Forty Under 40: Brian Vowels

Bryan Vowels, 29, recently completed his MBA at the University of Arkansas, but he believes his wife deserves congratulations for that achievement as much as he does. Certainly Vowels has been busy.

A native of Joplin, Mo., Vowels earned an undergraduate business degree from Missouri Southern State College in his hometown. He then went to work for the Comptroller of the Currency as a bank examiner, a position he held for five years. Although he had a “wonderful” boss and crew, Vowels decided bank examinations weren’t something he wanted to do forever.

He soon landed a banking job in Northwest Arkansas, where he could simultaneously study for his MBA. Before long, he’d been offered a position at Bank of Fayetteville and was persuaded that it “was a good fit.”

Thanks to his background as an examiner, Vowels drew primary responsibility for ensuring that the Bank of Fayetteville would be Y2K compliant. Although Vowels says, “It’s been a challenge,” he quickly credits the people on the bank’s Y2K committee for making his tasks much easier than they might have been otherwise.

Vowels is also involved in setting up a financial planning and investment department for the bank, the area where he says his real passion lies.