PERSONNEL: Up from the Ranks

¶ Everett D. Reese, 55, longtime campaigner for adequate credit for small business, was elected president of the American Bankers Association, which represents 98% of all U.S. banks. Ohio-born and educated, Reese worked his way through grade and high school selling papers, through Ohio State peddling milk and fraternity jewelry, went on to teach economics at Ohio State and Georgia Tech before starting as a teller with the Newark (Ohio) Park National Bank. He rose to president in 1926, has since boosted assets from $1,700,000 to $19 million. ¶ Walter B. Gerould, 53, vice president and comptroller for A. G. Spalding & Bros., became president, succeeding William T. Brown, who died recently. Gerould started selling Spalding’s sporting goods the year he graduated from Cornell (’21), worked up through accounting to a vice presidency in 1937. An enthusiastic golfer, he gets a handicap of 14 when he plays Spalding’s stable of pros, but is beaten “rather frequently” by his wife.