Matt Vaillant had run the numbers and the conclusion was inevitable: North Shore Bank of Commerce would have to completely overhaul its 401(k) plan administration business. The bank had been successfully handling everything from plan design to compliance for several decades, but regulatory changes had made that model unfeasible. As manager of the retirement solutions area, Vaillant was faced with a quandary.
“I knew it was in the best interest of the bank to look at that line of business differently, but I didn’t know what that meant for me,” Vaillant said. “Was I basically talking myself out of a job?”
Vaillant contemplated the question over the weekend before meeting with leadership Monday morning at 8 a.m. to lay out his analysis.
The business line would stay, but it would evolve to keep pace with the changing times. Vaillant’s story was similar: He kept his job, even if its description changed. He worked to transition the approximately 60 plans he managed — during the height of covid — while boasting a retention rate of 98 percent.
That willingness to put the best interests of the bank over personal concerns is part of what makes Vaillant so valuable to the Duluth, Minn.-based NSBC, said Brenda Brannan, executive vice president, chief strategy officer and Vaillant’s supervisor at the time of that conversation. A large part of Vaillant’s skillset is his ability to see where things are and where they should be headed.
For his clear-eyed vision, contributions to strategy and hard work to implement both, Vaillant, now senior vice president of consumer banking, private banking and insurance, is being honored as a 2024 BankBeat “Rising Star in Banking.”
Vaillant’s banking pedigree dates back to childhood, when he watched his father head off to the bank. He followed in his footsteps, working at a local bank while pursuing his business management and accounting degree at the College of St. Scholastica. Ken Johnson — now president and CEO of the $508 million NSBC, then head of retail banking — recruited Vaillant in 2007. Initially, he focused on retail and private banking clients before adding an investment portfolio which eventually grew to $300 million. He wasn’t planning to step away from his direct work with customers, but leadership at the bank saw his potential.
“He became the obvious choice for a series of opportunities over time,” Brannan said. “Years ago, a leader once told me to hire people who are smarter than you, share knowledge, wisdom and guidelines and then get out of their way. Matt is like that: I gave him some tools and then let him take over.”
What also stood out was Vaillant’s interest in technology and innovation and his ability to blend it with NSBC’s particular culture and strategy. “He’s extremely knowledgeable in that area and extremely enthusiastic,” Johnson said, “utilizing it in any way we can to increase efficiency and provide products and services to our customer base that compete with what’s offered by any bank or other financial institution across the country.”
Video rental chain Blockbuster serves as a cautionary tale: The company delivered a product that people wanted — movies — but was doing so in an outdated, undesirable way. Bankers should take that example to heart, Vaillant urged. “The concern that keeps me up at night for our industry is whether other community banks — or North Shore Bank — are understanding that the way we deliver our products and services has to change,” he said. “Otherwise we’re going to be Blockbuster.”
Vaillant isn’t wearing rose-tinted glasses when it comes to tech; he knows it’s only a tool to deliver the personal, tailored service community banking does best. But he’s eager to make the most of the opportunities it offers. A keyword for him is “why’” — Why are we doing things this way? Why pick this tech solution? Why not explore this new product? — and Vaillant wants his fellow bankers to constantly be asking these questions as well.
“We’ve been working very hard to change our culture to be less legacy and more progressive and innovative,” he said. “We’re working to introduce technology and introduce new ways of thinking about branches and new ways of thinking about how the client wants to use our services.”
Fostering the culture is something Vaillant is passionate about, especially when it comes to hiring and training new staff. He focuses on finding people whose personalities are already a match for the culture, confident he can teach the necessary skills. “What I spend a lot of time on, and I’m really proud of,” he said, “is being able to build those people into bankers or administrators who have confidence and have their ethics and morals in the right place.”
After his father retired — for the first time — around 2013, the pair spent five years as coworkers at NSBC. The previous president, Larry Johnson, told Vaillant it was the first time he’d hired somebody based on the actions and reputation of the offspring rather than the parent. Vaillant accepts the compliment with modesty, but Larry Johnson isn’t the only one to praise his performance at the bank.
“It’s a privilege and an honor to work with Matt,” Brannan said. “He will be a thoughtful change leader for North Shore Bank for years to come.”
Vaillant is also passionate about industry advocacy, something for which Johnson praised him. He serves on the Emerging Leaders Council at the American Bankers Association and on the Government Relations Advisory Council of the Minnesota Bankers Association.
“He’s taken the steps to become involved and serve on different committees, and while serving on those committees at both the state and national level, he’s really stood out and made himself noticed,” Johnson said. “He has a real passion for advocacy and creating a better banking environment for all banks throughout the industry.”
