College of Business welcomes alumnus Brad Bolton, CEO of Community Spirit Bank and chairman of ICBA
The University of West Alabama’s College of Business will welcome alumnus Brad Bolton to campus on Feb. 22. Bolton is chairman of the Independent Community of Bankers of America (ICBA) and will speak to students and guests in Bridges Auditorium at Wallace Hall. The talk is open to the community.
Bolton is president, CEO, and senior lender for Community Spirit Bank in Red Bay, Alabama. His work advocates for community banks and the unique ways they can serve their customers. He is a second-generation community banker, following in the footsteps of his father, Billy M. Bolton. Bolton learned from his father but says college economics and business classes drove him into community banking.
He was in college in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Community Spirit faced turbulent times and led him to put his degree on hold. In the thick of learning and understanding the community bank, he attended the state association’s community banking school and then Barret Graduate School of Banking in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bolton says he knew that to be the best banker he could be he needed to finish his undergraduate degree. Two-and-a-half years later, working full-time, married, with three young children, Bolton earned a bachelor of business administration from UWA’s College of Business in 2009. Now, he is on a mission to help steer the next generation of community bankers to successful paths.
He serves in many leadership roles at ICBA. He is chairman of the ICBA Executive Committee and the board of directors. He is a member of ICBA’s Federal Delegate Board and its Policy Development and Nominating committees as well as several other ICBA committees.
Bolton previously served on the board of directors as chairman of the Bank Education Committee and has also served on several other committees.
For more information on the visit, contact the College of Business at 205-652-3471 or email Dean William Hill at whill@uwa.edu.