Eric Skrum, Wisconsin Bankers Association
608/441-1216 | (c) 608/445-6430 | eskrum@wisbank.com
Madison – The Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA) is pleased to announce the 2018 Community Banker of the Year is Stephen J. Eager, President and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank & Trust Company (UB&T).
Eager began leading the family business as UB&T’s President in 2013. During his leadership time at the bank, he has successfully cultivated the agricultural and trust areas of the bank. UB&T’s ag portfolio has increased to 35% of the bank’s total loan business and the revenues from their Crop Insurance Team comprise 18% of the bank’s total revenue. Trust assets have more than doubled and continue to increase under robust and experienced staff recruited and supervised by Eager. Additionally, he has fostered impressive growth in his tenure; loans have grown 73% from 2013 through 2018.
As a banking industry leader, Eager currently serves on the WBA Government Relations Committee and as the ICBA Wisconsin District 1 Delegate to the ICBA Federal Delegate Board. Eager is currently on the Bankers’ Bank Board of Directors. He has also been a past Community Bankers of Wisconsin Chair.
Eager’s service to the community can be seen through the many people and organizations he has touched throughout his career. These include the Evansville Lions Club, the Evansville Chamber of Commerce, The Evansville Fund, The Eager Free Public Library Capital Fundraising Steering Committee, The Evansville Manor, Coaching Evansville Youth Soccer, and Evansville Youth Basketball.
Eager extends his commitment to community service through his passion, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Fueled by his son Prentice’s diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes when he was only 8 years old, Eager gives tirelessly of his time to JDRF. He has served as Treasurer for the Friends of Diabetes Research (2012-2017), co-planned and attends the JDRF Gala, and created an Evansville Community Walk Team whose proceeds benefit JDRF. In 2018, he biked his 10th Century Ride: 100 miles in one day to benefit the JDRF’s Ride for a Cure, which he has biked since 2012.
Eager is respected by his fellow bankers and his community as a leader who is caring and involved both in and outside of the bank.
Eager was recognized for his lifetime of caring and commitment to his staff, bank, and community at the WBA Bank Executives Conference in Milwaukee, the largest banking event in Wisconsin, on February 5, 2019.
Nominated by UB&T’s Chief Financial Officer, Julie Redfern, the award is granted to one Wisconsin community banker each year. The person must be a Wisconsin bank CEO or president who has made an outstanding effort in service to his or her bank over their career, who invests in the continued vitality of their communities, and to the banking profession as a whole.
