As president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bank Midwest, Mary Kay Bates leads a regional, $1 billion community bank that provides banking, insurance, wealth management and trust services through an 11-branch network located throughout Northwest Iowa, Southwest Minnesota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Bates’s career in community banking spans more than 25 years, and she joined Bank Midwest in 1995. As an executive leader at the bank the past 15 years, her responsibilities have progressively increased to strategic initiatives that include acquisitions and growth strategies, operational effectiveness and workforce engagement. Leading customer-centric change and innovation has become priority in her current role. She also serves on the Bank Midwest and Goodenow Bancorporation Boards of Directors in addition to serving on the board of QCR Holdings and Iowa Bankers Association. She is also a committee member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Community Depository Institution Advisory Council.

Bates has served as a trustee for GSBC since 2015 and is also a trustee for Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake. She is recognized as an active leader and volunteer, having served on multiple boards to enrich quality of life and economic development within her community.

Bates’s education includes attending four years at Iowa State University in engineering and chemistry and graduating with honors from GSBC in 2009. She is a self-designated lifelong learner and continues her education in the banking, insurance and securities industries.