Scott Valbert got a relatively brief taste of remote work in his first professional communications position during the historic Flood of ’93 in Des Moines. Working for an advertising agency located near the Des Moines River downtown, he and co-workers once took boats to the office to rescue important files and computers to prepare for working remotely for about two months. Now, with more than 25 years of experience representing a range of financial institutions, he leads the 10-person marketing and communications team for Bankers Trust Co. He joined Bankers Trust in 2016 as assistant vice president and corporate communications officer. He was promoted last spring to his current position that was previously held by his boss, Emily Abbas, who in March was promoted to chief retail banking and marketing officer. He’s originally from the Chicago suburbs and lived in northern Idaho and Seattle before his family moved to the eastern Iowa town of Maquoketa when he was a high school freshman. He has spent the majority of his career working for Central Iowa organizations, including United Way of Central Iowa and Principal Financial Group.

Is there a common thread in the organizations you’ve chosen to represent? 

Clearly, financial services has been a common thread for me. We had banking customers at the agency. I was at Norwest, which then became Wells Fargo, for a period of time. I spent about 10 years in total at Principal. And I also worked at Bank of America and their corporate headquarters down in Charlotte, N.C., four years. So I had quite a bit of banking and financial services experience before I joined Bankers Trust.

What made you decide on Bankers Trust? 

In 2012, I left Principal and spent three years working at United Way. I was just kind of ready for a bit of a change, and an opportunity came up at United Way so I joined them and was on their development team working with companies across the metro on their United Way campaigns. Of course, I loved the fact that I was working for an organization that was doing so much great work in the community, but it really was eye-opening to see a wide variety of different corporate cultures and understand a little bit more about how they operate, how they engage their employees and how they give back to the community. Bankers Trust was always an organization whose name came up when we were talking about really well-led organizations, and especially with that commitment to the community. 

Besides dealing with COVID, what are some key initiatives that you and your team are working on right now? 

Internally, we’ve introduced a new set of strategic priorities, which was right before the pandemic. Of course, we set those aside for a little bit while we focused on the pandemic. But we’re working to educate our employees and really connect them with key strategic priorities and helping them understand how their role relates to the bigger picture within the bank. We’ve also done quite a bit of employee internal communications related to racism and racial inequity. Inclusion is one of our core values, and we really have taken that to heart this year as we looked for opportunities to keep that discussion top of mind for our employees and really engage them in that. 

How has the pandemic changed Bankers Trust’s marketing approach?

From a marketing standpoint we’re continuing to meet our customers where they are. And by that I mean we’ve had to really adapt our marketing efforts throughout the year. There’s almost no way to separate what we’re doing from a marketing standpoint with COVID. The fact is, as we saw this coming we immediately looked for ways to make sure our customers knew how to bank with us, if they weren’t coming to the bank. … We did the same sort of thing on our commercial side. 

What are your goals for the next year?

My marketing and communications colleagues and I will continue supporting the bank’s overall strategic priorities. We do that by being consultative and adaptable. We partner closely with all areas of the bank and create marketing and communications plans that support their specific business goals. This year definitely called attention to our strength of adaptability. We have solid plans in place, but we’re also able to be responsive to changes in the market and the workplace. … Our team offers a great combination of strategy, creative storytelling and adaptability. It’s really one of our greatest strengths.   

What is the best piece of advice or feedback you received in your career so far? 

There are two, actually. The first came early in my career – when I was in my 20s – as I was considering taking a job on a team run by a leader who had a reputation for being very demanding. While talking about the opportunity with a mentor of mine, we discussed the fact my new leader was quite new in their role and simply on a learning curve. My mentor said to take the job and to be as supportive as possible. I did that and it helped form a strong, ongoing relationship with my new boss. I share that advice whenever I know someone whose own leader is in a new role — be supportive and help your leader learn and find success in their new role. 

The second is simply to give back. I feel fortunate to have worked for companies and leaders who are very involved and generous, and it’s inspired me to get involved and give back to the community.   

Tell me about your community involvement. What organizations are keeping you the busiest right now? 

Personally, I’m splitting my time between three different organizations right now, I’m the co-chair of the board of One Iowa, so really helping lead that organization through this pandemic and continuing to make sure that its programming and its efforts across the state to support LGBTQ Iowans continues to really make an impact and really make a difference. The second one really aligns with my communications role — I’m on the marketing committee for the Polk County Housing Trust Fund. So I’m learning more myself but also contributing to efforts to discuss and keep topical the issue of affordable housing. That one in particular I hope to really grow into a little bit more; it’s something I’m really interested in. I grew up with a single mom and we lived in government-supported housing when I was in high school, and so I know the importance of that, and the stability that offers families when they have that affordable, and in some cases, assisted, housing. The [third] is continuing to be involved with United Way, and right now that involves being on the steering committee for their 21-Day Equity Challenge. I’m working with some amazing leaders across the community to develop the content for that challenge, and being part of some of the discussions about what equity, inclusion and equality mean within Central Iowa. 

What kinds of hobbies or pastimes do you enjoy? 

I kind of chuckle because in a normal year I would answer “travel.” This year has changed that just a little bit. But this year’s big trip was to Duluth and the north shore of Lake Superior. There’s also the gym and biking and working in my yard. Those things keep me busy and are a good way to decompress.