EXHIBIT 31.1

                  CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I, Douglas C. Mills, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of First
Busey Corporation, certify that:

1)  I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of First Busey
    Corporation;

2)  Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
    statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
    make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
    statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
    this quarterly report;

3)  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
    information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
    material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
    flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
    quarterly report;

4)  The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
    establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
    in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and we
    have:

    a)  designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
        disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
        to ensure that material information relating to the registrant,
        including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
        within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
        quarterly report is being prepared;

    b)  evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
        procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
        effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of
        the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

    c)  disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control
        over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most
        recent fiscal quarter (for registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the
        case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonable
        likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over
        financial reporting;

5)  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our
    most recent evaluation, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee
    of registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
    function):

    a)  all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
        operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are
        reasonable likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
        record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and

    b)  any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
        employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal
        controls.

                               //Douglas C. Mills//
                               --------------------
                               Douglas C. Mills
                               Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Date: November 9, 2004

                                                                        36 of 39