An astute business person might bump into Jim Tubbs all around town – at meetings, on boards. But wait! Is it Jim, president and CEO at the State Bank of Cross Plains? Or Jeff, his identical twin, an executive at Findorff & Sons, Inc.? Both sit on the board of the Mendota Gridiron Club. “Unless we’re standing side by side at meetings, people think there’s just one of us,” Jim Tubbs smiled.
The benefit of being a twin, he said, was the guaranteed playmate it afforded, but there was a downside too: they were compared in every capacity. “One gets an A in math, why not the other? One started on a hockey team, why not you?” Tubbs recalled. And yes, their mother dressed the boys alike until their teen years when they began developing their own personalities, which, Tubbs admits, are very similar. “I’d have a real challenge if [Jeff] were a black sheep and I had to keep defending him,” he laughed. Instead, they remain the closest of friends.
During college, Tubbs played J.V. hockey at UW-Madison for two years, but balancing and succeeding in academics as well as in a major sport proved challenging. “I have a true appreciation for the student athlete to be able to juggle the time commitment necessary to be successful in both areas,” he said. “That is a true talent.” In his junior year, Tubbs transferred to UW-Whitewater, where he continued to play hockey and later graduated with a degree in finance. It was the right call. “I knew I was going to go further in banking than in any hockey career.”
Tubbs is one of seven children in a Sun Prairie family that has a long heritage in community banking. Grandfather Monroe Tubbs got into the industry prior to the Great Depression, and worked at the State Bank of Cross Plains for 62 years until his death in 1988. Tubbs’ father, Tom, is the chairman of the board at the Bank of Sun Prairie, where he’s carved a legacy for 55 years. Two other brothers were in the banking industry, and even his twin worked in banking before moving to Findorff.
For as long as he can remember, Jim Tubbs said he wanted to follow in the family profession. “Our family saw the influence my father had on the community of Sun Prairie,” he said, “the businesses he financed to get started, the houses and subdivisions he helped launch. If I could somehow [follow that path], I’d feel fulfilled.” After 16 years at the Bank of Cross Plains, Tubbs was named president in early July.
Banking, though, is much different these days, and the job of the community bank has changed. “I haven’t seen a time like this,” Tubbs admitted, “but I’m going to get through it by surrounding myself with the best team possible. A huge part of our job today is working with people who have problems, people who are losing jobs and can’t make payments. I look at it this way: We’ve been the benefactor of a lot tremendous economic times. Now it’s time for us to give back.”
That means giving back to his family as well. Tubbs and wife Tonya, whom he met at a State Bank of Cross Plains Christmas party 10 years ago, had five children in 39 months, including two sets of fraternal twins. “I race home every day to be with them,” he smiled. “We are absolutely blessed.”
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