The youngest of five children, Fralick graduated from Springfield North High School in 1972 before heading off to college at Ohio State University.
He didn’t have a major selected so Fralick explored possibilities before deciding first to get into business and later to focus on finance.
“It worked out very well,” he said recently.
After graduating he returned home and, at the suggestion of a family friend, went to talk with Harry Egger at the bank.
Egger hired Fralick, who worked in various bank positions, spending most of his time in the commercial loan department. He became president in 2007 and CEO in 2003.
“I became close with Harry over the years. I can’t thank him enough for everything he did. I miss him,” he said of the colleague and friend who passed away in late 2014.
Fralick said he has been fortunate to have a good career in an industry that has changed immensely.
“Banking was much more labor intensive 40 years ago,” he said. There were no debt cards and no ATMs.
Customer service
The business, though, remains the same in a few important ways. “The business has always been about customer service, getting to know your customers, supporting your community. That has not changed,” Fralick said.
Although automation has been good in many ways, the negative side is teller transactions from the number of people who come into the banks has declined.
The bank continues to strive to keep in touch and reach out to customers of its 20 branches in five counties. Clark County is its largest market.
“We are trying to keep banking from becoming a commodity – we all make loans, all have digital ways to reach customers. It is very important to us that we reach out to our customers and keep in touch with them the best we can and also keep in touch with our communities,” Fralick said.
One thing he won’t miss is a regulatory environment that he said has become so burdensome.
Community service
Security Bank is proud that of around 200 associates, more than 160 are on a board or involved in a community in some way. “We try to be very generous with our dollars and with our volunteerism. Our bank is only going to be as strong as the communities we serve, so we try to reach out the best we can and take care of those communities,” Fralick said.
Among his extended community involvement roles have been with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and its CIC focusing on economic development; chairing a blue ribbon panel to determine where the new high school should be built; and serving on and chairing the local United Way drive and its board.
He’s also served for the Springfield Foundation and its subcommittee on African-American community fund, among others. He’s involved with the Clark County Historical Society, having served as president, and the local heritage center.
He’s had extensive involvement in local education currently serving as board chair of the Springfield City Schools’ Business Advisory Council and is chairing the Clark State capital campaign that got under way recently.
Major challenge
One of the major challenges he’s helped work on has been bringing people back to downtown Springfield. “The community has pulled together and tried to focus on the core – the downtown area,” he said. A lot of buildings had fallen into disrepair and a number were removed in the 1970s and ‘80s.
“There has been more effort to try to preserve buildings, repurpose them and increase the number of people downtown. Slowly we are seeing that,” he said.
“I am very proud of what Springfield has done, what the bank has done. I am going to be able to walk away feeling I have accomplished some things and I made a difference. I had a lot of help along the way. We have a great team here at Security and we have a great team in the community.”
At age 61, Fralick said it was time for him to retire from the bank. “I have had friends who passed away at an early age. I have been thinking about this for a while. The time is right,” he said.
He plans to stay involved in several community projects and boards. He also plans to spend time close to home, including with family. He and his wife, Debbie, have two adult children Chris and Carah and four grandchildren.
“I just want to thank everybody for being supportive of Bill Fralick and his family, the community and the bank. It has been a great ride. I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” he said.
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