David Hagee

Hello, I'm David Hagee, Chief Investment Officer of Commerce Trust. I've been with Commerce Bank for 24 years. When I first started at the bank, I began as a teller here. It gave me good exposure to what different careers were available in banking. From there, I found that investments was the way that I wanted to go, so I pursued something inside the Commerce Trust Company.

When I finished up college, I really didn't have a good idea of exactly what you could do inside of a bank. There's a wide variety. It's not just finance jobs. It's the full spectrum of jobs that are available to people. It comes back to culture, where if you have the culture that works for you, that allows you to, one, find an area that you're passionate about, but two, really expand yourself inside those areas.

Commerce is looking to grow employees, and it allows people to be able to create their own path forward inside the bank. I can think of several examples of we've had employees in one area that have been interested in another area. And there's no partisanship there. We're able to just work with the other areas and say, "Hey, this person's a really good person. You should take a look at them, and let them explore that opportunity." I don't think you get those
opportunities at many other places.

At Commerce, your first job is probably not going to be your last job here. So, when you come in, come in with an open mind, come in with the ability to go out and reach out to somebody. You'll find every door is open, so jump in, see where it can take you.