Lauren M. Sparks

After close to 40 years of Lauren Sparks’ career as a community banker and banking consultant, she knew there was a need for greater representation of women where financial decisions were being made—in the boardroom. She also recognized the value of technology if you were going to survive as a community bank in the future.

Lauren founded Agility Bank over almost a year ago as the first woman-owned and led Minority Depository Institution (MDI) created for its purpose in the country. Agility is a digital forward commercial community bank focusing primarily on small and mid-sized businesses in the Houston area. To get started, Lauren and her team completed a capital raise of over $43 million, 30 percent more than required by federal regulators to open. Approximately 70 percent of the 331 shareholders are women.

Lauren knew earning the special MDI charter awarded by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) would set Agility Bank apart. MDI status is granted to a financial institution when its ownership and/or its board is more than 50 percent of the minority it focuses on, which in Agility’s case is women.

In developing a new bank, Lauren’s focus has been team and technology. She gathered a board and executive team who have strong banking and community experience. To increase the pipeline of women in banking, she established “Generational Dream Teams” of seasoned bankers to mentor new or returning bankers. To build the bank of the future, the bank’s “technology stack” goes beyond traditional “banking out of a box.” Instead, by utilizing a variety of high-tech providers for its products and services, clients of the bank can be as close to a fintech experience as they need or want.

As a business owner herself, Lauren has a unique perspective on how Agility can serve its clients. In 2009, she formed Third Party Resources, Inc. (3PR Inc.), a woman-owned consulting firm specializing in risk and compliance management for community banks, financial service firms, and software companies. At any given time, 3PR Inc. works with over 30 community banks and has been a preferred vendor for one of the world’s largest software providers.

Overall, Lauren’s goal of supporting women’s financial aspirations and enhancing community bank technology is working. She added: “We definitely look and feel like the bank of the future. In fact, we are leading the way!”