John Guess III is a legendary figure in Houston regarding Blacks in real estate, entrepreneurship, education, and general community empowerment. So, it’s not hard to “guess” that the founder of The Guess Group, a full-service commercial real estate company that has been providing exceptional real estate services for its who’s who list of clients for over three decades, would be involved in an initiative that intersects with business, education, and community uplift.
So, as a member of the Business Advisory Council of Texas Southern University’s Jesse H. Jones School of Business (JHJ), Guess found himself in a position to do what he’s done his entire life – make impactful change.
This time, that change came through the founding of TSU’s Future Bankers Leadership Program.
Importance of Banking
The banking industry is facing a significant shortage of trained employees. Nearly half of the industry leaders believe that limited availability of key skilled talent poses a serious threat to their growth, and only a third believe that they have access to the talent they need to execute their strategy over the next three years, according to the latest PwC Annual CEO Survey.
Houston, the nation’s most diverse city, is home to 90,000 Black-owned businesses that depend on commercial bankers for working capital, the lifeblood of every small business.
Texas employs 150,000 bankers across the state. However, the need for diverse talent has never been greater. The Texas Bankers Association states diversity and inclusion as paramount to the sustainability and health of the banking industry.
Currently, Blacks make up only 12% of bankers, compared to whites (58%), Hispanics (11%), and Asians (12%). Women (51%) slightly outnumber men (49%).
And Texas banks wield economic pull, with banking jobs generating $16B in total annual compensation and benefits, and annually lending $25.2B to Texas small businesses, $52.3B in new home loans, and $10.7B in small farm loans.
With all of this revenue, need for diverse employees, and potential community impact, Tin the fall of 2021, launched the Future Bankers Leadership Program, referred to by some as TSU’s “School of Banking.” This program prepares JHJ students for a highly rewarding and productive career in the field of banking.
The Defender was on hand as Guess shared background on the program with members of KTSU’s program “Impact Houston Live.” Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q: Can you share some backstory on TSU’s School of Banking?
Guess: We were insistent that [TSU’s Jesse H. Jones School of Business] Business Advisory Council be made up of top executives and owners of businesses. We wanted to have people there who could make decisions, both in hiring, use of whatever they’re producing, on and on and on. We wanted the power players at the table. So, fortunately we had a number of people, including Dean Johnson at that time, who had those kinds of relationships that we could draw in the major players from around the greater Houston area. So, we started at the BAC. And, I guess about a year and a half ago, one of the senior VPs from Allegiance Bank was John Stroggins. And Stroggins said, “We are preparing our kids to be CPAs, business managers, and we told them all about money, and we don’t have anyone telling them about the banking industry and the lifeblood of commerce in this country.”
Q: How important is it for Black people to understand the concept of banking and its evolution to modern-day trends?
Guess: Commerce is the lifeblood of this economy. And you have to have a facilitator. And that’s what the banking system is. Not only will it connect you in your community, but throughout the continental United States and the world. So, banking is most important to any kind of commerce development, not only in the state of Texas but also to the rest of the world. So, it is vitally important to get that opportunity to learn more and more about how to facilitate the movement of dollars throughout the country. Also, how do you learn how to save money, to prepare your estates, for financial planning, and on and on and on. So, it’s a tremendous group of individuals that run banking, not only in the state but in the country. And we were missing all of that. We had an individual who, with his own dollars, put in the first $10,000 to start the School of Banking here at Texas Southern University.
Q: How did it grow from there?
Guess: So, we were very pleased to get that started. And I would say that’s one of my major accomplishments, chairing the BAC. After that happened, John said, “If he’s going to do this, then we’ll help bankroll TSU’s program.” And so, they gave us $350,000. With that gift, it started sending signals to the rest of the big boys [that] they need to get on to this program. Then we had, of course, the big boys coming in. And as of my last count, we had raised over $5 million for the School of Banking. We also had our second class of, we call them bank specialists, to have a 100% pass rate of the school’s program, and also the Texas Bank Commission. So, that was quite an achievement for those students. But more than that, it prepared them for a tremendous future in the financial industry.
