Last Thursday, Steve Scurlock received the highest honor bestowed on a graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at SMU, receiving recognition as a Distinguished Alumnus.
Steve Scurlock retired from IBAT at the end of 2023, after serving as the association’s Director of Government Relations (among other titles) for nearly thirty years. At heart, Steve was always a community banker.
When the banking crisis of the 1980s upended his banking career, Steve answered the call to public service and helped our great state navigate that era, serving as Deputy Banking Commissioner from 1987 to 1991. During that time, he saw firsthand how good and bad actions by legislators and regulators could have real world effects on the banking industry.
Steve carried that knowledge and conviction to IBAT, where he served on the front lines of every battle for the future of the banking industry in Austin and Washington, D.C. until his retirement.
“I can say, without irony or reservation, that the community banking industry would have long ago been demolished by the advocacy of the large banks or actions of lawmakers if not directly for the action of Steve Scurlock,” commented IBAT President and CEO Christopher Williston. “Through it all, he did it with the heart of a community banker. He built success through relationships, honesty, integrity and hard work.”
