When attorney Karen Grandstrand was promoted to vice president and managing officer for the banking supervision department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in 1993, she assumed responsibility for consumer compliance examinations and became the community development officer responsible for CRA. Because the job required the former litigator to grasp the credit needs of a large swath of her adopted Twin Cities, she decided to join the board of Twin Cities Neighborhood Housing Services. Her work for the nonprofit directly contributed to her success at the Fed and set a precedent for how Grandstrand approaches board service. She ended up chair of that board and, later, chair of the board for the Minnesota Youth Symphony and chair of the board for the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable. Grandstrand also has served as a director for Thrivent Financial Bank and continues to serve as an advisory board member for the Center for Law and Business at Mitchell-Hamline School of Law. But it is her service to the board of TCF Bank, Wayzata, Minn., that prompts BankBeat to honor Grandstrand as an Amazing Outside Director for 2018, along with four other directors. [Continue]