first national bank omaha type subsidiary industry finance and insurance founded omaha nebraska december 10 1857 as kountze brothers bank ; july 1 1865 first national bank omaha headquarters omaha nebraska united states key people dan o neill president 1 products financial services number of employees over 5 000 2 parent first national of nebraska website www.firstnational.com first national bank omaha is a subsidiary of first national of nebraska . it is recognized as the largest privately held bank in the united states with 17 billion in managed assets and 5 000 employees . 3 the bank s history is credited for paralleling that of the city of omaha and the state of nebraska . 4 chartered and headquartered in omaha nebraska united states first national provides corporate banking investment banking retail banking wealth management and consumer lending services at locations in nebraska iowa colorado texas kansas and illinois . the bank operates a total of 93 branches throughout the midwest . contents 1 history 1.1 1900 to 1949 1.2 1950 to 1999 1.3 2000 to present 2 historical leadership 2.1 presidents 2.2 current board of directors 2.3 current executives 3 branches 3.1 first national bank colorado 3.2 first national bank kansas 4 fnbo direct 5 first national merchant solutions 6 first bankcard 6.1 interest rate battles 6.2 closing of the kearney call center 7 buildings 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit in 1856 a group of settlers from kanesville iowa crossed the missouri river to picnic in the newly named nebraska territory . one of the visitors thomas davis helped found omaha when he donated 600 in gold dust for an official charter . he eventually served on first national bank s board of directors . two immigrant brothers from ohio herman and augustus kountze opened kountze brothers bank in 1857 . omaha s first bank opened its doors and started trading primarily in gold dust and buffalo hides . kountze brothers bank received national charter 209 in 1863 . today theirs is the oldest national bank west of the missouri river . in 1863 they also began doing business as first national bank of omaha and brought in additional investors including edward creighton who served as president . in 1883 herman kountze speculated on land in north omaha eventually developing an affluent omaha suburb called kountze place in the former town of saratoga . the panic of 1893 sparked the worst depression of the 19th century . in 1895 twelve businessmen from omaha including herman kountze started the knights of ak sar ben . their mission to build a more prosperous heartland where communities can flourish and every child can succeed carries on to this day . in 1898 herman kountze donated the use of 60 acres 240 000 m2 of his kountze place development for the trans mississippi exposition one of the crowning events in omaha s history . featuring a lagoon filled with venetian gondolas it attracted 2.6 million visitors at a time when omaha s population was roughly 100 000 . 1900 to 1949 edit in 1913 first national bank became one of the first banks to specifically target women with a ladies department . staffed with female tellers in a comfortable and accommodating setting it helped make banking a mainstream activity for women . during a five year span ending in 1933 the great depression caused more than 750 nebraska banks to close . on one saturday in august skittish depositors begin withdrawing their funds en masse from omaha banks . when their requests were met the banks proved their solvency ; if not the banks faced almost certain collapse . during this period first national bank extended their hours honored every withdrawal and proved their financial strength once and for all . 1950 to 1999 edit in 1953 under the leadership of john lauritzen first national bank became the first bank in the region and the fifth in the nation to issue its own credit card . also in 1953 first national merchant solutions began processing for 125 merchants . 5 in 1971 employees started moving into the 22 story first national center . attached to a 420 room hotel and a 550 stall parking garage it became one of the most modern and attractive buildings in the region providing economic development in downtown omaha . 6 2000 to present edit first national park spirit of nebraska s wilderness in 2000 first national bank designated two parcels of green space for the city of omaha . they are the current sites of two sculpture parks called spirit of nebraska s wilderness and pioneer courage . working in tandem the two sculptures join to make one of the largest bronze sculptures in the world . in 2002 first national bank completed construction on the first national tower the tallest building between chicago and denver . with almost a million square feet of office space it dramatically changed omaha s skyline . thanks in part to their child development center in 2002 first national bank is selected one of america s best companies for working mothers according to working mother magazine an honor that has been repeated annually . in 2003 first national bank was named one of america s most admired companies as judged by their peers for fortune magazine . fnbo direct an online savings account began operations in 2006 . 7 first national was named to idg s computerworld 100 best places to work in information technology in 2007 an honor which was repeated in 2008 . first national bank opened a new state of the art branch in papillion nebraska . 8 it was announced on february 8 2008 that mills county bank in glenwood iowa and silver city iowa will be first national bank of omaha effective february 9 2008 . the full transition to first national bank was completed on june 20 2008 . in march 2008 first national bank opened a new branch with their new partnership with scooter s coffeehouse started in bellevue nebraska 9 and have their operations based out of omaha . 