ABA Banking Journal Podcast · Nov 11, 2026 · 29m · 21m saved
With Cathy Owen, Executive Chair of Eagle Bank & Trust and Chair of the American Bankers Association
Photo via aba.com
Eagle Bank & Trust closed 1,950 secondary-market mortgage loans last year and has just passed $500 million in assets. Cathy Owen, executive chair of the Little Rock bank and chair of the American Bankers Association, told Evan Sparks on the ABA Banking Journal Podcast how she got there, starting with a closet of documents to shred at 16.
Most bank chairs work their way up through lending or operations. Cathy was handed a bank to run a month after college, and at first she kept that fact out of public view.
"I accept the position based on the grounds that I would become secretary treasurer... it also allowed me to work in the background without anyone really knowing what I was doing." — Cathy Owen
Cathy was the first woman to chair the Arkansas Bankers Association, bought and turned around a failing bank in her twenties, and now leads the national trade group for US banks.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 29 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 8 moments that matter.
Key Takeaways
Cathy started at 16 under a bank president who did not want her there, and stayed to prove him wrong
At 23 Cathy ran the bank as secretary-treasurer while a hired male president was its public face
Cathy signed the purchase of a failing bank on the tail of her own plane, then turned it around
Eagle Bank & Trust closed 1,950 secondary mortgage loans last year, a large number for a bank its size
Cathy's ABA priorities are digital assets, AI, fraud and talent
"If we don't have a seat at the table, we're gonna be on the menu"
Cathy's family runs its businesses on one rule: a family only destroys itself from within
1. Shredding Documents at 16
Cathy's father chartered First State Bank of Sherwood, Arkansas, without ever being a banker. He was an entrepreneur who saw the need for a bank outside Little Rock. At 16 he insisted she learn the business, and the bank's president made his view of that clear on her first day.
Cathy Owen's first boss told her he would not babysit her
"He let me know that not only did he not want me there, I was not to go home and tell my father about anything that went on there, nor did he intend to babysit a spoiled child all summer long." — Cathy Owen
He put her to work shredding a closet full of documents. Cathy saw three choices: quit, stay and sulk, or stay and work.
"I could walk out and prove him absolutely right. I could stay and have a bad attitude and prove him right, or I could do as I did, and I responded, 'Yes, sir.'" — Cathy Owen
She got to the bank before him every morning and worked her way into operations, helping balance the books by hand. She said that decision "would change the whole trajectory really of my life and career."
