Ken Guenther, a onetime foreign service officer who parlayed a short stint on the staff of New York Sen. Jacob Javits into a decadeslong financial services career — including 22 years as CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America — passed away in Washington last week.
Guenther, who retired from ICBA in 2004, was 87.
As CEO of ICBA from 1982 to 2004, Guenther was renowned for his "Guenther-grams," notes on policies and issues of the day that he would compose and then fax to recipients throughout official Washington, the media and the banking industry.
"Ken was kind of a one-of-a-kind person," Karen Thomas, who served as ICBA's senior executive vice president of government relations and public policy before retiring last year. "We all think of him — the first word is passionate advocate [for community banks]. He put his nose to the grindstone every day."
About those Guenther-grams, Guenther would pound out notes on his Selectric typewriter, and in those days it was "stick it through the fax machine," Thomas recalled. "He used them to cajole, suggest, blast, [and] let policymakers know what community bankers were thinking, how their policies would impact community bankers."
As time passed and email became routine, Guenther clung to his typewriter and fax machine, which was a cagey move on his part, said Paul Merski, ICBA's group executive vice president of congressional relations and strategy.
"That was his trademark," Merski said. "You get bombarded by so many emails, but if you saw this unique-looking document that came from a typewriter — with typos included — the ironic part about it is that's what you would read first. It was unique.You knew it was coming from Ken and he had something interesting to say."
Before joining ICBA in 1999, Merski spent four years as a senior advisor on tax and banking policy on the staff of Florida Sen. Connie Mack. By the mid-1990s, Guenther had built a legendary reputation among congressional staffers, Merski said.
"Everyone knew Ken Guenther," Merski said. "We'd get his [Guenther-grams] on the Hill."
Reporters received Guenther-grams, too. Former American Banker Editor-in-Chief Barbara Rehm said it was always an occasion when a Guenther communique came across the fax.
"You would get these terse notes," Rehm said. "Sometimes they were reactions to stories, intriguing tidbits, but they were always worth reading."
Aside from his idiosyncratic way of communicating, Guenther was an immensely influential CEO in ICBA's history, said Terry Jorde, the trade group's senior executive vice president and chief of staff. Guenther took over as CEO the same year ICBA moved its national headquarters from Sauk Centre, Minnesota, to Washington to boost its clout with policymakers — a goal Guenther, more than anyone else, helped the organization achieve,
"Ken elevated the association in so many ways," Jorde said. "He was passionate about bankers and relationships. He was extremely supportive. He liked working with strong people and really built a strong team at ICBA. …One piece at a time, he built this organization."
Beyond influencing numerous policy issues, most critically the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, famous for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act's prohibition on commercial banks engaging in investment banking activities. It also allowed banks, including community banks, to provide a range of new services, including investments and insurance.
Guenther developed a set of principles, including unyielding opposition to letting retailers and other nonbanks obtain bank charters, that still drive ICBA's lobbying efforts today.
"Once he came up with a principle he thought was fair, he was like a dog with a bone. He wouldn't let go," Merski said. "We're dealing with some of those same principles today, like keeping banking and commerce separate. …He gave us all a very valuable lesson that you don't compromise on principles."
Rehm, who covered Guenther throughout his tenure as ICBA CEO, said he played a critical role in elevating the profile of community banks in Washington.
"He was so pervasive and persuasive," Rehm said. "I really don't think anyone else had as much influence on financial services policy in the 27 years I covered it. He was everywhere on every topic. He turned the ICBA into a lobbying cudgel and then wielded it."
Guenther "really made lawmakers and regulators wake up to the fact community banks are foundational, not just to their communities but to the economy and the banking system at large," Rehm added.
Beyond his policy influence, Guenther, who spent 20 years in government before joining ICBA, helped build its services infrastructure, said Gary Teagno, retired president of the ICBA Services Network.
According to Teagno, Guenther, who worked as an economist for the Commerce Department from 1962 to 1965, understood community banks were disadvantaged when it came to purchasing.
"By themselves they were small, community-focused," Teagno said of ICBA's member banks. "They were buying things one at a time or in small batches. Ken's emphasis at that time was that banks need purchasing power as much as they need political power or else they're going to have a hard time surviving."
The ICBA Services Network, which was launched in 1985, began with a credit card product. It has since expanded into securities, mortgages, technology and a range of other services.
Immediately before joining ICBA in 1979, Guenther spent four years at the Federal Reserve as assistant to the Board of Governors. Guenther served three Fed chairmen: Arthur Burns, G. William Miller and Paul Volcker.
In a 2011 oral history interview conducted by Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where Guenther studied in 1958 and 1959, he recalled how he clashed with Miller to the point where he submitted his resignation. In the wake of Miller's surprise appointment as Secretary of the Treasury in August 1979, Guenther, agreed to delay his departure long enough to help Volcker shepherd the Monetary Control Act of 1980 through Congress.
That landmark legislation granted community banks direct access to the Fed's payment system. It also proved to be Guenther's introduction to the ICBA, which had advocated strongly for passage of the act.
In his 2011 interview, Guenther recalled his thinking as he entered the private sector after working two decades in a series of government jobs. "I was 44. I was looking around. Carter was in the White House. Reagan was coming in. I was a Javits Republican, so I decided this probably was a good time to leave the government."
Kenneth Guenther graduated from the University of Rochester in 1957. Interested in Asian history and culture, he did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins, including a stint in Rangoon, Burma, at the school's Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
After returning to the United States, Guenther enlisted in the Army Reserve, where he would serve for five years, and joined the Commerce Department. He was accepted into the State Department and the Foreign Service in 1965. Ironically, he would be posted to Chile.
"The Foreign Service looked at me and said, 'He knows too much about Southeast Asia. We've got to broaden this guy,'" Guenther said in 2011.
Guenther enjoyed his service in South America but bridled at the Washington-based desk job he was assigned in 1969. That led to his decision to move to Capitol Hill, where he advised the influential Javits on banking and financial issues. From there, the Nixon White House tapped Guenther to serve as an executive at the Inter-American Development Bank, then to work on trade issues, including lobbying for the Trade Act of 1974, which included the influential Jackson-Vanik amendment restricting trade with the Soviet Union and other nations that violated basic human rights.
Guenther served as Acting Special Trade Representative, but left for the Federal Reserve when he was passed over for a permanent appointment.
For all his long and distinguished career in government and banking, Guenther is probably best remembered for his hand-typed Guenther-grams. Jorde, who served as President and CEO of CountryBank USA in Cando, North Dakota, before joining ICBA in 2010, still cherishes the messages she received from Guenther.
"It didn't matter who you were. You were honored when you got one of those Guenther-grams," Jorde said. "It was that relationship he was forming with people. I know in my archives I've got hundreds of Gunther-grams. We'd get it off the fax machine at the bank and it would read, `Top secret. Destroy before reading.'"
"We burned through a lot of fax machines in our relationship with Ken," Jorde said.
Guenther's survivors include his wife, Lilly; daughter, Christine; and grandchildren.
