
go to Galliant and help people buytheir homes. And that's an exciting thing,
(06:41):
you know, for people to buytheir first home. And I enjoyed
doing that. And then I alsowas active in the church with youth groups
and have continued to be active inthe church throughout the years. All right,
well, let's find out a littlebit more about Don bars. We
found out from Gallian Gallian High School, Wittenberg for college. I don't know
if you're married, children, tellus about Don Barr and the family.
(07:02):
Yes, yes, I'm married,and we had four kids, and we
now have eight grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren, and that takes a lot of
our time, and I really enjoytime with our grandchildren. Then I also
I enjoy hunting deer hunting and alsofishing. All right, terrific to learn
(07:26):
about Don Barr and the family.He is the president of Galleon Building and
LOANBANKGBL bank dot com their website.All right, let's get back to work
and learn a bit more about thecompany. Roughly right now. You told
me you just hired somewhere the otherday. How many staff members do you
guys have? Yes, well,we have fifteen, and I tell you
for a small staff of fifteen,we do a lot. Everybody really works
(07:50):
well together. We work as ateam, and being small like that,
we spend a lot of time youknow, with each each other probably you
know, you figure it eight hoursa day. We all get along really
well and we support each other.And I'm very proud of our group.
Awesome to hear about a great stafffor you guys, Don. All right,
(08:13):
so let's talk a bit more aboutwork, because you think about anybody's
line of work. Now, technologyhas really changed things. You can do
at anything from a smartphone, thosekind of things, and I know,
and you think about banking. Youtalked about mobile You can deposit something,
you can you know, change thingsfrom accounts, all that kind of stuff.
Technology has become a big game changerin your industry. Yes, it
(08:35):
sure has, you know it.Uh. I think back to when I
first started. We had everybody's informationon these cards, and my my security
was I take the cards, putthem on a card, stick them in
a vault, and lock the door, and I had to worry about anybody
getting into personal information at all.But today, you know, it's gotten
(08:56):
to be to where you have tobe so very care careful about security.
And we have a top notch companythat monitors all our websites. Monitors are
file servers and everything that goes throughyou know, the accounts, so that
there is no one hacking into thesystem. We spend a lot of time,
(09:18):
we spend a lot of money tryingto make sure that everybody's information is
secure. You know, you talkabout security and that that is, you
know, such an important topic.You mentioned that when you know customers,
you know, working with the bank, that they feel secure and customer service
is I know it has to beright at the top of your priority as
well. Yes, with this technologytoday, there's a lot of questions.
(09:41):
There's a lot of people don't quiteunderstand maybe what has gone through their accounts
or like I say the security.There's so many people that are getting calls
all the time telling them that,oh, this is Johnny your grandson,
and I'm you know, I'm injail. I need you to send me
some money, and so they getspoofed, and then we try to walk
(10:09):
them through this and just say no, this is not a real transaction.
Don't send them any money. You'retalking about those scam calls that the people
will get where you mentioned the wordspoof, where the number may show up
like it's a legitimate number. Sothose are the kind of things you want
to, you know, talk tothe police, talk to your bank,
make sure you don't send that moneyout right, correct? Yes, right.
(10:30):
Don bar is with us in thestudio. Very good, very important
information. He's this week's CEO.You should know. He's the president of
Gallion Building and Loan Bank. Theirwebsite gbl bank dot com. Before I
let you go, a couple morethings. You said they can call you.
Do you want to throw out thephone number for the Yes, phone
number is four one nine four sixeight three one one three. All right,
(10:52):
So that's the you can get allthe information on the website as well,
right, all right, terrific,Don. Before I let you go,
it's been a great conversation. Ikind of wanted to give you a
moment to tell people, you know, what makes you guys special. Everybody
talks about their company, mentioned greatstaff and things like that, but what
makes you guys unique at Gallon Buildingand Loan Bank. Well, I think
(11:13):
from the moment you walk in thedoor and our tellers greet you by name,
or our loan officers greet you byname, that it's more like a
family, and that the people Ibelieve, enjoy coming in and doing their
banking someplace that people know them,and so they also because we know them,
(11:35):
if they have any questions or anything, that we are really easy access,
easy to talk to, and we'revery willing to help our customers and
anything they want, and they're notafraid to ask whatever question. And then
just like I say, it's likea family. Well, you mentioned that
great local personal touch. Yes,yeah, always accessible, always right there.
(12:00):
And you mentioned they know you byname as well. Yes, awesome,
awesome, great to hear, greatstory this morning, Don bar President
Galleon Building and Loan Bank. Thewebsite, great website. You mentioned mobile
banking, all kinds of great optionsthey have. Their website is gblbank dot
com. Well, Donn, it'sbeen great to learn your fantastic story.
(12:20):
We thank you for coming in andwe wish you continued success. Yes,
well, thank you, Erin DonBarr, President of Galleon Building and Loan
Bank. The CEO you should knowrita bio cee a photo and here the
extended interview at WMA n FM dotcom. This is John Roby of RFME
Insurance. It has said that agood leader sets the bar high because he
(12:43):
or she wants to reach goals andmake the best of their teams. We're
proud to introduce you to some ofthe community's leaders on the CEO series
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