The Graduate School of Banking at Colorado (GSBC) Board of Trustees has announced the establishment of the Tim Koch Award for Excellence in Banking to commemorate Koch’s 20-year tenure as the school’s president.

The award aims to honor Koch’s drive for education, passion for community banking and vision for preparing the next generation of community bank leaders. His lifelong dedication to educating bankers and unwavering commitment to the school’s students has led to stronger banks and communities across the country.

Koch’s vision for preparing community bankers to take on leadership roles within their banks led to the inauguration of GSBC’s Executive Development Institute for Community Bankers^® (EDI) in 2014, the only program of its kind in the country. EDI delivers a dual curriculum of financial strategy and leadership development. The program’s aim is to aid in banks’ succession planning by preparing internal candidates for C-level positions.

Those eligible to receive the award are graduates of GSBC’s EDI program and may be nominated by current and past EDI faculty members, CEO mentors and executive coaches as well as their fellow graduates and supervisors. Candidates must demonstrate significant contributions to their communities, their banks’ stakeholders and the banking industry as a whole.

“The motivation for EDI was nothing less than Tim’s selfless dedication to the community banking industry,” said GSBC President Michael Stevens. “He believed this program would help to ensure this industry’s continued value to individuals, farmers and small businesses.”

GSBC representatives will present the inaugural Tim Koch Award for Excellence in Banking to its recipient on April 26, 2022, during an awards ceremony at the EDI session.