Gerald E. Karlin - Inducted in 2013
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Gerald E. Karlin was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Bank and Trust Company of Omaha in February 1986. In April, 1990, he added the responsibility of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, and President of the Southwest Holding Company.
Gerald Karlin and his wife Nadene are both natives of Columbus, Nebraska. Mr. Karlin graduated from Columbus High School in 1953. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1960, and received a degree from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in 1972.
Mr. Karlin served in the Finance Corps of the United States Army for three years; and after he was discharged in 1957, he enrolled in the University of Nebraska at Omaha. After an injury ended his football career in 1957, he began working part-time at Center Bank in Omaha. When he received his degree in 1960, Mr. Karlin remained at Center Bank where he became Senior Vice President and Chief Credit Officer.
In 1974, Mr. Karlin joined the commercial department of the Columbia Union National Bank of Kansas City. In 1979, he was named Executive Vice President of the bank and elected to the Board of Directors. Mr. Karlin returned to Omaha in 1986 to become President and Chief Executive Office of Southwest Bank and Trust Company of Omaha. Mr. Karlin has served on numerous charitable and trade association board and committees.
He is currently an officer and director of the UNO Alumni Association, a member of the West Omaha Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow, a member of the executive board of the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and an officer and directors of Merrymakers, a charitable organization dedicated to bringing professional entertainment programs to nursing homes in the Omaha area.