More than just numbers

Waseca resident, Blooming Prairie native Jon Butler, 41, has worked for FM BANK for more than a decade, and will serve as president of the newly relocated charter at its location in the former Wells Fargo Building in Waseca, set to open in the summer of 2023. 

Butler grew up on a farm between Blooming Prairie and Geneva, which meant, “I spent my springs and falls in the tractor helping Dad, and the summers out gopher trapping.” 

His parents are Tom and Christine Butler, who farmed around 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans on a Newry Township farm with a history that dates back to the 1860s. 

As a kid, Butler recalls a couple iconic memories which hinted towards his future. “My parents told me that as a kid, I would do chores for my siblings: When they paid me, I would then loan them back the money.  My mom also borrowed money from me when I was around 8 in order to purchase material to make and sell hand sewn baptismal gowns. I don't have the promissory note still, but the interest rates were much higher than what they are today.” 

Butler graduated in 2000 from Blooming Prairie High School before attending Minnesota State Mankato for four years, graduating with a degree in behavioral sciences and law enforcement. 

Butler admits this doesn’t sound like the path one takes to enter the world of finance.

“Banking is usually a career by accident,” Butler jokes. “Very few go to school saying they want to be a banker…” 

In his final semester at college, though, Butler said his eyes were opened: He realized he didn’t want to go into law enforcement.

Butler’s sister worked as a loan officer for TCF Bank, where Butler got his first job in finance. Over the next few years, he moved between 5 different branches before then being promoted to regional manager overseeing 10 different urban locations. 

“I enjoyed it, however, working for a metro bank, interactions feel more like ‘transactions’ than a genuine relationship,” Butler shared. 

Perhaps because of his past as a “small town” kind of guy, Butler says he prefers a more personal touch in which his experience in agriculture, commercial lending, working for a “community bank,” and fostering personal relationships allow him to use his experience and knowledge to be of genuine assistance to his customers.

In 2009 Butler saw a posting for a job in Olivia, with a smaller, community-focused institution named FM BANK, which specialized in ag and business lending. After meeting with the owners, Butler said he knew it was a fit. 

It was around this time when he married the love of his life, Lyric, daughter to Blaine and Jody Nelson of Waseca. 

“Neither of us remember the exact date [when they met],” Butler smiled.

Butler’s brother was actually the one who introduced them. In his words, his brother is beyond persistent. “I said, ‘No Carl, I don’t wanna meet this girl you know.’

“And he said, ‘You gotta meet this girl!”’

Lyric was also in banking at the time. Their first conversation occurred when Carl called Jon from an unknown number and put Lyric on the phone. 

“I know. It’s awkward, right?” Butler laughs. 

Butler said he doesn’t know how Carl knew Lyric was the one for him, but she was.

The pair have been married for 13 years, and have two boys, Brayden, 12, and Brooks, 7. Brayden is a sixth-grader at Waseca Intermediate School and Brooks is a first-grader at Hartley Elementary.

“It was a lot starting at FM BANK with a newborn,” Butler remembers about his post as president in Olivia. “I really enjoyed learning about the community, the bank, the farmers' operations, and the businesses–helping them achieve their goals.” 

In late 2015 Jon and Lyric decided to return to Lyric’s hometown of Waseca. “We’re very family oriented,” he explains. “We moved back to be closer to our family.

“I vividly remember the day I left [FM BANK],” Butler glows. “Steve, the owner, said ‘It’s a big day for me. Tomorrow is the first day I try to work with you again someday.”’

The owner told Butler the door would always be open if he ever wanted to come back. 

Well, Butler didn’t make it a year before deciding he didn’t want to work for anyone other than Steve and FM BANK. 

Butler returned to his former job as president in 2016 and commuted to Olivia four days per week for the next four years while he looked to hire and train his replacement. In 2020 he began working remotely for all FM BANK locations as Executive Vice President. 

Somewhere along the way Butler acquired and nurtured a dream of opening a bank in Waseca. 

“When you grow up on the farm, you can’t wait to get away from the farm, as you get older you really learn to appreciate it,” he recalls. “I know banking and I know agriculture… I have had a strong feeling that an FM BANK located in Waseca could be something special. And now it’s beginning to happen.”

The new bank will be in the building formerly occupied by Wells Fargo. 

Butler explained the process, the story, of how FM BANK came to its decision. With a smile, he recalled how his longtime dream is becoming reality.

When Wells Fargo closed, Butler realized a pathway was opening. The owner of FM BANK had always told him that, if the opportunity to open a bank in the Waseca area presented itself, FM BANK would explore it. 

“After the building sat on the market for a while, I asked if he would consider it. He told me to put together a proposal.”’

Based on Butler’s assessment, FM BANK began investigating the property, and after a feasibility study, ultimately purchased it. 

Butler says he believes in Waseca and its Ag and business community, the group of people whose interests and needs he is intimately familiar with.

“We’re a small town, community bank at heart,” Butler explained. “We feel the stress of our customers because ultimately, we want to succeed with them. It’s very rewarding helping someone through the good times and the bad. We don’t want to be there only when things are good: We’re here for the long haul.”

That long haul will begin in the summer of 2023 with a remodel of the bank, and end with a grand opening sometime this summer.

More information can be found about the bank by visiting www.mybankfm.com