Profiles

Michael Bell preaches acquisition ecumenism

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]

Accountant reflects on 30 years of service to community bankers

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]

Connections lead banker to football role and successful bank

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]

MetaBank’s tenacious 24/7 banker

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]

‘Girl Banker’ seeks to influence gender mix of industry

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]

Strategic thinker models industry leadership

Brenda Johnson is a big fan of “blue sky” discussions, where a group throws off the constraints of what is known in order to imagine their way toward something new. It’s an exercise in creative ideation, and whether she’s leading these discussions on behalf of Charter Bankshares, where she’s been chair of the board for five years. [Continue]

Website redesign fulfills banker’s creative inclinations

Rarely does someone fresh out of college looking for a creative job respond to an ad from a bank. Then an assistant manager at a local restaurant, Becky Miller saw a First Bank Financial Centre listing for a marketing assistant. A dozen years later, Miller is officer for corporate marketing at the $1.1 billion Oconomowoc, Wis., bank. [Continue]

Minnesota banker responds to need for physicians in rural Midwest

The United States is facing a crisis in rural health care. In the next decade, demand for physicians is projected to grow by up to 133,200 while supply is projected to grow by only three-fourths of that, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. That leaves a substantial shortfall of doctors. [Continue]