"Whether your philosophy is geared toward in-depth or high level analysis, Country Banker will help you take it to the next level. Our system is customizable, intuitive and delivers effortless in-depth analysis."
Tim Ohlde, CEO & Founder, Country Banker Systems

Meet The Country Banker Team

Tim Ohlde
Tim Ohlde
CEO/Founder, Country Banker Systems

Tim has 36 years of experience in community banking, including extensive agriculture lending and as a rural bank president. He has served on the ABA Ag Committee, The Board of Bankers Bank of Kansas and on the Kansas Bankers Association Ag Committee. Tim brings a love of education to his perspective as a banker. He has taught for 20 years for the Kansas and Nebraska Schools of Banking, the North Dakota School of Banking and the Graduate School of Banking in Boulder Colorado. Tim is a graduate of Kansas State University with a degree in Agricultural Education.

Tim is married to Deb, who works as a consultant and also as a Membership Coordinator for Kansas Corn. He has instilled his love of agriculture in his three boys, Will (who also works full-time for Country Banker), Eli and Nathan. Will and his wife made Tim a grandparent in 2020. Tim's hobbies include wine-making, gardening and working out.

Eugene
Eugene Jennings
Senior Manager Software Support

Customer service is key for Eugene. He has worked for Country Banker for 5 years and is primarily responsible for training customers on software, troubleshooting customer issues and testing the program.

As a Pastor for 22 years he has spent a lot of time teaching, and finds that the work with Country Banker is a good complement. Helping people solve problems has always been his passion; he enjoys working with customers and teaching them how to use the software. Eugene really likes the vast variety of people he meets, and truly loves helping them get the answers they need.






 
Gina Sacco
Gina Sacco
Administrative Coordinator

Country Banker welcomed Gina in 2011.  She concentrates on administrative services, including accounting, data migration coordination, and conference planning/registration.

Gina played volleyball at Bethany College, Lindsborg, where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Business Economics.  She has experience as a Loan Processor and auditor at The Halstead Bank, Halstead; as an Accountant/Cash Manager for Koch Industries, Wichita. Currently she splits her time with the Elk State Bank, where she is responsible for accounting and the Call Report.   

Watching her three children play and explore on her family farm brings Gina much joy.  She and her husband, Eric spend free time volunteering at church and enjoying sports with the kids.

Will Ohlde
Will Ohlde
Sales Development Manager

Will currently works part-time for Country Banker and for Elk State Bank.  He graduated in December 2017 with a degree in Ag Econ from Kansas State University.

You will catch him at the information booth at conventions, but often he is working behind the scenes, testing new modules for release, taking customer support calls or helping with data migration.

At KSU, Will was active in the AGR Fraternity where he previously served as President. He and his wife, Airika currently live in Clifton. She works in the healthcare field and they both enjoy their dogs and working on their new home. Time living in Kansas City made Will miss working cattle and running a tractor.




 
Deb Ohlde
Deb Ohlde
Communications Director

Deb brings 25 plus years of experience in the community development field to Country Banker. She has worked with clients in the public and private sector while owning her own consulting company. Her primary responsibilities involve logistics for training, conferences and speaking engagements. She is an experienced writer, facilitator and project manager who helps bring the County Banker message to current and future clients through marketing and written content. Deb holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Economics and a Master’s in Public Administration, both from Kansas State University. She currently splits her time and provides grower and member services for a Kansas commodity association in addition to her work at Country Banker.

Deb, and her husband Tim, enjoy cheering on the KSU Wildcats and spending time with their three sons and daughter-in-law. Quiet time includes a good book, analyzing politics, and enjoying the gorgeous rural landscape in Kansas.



Country Banker's Core Values

  • One system should work for all your customers. You should use the same approach for ag, commercial, and consumer analysis.
  • Customers are worth the investment in a robust system of analysis.
  • You will reap rewards from fully understanding your customer's status.
  • The lending and analysis philosophy is unique to each bank. You must be able to customize and update your system.
  • The system should enhance your lending experience.
  • Your workload should decrease, and the quality of information you have available to make decisions should increase.
  • Customer data confidentiality and protection is key to banking relationships.
  • You should own your data.
  • The software system should make sense from a banker's point of view.
  • You should intuitively understand the system and be able to use it immediately because the design was driven by bankers.
  • Information and analysis for a single customer and across the portfolio must be reliable.
  • Your system should lead you to consistency and uniformity.


Thank You For Considering Country Banker

Nearly 30 years ago, after sitting on the Farm Financial Standards Council and grasping the value of quality financial analysis, I realized that our bank could do better by our customers. We could all benefit together if we had a tool to propel customers to a new, higher level of thinking about their own operation. They deserved a more accurate picture of their current finances; a better way to evaluate risk, potential borrowing decisions and expansion choices; and improved understanding about their profitability. Our bank needed a tool to simplify this higher level analysis and give us a deeper understanding of our loan portfolio.

We couldn't find a system that did what we wanted that was also straightforward, so we decided our customers were worth it and we created one from the ground up. We built it so that customer education is fundamental. Crafting a software system with no flexibility might deliver more numbers, but would not have been tailored to our lending philosophy and the unique aspects of our portfolio. Our customers needed to be engaged so they understood and appreciated this approach.  The system had to be customer friendly and provide information in a format the customer could grasp and apply to their operation.

As a starting point, we knew the system had to emphasize a double-column balance sheet and allow for accrual adjusted as well as cash basis analysis.  Fundamental aspects of the system include Balance Sheets; Income Statements; Ratio Analysis; Trend Analysis; Credit Quality Risk Rating; Loan Pricing; Cash Flow Projections; Pro Forma Balance Sheets, Income Statements and Ratios; and Loan Presentations.

Country Banker was born seven years ago when we decided to offer our proven system to other lenders who wanted to benefit their customers and portfolio. Country Banker customers have a heart for elevating their relationship with their borrowers and the quality of their analysis.

We hope you’ll join us.

Tim Ohlde, Founder and CEO