Dennis Gerhard vividly remembers room-size computers from his Enid Junior High School days in the late sixties - before IBM became a household word - and computers, a household tool. Since those early days in technology, Gerhard, now vice-president of operations at Central National Bank in Enid, has fed his fascination about these curious electronic beasts through training and vocational education. Gerhard said that he began his lifelong tech trek through the vocational business program at Autry Technolgy Center as a high school student. "We were given a choice at Autry to either work at a local business or enroll in advanced computers. The choice was easy for me. I'd already focused on computers." Known as a computer whiz by the time he graduated from Enid High School in 1974, Gerhard's thirst for more grew. He enrolled as a full-time student in the computer and office program at Autry Tech the following September. "That's where I learned about accounts and data entry, the old key punch system, and the 407 accounting machine." Three months later, Central National Bank came to Autry Tech looking for a night computer operator. Gerhard started to work in the bank's night computer operations department and went to school during the day. Through the years the bank has supported Gerhard's professional development and training that keeps him on top of today's technology. "Because of the training received through the bank, I chose not to go to college, except for taking a few classes in the college of business at Phillips University," Gerhard said. Today, Gerhard is vice-president of operations for this growing financial institution. The bank's operations include three offices in Enid, three branches outside of the Enid area, all check processing, the bank's investments in northwest Oklahoma, as well as a 50 ATM machine network statewide. He also just finished a three-year term on the Federal Reserve Bank of Oklahoma City Financial Service Customer Advisory Council. Gerhard's lifelong fascination with computers is now combined with years of expertise. Under his seasoned leadership, Central National Bank is on the technology edge-cutting map with what he calls "my little dreamworks" - a state of the art check imaging system. It's one of only two in Oklahoma. "After we decided to get this, the Federal Reserve Bank got one, too," Gerhard said. This system is capable of reading 500 checks a minute. Then, it sorts, images, balances, counts, encodes, endorses and stores an average of 37,000 items a day on one optical platter, he said. "We can file two weeks worth of items - that's about 400,000 items on one platter. This lets us meet the special needs of some customers who like larger images and front and back exposures of their checks," he said. Cutting-edge technology in the banking industry has kept Gerhard's long-term relationship with Autry Tech active. Now, he's sending his employees there for computer training. "And, we're happy with the relationship," he said.
	posted 1/4/2001	Story by:Ann Houston-Wanger Communications and Marketing Email: ahous@okcareertech.org

Read other Career Tech Champion stories | Top of Page Main Home Page | Site Map | Search | Legal Information