As the Bankers Club in Cincinnati celebrates its 60th anniversary, the club’s membership is getting younger. Member Howard Bond helped shift the demographic last year when he invited 27-year-old Jason Dunn to join. Dunn, a sales manager for the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, says that Bond, managing director of the Phoenix/Executech Group, took him to a "different level" of business. Dunn appreciates the opportunity to be around people who are "really doing something" and to hear their stories. "You can’t put a price tag on that," says Dunn, who has helped organize Club 30 to focus on the needs of younger professionals. During the club-within-a-club’s monthly meetings, seasoned businesspeople share their experiences with up-and-comers.

Along with the Bankers Club’s youth explosion, Don Hoffman, chairman of the Board of Governors, notes that the club has become more casual and more social. "Everything used to be a little more formal," Hoffman says. "But now everything is more casual, more fun."

SOCIAL SETTING
Named after the club’s location on the 30th floor of the Fifth Third Bank Tower in downtown Cincinnati, Club 30 has brought a vibrancy to the Bankers Club. "Almost every culture and ethnicity is represented at Bankers Club," Dunn says. "It’s fun to see all the ideas that come back at you."

In Club 30’s first six months, the special-interest club has presented bimonthly Community Night martini events (which have given several nonprofits in Cincinnati the opportunity to share their causes with community-minded members in a casual setting), and organized a popular Yacht Party dinner cruise on the Ohio River.

The club’s younger, more casual bent also has brought a more social atmosphere to the club. Debbie Simpson, president of Multi-Craft Litho in Cincinnati, says she originally joined the Bankers Club for business purposes, but she now embraces the club’s social aspects. "When I remarried," she says, "my husband had his friends, and I had mine. This became the place where we were able to make our friends. People are open to new friendships here."

NO JACKET REQUIRED
With the emergence of this decidedly more social-minded membership comes the presence of a young, new manager. Charlie Wilfong has been a strong force in Cincinnati’s private club community for many years, and his fresh ideas coincide with what Bankers Clubs members are requesting. "People get overwhelmed by business opportunities, communication, etc.," he says. "They need a place to let their hair down."

The club’s relaxed dress code, even in the formal dining room, reflects the members’ home-away-from-home attitude. Business casual can be worn during all club hours. Member Ken Gunkel, who spent the early part of his career feeling trapped in the suit-and-tie corporate world, says it was the casual dress code that attracted him to the club. Now that he works on his own as a marketing consultant in Indiana, every day is "casual Friday" and he doesn’t even own a tie. But with an office of one, he views the club as his "virtual watercooler" and the members of the club as his "coworkers."

"I’ve been surprised by the level of freedom of expression here, whether it’s political, religious, business acumen, or whatever," Gunkel says. "The Bankers Club doesn’t have a clubby feel. It’s just a friendly place. It’s so much more than just a handshake or a hello."

MEMORY LANE
Much has changed in the 60 years since a group of commercial and investment bankers formed an exclusive club for financial businessmen that was then known by a different name, the Summit Club. Even the address has changed. The original club site was ensconced on the mezzanine level of the elegant (but no longer standing) Gibson Hotel on 4th and Vine streets. The club’s move to its current site, in 1970, was a logical choice for a venue called the Bankers Club, since the building’s owner, Fifth Third Bank, is widely recognized as one of the top-performing banks in the United States.

By the time, ClubCorp acquired the club in 1974, the Bankers Club had begun shedding some of its old-school stodginess. Prominent men from outside the banking and finance sectors were invited to join. And, in 1975, M.J. Klyn, former vice president of public affairs for the University of Cincinnati, became the first woman to join the club. Klyn, now retired, has fond memories of her 20-plus years as a member. "The club was a link for all the major players in the city," she recalls. "The people who were members had arrived. It was very elegant, very collegial. We had a lecture series that was unequaled. … That was where I first met Ronald Reagan." (Through the years, the series also drew such luminaries as Gerald Ford, Barbara Bush, Colin Powell, Charles Kuralt, Oliver North, and Dick Cheney, among others.)

In 1946, the club’s founding president Jerome Kahn expressed his hopes for the club, saying the venue "would serve as a medium for the exchange of ideas and be of great value to each member, and of still greater value to the community at large." Though the style of how that is accomplished has changed with the times, the end product of that goal has stayed the same. Members have found a place to share ideas (and friendship), and through the ongoing Community Night events presented by Club 30, the issues of Cincinnati’s community at large can be addressed. As Bond says: "The Bankers Club provides favorable conditions for favorable connections."

CINCY TIDBITS
• Remember those news-making fiberglass flying pigs that decorated downtown Cincinnati’s every street corner back in 2000? (Some can still be seen at Bicentennial Commons and elsewhere in the city.) The porcine artwork paid homage to the city’s nickname of "Porkopolis," and its early history as America’s chief hog-packing center.

• But how many nicknames can one city handle? Cincinnati also has been called "The Queen City," "Queen of the West," "The Blue Chip City," "The City of Seven Hills," and, of course, "Cincy."

• Proctor & Gamble, Chiquita Brands International, Federated Department Stores (Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s), and Kroger are just a few of the major corporation headquarters found in Cincinnati. Ironically, the city’s international airport is actually located in Hebron, Kentucky. (Don’t worry, it’s an easy 15-minute drive to downtown Cincinnati.)

• After a massive revitalization project, Fountain Square, the centerpiece of downtown Cincinnati just below the Bankers Club, is scheduled to re-open by the end of the summer. Bankers Club members, commuters, retailers, and children worrying there won’t be a place to erect the city’s annual Christmas tree will all breathe a sigh of relief.

• There are nearly 30 major AM and FM radio outlets in Cincinnati. Alas, none of them are named WKRP.

TURNING 60
In honor of the Bankers Club’s 60th anniversary, the club will conclude six months of celebration with an anniversary gala on April 22, the day in 1946 that the predecessor Summit Club opened in the elegant Gibson Hotel. Members — both past and present — will be on hand to share in dinner, dancing, and reminiscing about the highlights of the club’s history.

BANKERS CLUB CINCINNATI
Location: Fifth Third Bank Tower, Suite 3000, 511 Walnut St.
Club manager: Charlie Wilfong.
Membership director: Scott Holubetz.
Member relations director: Kendra Anglin.
Executive chef: Joseph Dawson.
Private events director: Ed Prow.
Amenities: Overlooking Fountain Square, the club provides views of Cincinnati, the Ohio River, Riverfront Stadium, and Riverfront Coliseum. Main dining room, 8 private dining rooms (to accommodate from 4 to 25), audiovisual and videoconferencing capabilities, fax and copier, T-1 lines throughout club. Breakfast and lunch available Monday through Friday. Dinner available Wednesday through Saturday.
Web site: www.bankers-cinn.com