TEXAS – Texas Southern University will debut an endowed bankers program next fall to boost commercial lending in Houston and train the next diverse generation of bankers in an industry that has largely lacked people of color.
“The goal is to educate and prepare bankers for the industry, to fill that void, and give opportunity to those new bankers to go out in their respective communities and work with those small communities who don’t know how to work with a bank,” said John Scroggins, senior vice president of commercial lending and community development at Allegiance Bank.
The Future Bankers Leadership program will be the first of its kind at a historically black college in Texas and will join the ranks of existing banking programs at Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Southern Methodist, and Sam Houston State universities.
The program, in partnership with Allegiance Bank and the Texas Bankers Association, will launch with up to 50 students. Its courses, from financial technology and commercial bank management to lending activities and accreditation analysis, will be taught by banking executives and professionals to give students an accurate depiction of the industry, said Muriel Funches, executive director of advancement for the Jesse H Jones School of Business.
