Writer: Jacqueline Nasseff Hilgert

CRE expertise highly valued at Minnesota community bank

When Steve Huston, president and CEO of Bankwest, Rockford, Minn., invited Greg Ebert to join the bank’s board, Ebert responded in a way that could have been construed as self-serving. “I asked him, ‘What’s the upside for me?’” Ebert recalled. It wasn’t that Ebert, owner of Ebert Construction based in neighboring Corcoran, wasn’t community-minded. He simply knew that participating on a bank’s board introduced him to risk and brought with it a time commitment many business owners cannot absorb. [Continue]

Leader in banking law helps TCF navigate risk

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]

UFMD: A way to build industry connections and support charity

It’s not often that bank and credit union executives break bread together. One might question whether it’s even a good idea to put them in the same room. But come together they did, more than forty of them along with a dozen representatives of the vendor community, for the February kickoff of United Financials Making a Difference. [Continue]

First National Bank of Omaha drops NRA branded Visa card

First National Bank of Omaha, Neb., announced Feb. 22 it will no longer issue an NRA branded Visa card. The company declined to say when its contract with the NRA expired, but said it would not renew its licensing agreement at that time. “Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA. … Read more

Media relations acumen essential at all levels of the bank

Journalists are going to find their way to your bank someday whether you want them to or not; therefore it is in your best interests to develop a media strategy that plays to your advantage. This was the argument made by Patrick Dix, vice president of public relations for SHAZAM, in a webinar focused on media communications strategies for bankers. [Continue]

Leadership as conduit: ICBSD’s Olson defines her role

EDITOR’S NOTE: In July 2017, Megan Olson was named president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota. For the preceding 13 years, Olson was president and CEO of the Watertown, S.D., Chamber of Commerce. BankBeat’s Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Nasseff Hilgert spoke to Olson about her new role.  Q. How did your work with … Read more

Economist is bullish on continued expansion

Participants in BankBeatGroups’ inaugural webinar Jan. 18, received an optimistic economic forecast from KC Mathews, executive vice president and chief investment officer for UMB Bank, Kansas City, Mo. “Is This as Good as it Gets?” Mathews asked in the title of his presentation. Outlining what he called “the Magnificent 7,” he provided the answer: no. [Continue]

Promoted from Within: Don Coffin to replace Suku Radia as Bankers Trust CEO

Within months of taking the helm at Des Moines, Iowa-based Bankers Trust in 2008, President and CEO Suku Radia made public an ambitious goal for the $2.7 billion bank: He wanted to double the bank’s size by the time his 10-year contract came to an end. Now, with Radia set to retire at the end of this month and bank president Don Coffin preparing to add CEO to his title, a similar pronouncement tied to growth should not be expected. [Continue]

Women advised to be proactive to advance in industry

As she wends her way through Illinois calling on banks of many sizes, correspondent banker Marlene Luther, now 66, catalogs the ways the industry has changed for women since she started in banking. In the 1970s, pantyhose and closed-toe shoes were mandated attire and management was homogeneously male. Over time, she saw increasing numbers of women at meetings sponsored by state banking associations, yet many sat doe-eyed and silent. A few still do.

“In some ways the path to leadership for women is easier today, especially at the larger banks that recognize the value of diversity,” said Luther, vice president at Midwest Independent Bank, Jefferson City, Mo., and 2017 chair of the Illinois Bankers Association’s “Women in Banking” Conference, which was conducted in September. “But I still find bank presidents — both men and women — asking, ‘why do we need a Women in Banking conference?’”

This is an easier question to answer after one looks at the gains women have yet to make into C-suite positions in banking and beyond. [Continue]

Innovative and Intentional: Entrepreneurship steers socially-conscious Sunrise Banks toward new opportunities

When the FDIC launched its small-dollar loan pilot in 2008, one of its assumptions was that banks would be willing to forgo short-term profitability to pursue new banking relationships. Twenty-eight banks participated in the pilot. St. Paul, Minn.-based Sunrise Banks — a Community Development Financial Institution since 2001 with a long history of working with underrepresented communities — was not among the participants. When the FDIC pilot was completed two years later, regulators were no closer to solving how banks might profit from offering affordable small-dollar loans than before. Sunrise Banks, by contrast, was nearing the ability to ink a deal with a California startup that promised to revolutionize small-dollar lending by utilizing payroll services. [Continue]