MESSAGE FROM THE OBA CHAIR OBA Tell us about your family, background and education. TA I have a wife, Kathi, and three kids, Emily 21, Matt 19 and Charlie 17. My two oldest are attending the University of Oregon and one is still in high school. We also have a dog named Cash, whose name, ironically, has nothing to do with banking. When we picked him up from the breeder, he was part of their “nut litter.” They had dogs named Pistachio, Pecan, Wally Walnut and so on. Ours was named Cashew. The family argued over the name, but we decided to stick with Cashew, which eventually got shortened to Cash. I grew up in the San Francsico Bay Area with my parents and brother. My dad was a banker who worked downtown at Bank of America in commercial lending. At the time, banking was the last thing I thought I would ever do, and now I look in the mirror and there is my dad staring back at me. After high school I left the Bay Area and headed to the University of Oregon where I got my degree in Political Science. After college I took a temp job at U.S. Bank and have been there ever since. OBA Can you share a bit about your career journey? TA I spent the first 15 years of my career in U.S. Bank’s trust department and the second 15 running the market in Oregon for Private Wealth Management. This combination of experience helped prepare me for my new role overseeing U.S. Bank’s trust group across our footprint. When it comes to trust administration, I think a lot of my colleagues aren’t sure exactly what it is that we do (think “Trust Funds”). It’s a little bit of a secret club. I’d get off the elevator and go one way and they’d go another. One of the reasons I went to Pacific Coast Banking School (PCBS) was to get some banking credibility. I was leading Oregon’s wealth management team at the time, which included the bank’s private banking group. Most people thought, “Yeah, he works at the bank but he’s not really a banker.” PCBS went a long way in giving me that banking credibility that I needed. I absolutely loved PCBS, the knowledge that I gained there, and the friendships that I made. OBA What opportunities do you see for innovation and growth within the banking sector, especially regarding trust services? TA I often joke that the Trust world changes about every 100 years and that there’s not a ton of innovation. But in reality, with technology innovation changing at the speed of light, there are a lot of ways to do what we do more efficiently, including client interaction. Like just about every industry, the pandemic showed us that we can be extremely efficient and effective with little more than a laptop and a video stream. What we can do is use technology and tools to streamline the paperwork, and meet our clients where and how they want to interact with us. OBA What motivated you to take on the role of chair at the Oregon Bankers Association, and what do you hope to achieve during your tenure? TA All of my “banking heroes” were involved in the OBA and most of them were chair at one point, so I knew that being OBA chair would be a great leadership opportunity and experience for me. I also thought coming from a nontypical banking role could add some new perspective. At the time I accepted a leadership position on the board, I didn’t Ted with his wife Kathi and three children, Charlie, Matt and Emily. Q&A with New OBA Chair Ted Austin, SVP and National Director of Trust Administration, U.S. Bank 6 Winter 2024 • BANKING MATTERS
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