Kirby Davidson

Kirby Davidson is the President & CEO for the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – a role he’s been in since October 2008.  Prior to being promoted to President & CEO, Kirby served as the VP, Marketing & Banker Relations since joining the School in 2000.

Prior to GSB, Kirby was VP of Marketing for a national trade association in Washington, DC, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.  He was recruited to develop and manage their new marketing department overseeing nationwide marketing and membership campaigns, implementation of a new customer relationship database, and image-branding promotional activities for the organization and state banking industry.

Earlier in his career he worked for the Iowa Bankers Association for 10 years as their director of marketing, responsible for all marketing-related activities of a statewide trade association.  He wrote, implemented, and monitored marketing plans for the association and its for-profit subsidiaries, developed image advertising campaigns for the banking industry, and provided marketing consulting services for member banks.

Kirby is originally from Des Moines, Iowa and received his marketing degree from Iowa State University.  He was an instructor for the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Banking and in 1995 was awarded their highest honor when he was named “Instructor Of The Year”.