1957-1961
In 1954 the Bank hired its new manager from within its own ranks. Theodore W. Sette had worked for the Bank for 26 years. He specialized in purchasing municipal bonds.
Sette joined the Bank of North Dakota in 1927 as a clerk. He worked his way up the ladder. Governor Langer’s bank manager, Frank Vogel , made him director of the credit department in the late 1940s. By the 1950s, he was managing the Bank’s bond portfolio. In an interview, he said, “The way I see it, the most important thing was working with all the communities in the state. To be able to show them how to go about to get what they wanted … to be able to sell their bonds and get a decent rate.”
When William L. Guy, became governor of North Dakota in 1960, he pushed the Bank to be more active in the state’s economic development. He tried to ease the conservative Sette out of the Bank. When Sette refused to leave, Guy initiated an investigation of Sette’s outside financial interests. This brought on Sette’s resignation 35 years after he started at the Bank.
In 1962, Sette became president of the State Bank of Burleigh County and in 1964 president of the Independent Community Bankers of North Dakota. Sette was an important Bismarck businessman. He died in 1983.
