Throughout Jeanne Crain’s 37 years in banking, industry consolidation has been a constant. Until she reached Bremer Bank, every bank Crain ever worked for changed hands while she was employed there. Sometimes more than once. Crain recalls this journey in her own words. [Continue]
Jo Ann Barefoot has been doing a lot of globetrotting lately. Since being named the first female Deputy Comptroller of the Currency in 1978, Barefoot launched a career in the private sector and describes herself as a “serial entrepreneur.” She is currently CEO of Barefoot Innovation Group, something of a think tank for financial technology, regulatory reform and the future of banking. [Continue]
Every bank has a CFO, but it’s likely that only one has a CFnO – a chief fun officer. That’s Sarah Trapp’s title at First National Bank of Syracuse, Kan., and, yes, her job is all about fun — surprising employees with free lunches, holding company-wide massage days, or recruiting them to put on costumes for skits that reinforce best practices. [Continue]
There are roughly 3,300 Wells Fargo employees working inside retail branches across Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Montana — what the bank now considers its Midwestern region — and Laurie Nordquist assures us that none of them have sales goals. [Continue]
Michael Bell, a 40-year-old lawyer from Michigan is confident as hell about his ability to bring credit union cash to just about any purchase or acquisition you can imagine that doesn’t involve stock or a large deferred tax asset. And he’s clear about what adding a credit union to the bidding field will do to the selling price. “If a bank can pay 1.5 times book value and that’s the value, a credit union can pay 1.7 times book value.” [Continue]
If you have purchased or sold a bank, you may have come into contact with Don Johnson, a partner at the Eide Bailly accounting and consulting firm. From his Minneapolis office, Johnson has helped many bankers across the Upper Midwest consider some of the most significant decisions a banker makes in his or her career: should we buy a bank, sell a branch, relocate a charter, create a holding company, merge with another financial institution? [Continue]
How did a career community banker end up with a vital operations responsibility at every Green Bay Packers home game? The same way he became co-founder, president and CEO of Wisconsin’s youngest bank. It wasn’t what Dave Schuelke knew. It was who he knew. [Continue]
Leslie Miller, vice president at Iowa State Savings Bank, Knoxville, received the Iowa Bankers Association’s 2018 James A. Leach Leadership Award for her contributions to ag banking in the state. [Continue]
It can be difficult to discern what excites Kathy Thorson more: helping people or promoting her community. The longtime business banker and newly-named community banking president of MetaBank, Sioux Falls, is adept at both. [Continue]
Natalie Bartholomew is not a golfer. She is a women’s advocate, a working mom, an influencer, a blogger, and first and foremost, a banker. In fact, she’s The Girl Banker. Bartholomew started her blog, The Girl Banker, along with its social media presence, to start a conversation among women in banking. [Continue]