OKLAHOMA CITY – A southwest Oklahoma native is the newly elected chairman of the Oklahoma Bankers Association.
Rick Walker, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Liberty National Bank in Lawton, was elected to the post via a “virtual” video meeting this week during the OBA’s annual conference. He will serve a one-year term.
Walker, 54, has been in the banking business for 33 years, since 1987. He started at First Bank and Trust in Duncan, and has been with Liberty National Bank for 15 years. “I grew up halfway between Lawton and Duncan,” he said. He attended high school at Empire, earned a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University and a Master’s in Business Administration through Oklahoma City University.
“We have a lot of customers who are struggling” because of the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the downturn in the energy exploration/production sector, he said. “But gradually we’re getting back closer to normal.”
The Oklahoma Bankers Association serves 226 member banks statewide. The OBA works with banks to ensure they have the tools they need to support their communities. Among the services the organization provides are fraud training programs for banks and financial literacy programs for communities across the state.