When choosing a bank, trust goes above anything. You need someone with experience and dedication, and someone who is deeply rooted in the community. Carol Kehoe Steele understands the great value of passion, experience and hard work. Having loved math all her life, she majored in finance at the University of Dayton. Her parents owned their own business and her husband is another business owner, so she understands the intricacies of finance and business strategy. Her experience has taken her outside of Missouri, specializing in corporate banking before returning to Missouri to focus on multifamily, retail and hospitality assets across the Midwest. She looks forward to leveraging her vast experience and knowledge to provide expert financial services to mid-Missouri.

Above all, she focuses on maintaining relationships, an important trait in a finance professional. She cares deeply about the financial success of the people here. She actively engages in the community both personally and professionally, supporting local businesses, volunteering and advocating for good citizenry. Kehoe Steele says her success in this field was aided by mentors that encouraged her to keep improving in a male-dominated field. Early in her career, she established a connection with a senior female colleague who provided personal and professional guidelines, and ultimately offered her the opportunity to transition to Commerce Bank. “Having a mentor who demonstrated the qualities and characteristics I aspired to develop was essential to me,” Kehoe Steele says. “This experience underscores the significance of cultivating and maintaining professional relationships, as they can lead to unforeseen opportunities.”

As a female leader in the field of finance, Kehoe Steele aims to set an example of how far hard work, dedication and relationship building can take you. She says the future for women in banking is bright. “My advice would be to stay curious, always be willing to ask questions and always be willing to learn something new,” she says. “In my experience, being a Jill of all trades is more meaningful in business than being an expert in only one area.”

Commerce Bank
901 E. Broadway
573-886-5286
commercebank.com