10 this new branch is located in the old market in downtown omaha . 11 beginning september 30 2010 it was announced that first national of nebraska consolidated its bank charters of first national bank of colorado in fort collins colorado ; first national bank of kansas in overland park kansas ; and castle bank in dekalb illinois with its first national bank of omaha charter . 12 historical leadership edit presidents edit after three years as the president of fnbo rajive johri retired on january 6 2009 . dan o neill who is also the president of first national of nebraska has succeeded johri as president . during his three years chairman bruce lauritzen states that johri engineered the significant growth of the credit card division introduced the banks online savings product and opened up the first branches in iowa . 1 presidents years president 1863 1874 edward creighton 1875 1906 herman kountze 1906 1907 john a creighton 1907 1914 charles t kountze 1914 1934 frederick h davis 1935 1948 thomas l davis 1948 1953 fred w thomas 1953 1966 john f davis 1966 1970 john r lauritzen 1971 1986 f phillips giltner 1987 unknown bruce r lauritzen 2006 2009 rajive johri 2009 current dan o neill 1 current board of directors edit the first national board of directors is made up of family stockholders independent directors and management of the bank and its holding company . the chairman of the board is bruce lauritzen whose family owns a controlling interest in the bank s holding company . 13 bruce r. lauritzen nicholas w. baxter george j. behringer john w. castle margaret lauritzen dodge stephen f. eulie j. william henry clarkson d. lauritzen jerry j. o flanagan daniel k. o neill thomas c. stokes michael a. summers current executives edit name position division daniel k. o neill 1 president first national bank omaha nicholas w. baxter senior vice president and secretary first national bank of omaha james b. cole senior vice president first national information technology jon p. doyle senior vice president first national operations mark driscoll market president colorado stephen eulie president first bankcard mike foutch senior vice president human resources david j. janus market president kansas rolland johannsen senior vice president retail banking group clarkson d. lauritzen president wealth management & investment banking stephanie moline executive vice president corporate banking group jerry j. o flanagan chief credit officer first national of nebraska david n. simmons senior vice president first national bank of omaha timothy a. struthers market president castle bank michael a summers chief financial officer first national of nebraska branches edit currently first national bank has branches in nebraska iowa texas colorado kansas and illinois . on september 6 1984 fnbo acquired david city bank in david city . on may 31 1988 fnbo acquired first security bank & trust co. in beatrice . on november 21 1989 fnbo acquired first of omaha savings co. in omaha . texas is also the home to four branches however they operate under the name of first national bank southwest . on december 15 2000 fnbo acquired first state bank in frisco . the initial branches in glenwood opened on january 1 1883 as mills county state bank . on may 1 2001 they changed their name to mills county bank n.a. on february 9 2008 they merged with first national bank of omaha . the first branch in council bluffs opened on july 28 2008 . the first first national bank iowa branch opened in des moines on june 30 2008 . in the june 19 2008 edition of the omaha world herald rajive johri president of first national bank stated that first national had planned to open a branch office in des moines iowa this summer but due to the recent flooding in the area the opening date is being pushed back to the fall . 14 first national bank colorado edit see also template fnbcolorado branches branches in colorado fort collins boulder brighton broomfield denver evans fort lupton greeley johnstown kersey longmont louisville loveland platteville wellington westminster and windsor since 1881 first national bank has been in business in colorado . 15 first national bank of fort collins was formed on may 15 1934 with the original name of first national bank . its name was changed to first interstate bank of fort collins national association on june 1 1981 . on june 13 1994 the name was changed back to first national bank . union colony bank in greeley colorado was acquired by first national bank february 15 2008 . on february 15 2008 first national bank of colorado first national bank of fort collins and union colony bank merged under first national bank colorado . first national bank kansas edit see also template fnbk branches branches in kansas fairway olathe overland park and shawnee first national bank kansas was established in kansas in 1993 as part of one of the oldest and most successful financial organizations in the midwest first national of nebraska . 16 first national bank of kansas fnbk was chartered in 1993 when fnni purchased approximately 80 million deposits from a failed financial institution . the bank purchased additional deposits approximating 220 million from another financial institution in 1994 . to profitably invest this large deposit base fnbk purchased credit card receivables from an affiliated bank . most of the receivables originated outside the bank s assessment area . while credit card receivables still represent a large percentage of bank assets credit card lending is not a strategic goal for the bank . 17 fnbo direct edit fnbo direct a division of first national bank of omaha started operations in november 2006 at a 5.25 % annual percentage yield apy . fnbo direct launched a nationwide campaign to promote their online savings account on may 1 2007 . in honor