54
change, but adaptive change, in a positive way.
Where we started, we were a company
that was founded 20 years ago—our founder
decided to run to become governor and was
successful, but that took him out of day-to-
day business decisions. He was the guy that
was in here every day, running the business,
and he stepped out. We had to get used
to having a different management team.
And then the conversion from a mortgage
company to bank. ere's a reason that doesn't
happen. Banks acquire mortgage companies,
but mortgage companies don't acquire banks.
We've had to go through the conversion
process, and we had to change CEOs, We still
have some of that change to digest.
But I did think, you know, you can get
in the mindset that these are things that you
can figure out if you want it, you know, but I
tell people here that we have a challenge. We
either bury our head in the sand, set our hair
on fire and run around like the world's coming
to an end, or, we say today is what it is. Now
what are we going to do with it? Stay calm,
figure out what the next step in the process is,
and keep advancing.
DS: Sounds like you've been an effective
leader, yes?
Scott: It's been one of those things—
opportunity comes one of two ways: Either you
go looking for it and find it, or it finds you.
is was an opportunity that I think more
found me than that I was looking for it! But
one thing that you've got when you have good
people you work with, is a few things: You got
people behind you that aren't going to let you
fail. And you're not going to fail them. We're
all going to step up and do this. And so I'm
blessed to be in a situation where that's exactly
what I've got here. We're getting it figured out,
as a team.
Cover Story By: Christina Hughes Babb
Scott Gesell was "Slimed 4 Good"
as a fundraising event for the
Tulsa Area United Way. If the
team donated $25,000, Gateway
would match the employee
donations up to $25,000. Together,
the groups raised a total of
$50,095.
