Independent Banker - June 2021 - 67

Tenacity drives Stearns Bank
The community bank in St. Cloud, Minn., has cultivated a culture that combines creativity and
hard work. The result is an award-winning workplace that fosters growth for both employees
and the bank. By Eric Best
n a corporate world of ladders,
Stearns Bank stands out with its
lattice structure. Rather than one
route to the top, employees at the
$2.2 billion-asset community bank
in St. Cloud, Minn., say they've
forged their own paths based on
their unique combinations of skills
and experiences. Some of those in its
C-suite, for example, have bespoke
titles or responsibilities that optimize
their talents and provide organic
I
" It's part of our
culture that there's
something new
every day. It's a
matter of what hat
are you going to
opportunities for growth.
" At Stearns, everybody has a strong
drive and passion. Everybody's
sort of got dual roles, whatever
role you're in, " says Ann Erickson,
chief compliance and audit officer.
" It's part of our culture that there's
something new every day. It's a
matter of what hat are you going to
wear today to help us achieve our
goals and help our customers achieve
their goals? "
This culture of fostering growth
drives the community bank on
numerous fronts, from its structure
and talent recruitment strategy to how
it generates new business. Its efforts
wear today to help
us achieve our
goals and help our
customers achieve
their goals? "
-ANN ERICKSON, STEARNS BANK
Name:
Stearns Bank
Location:
St. Cloud, Minn.
Assets:
$2.2 billion
have not gone unnoticed. Stearns
Bank has been frequently recognized
as both a top-performing community
bank by Independent Banker and as
an award-winning workplace in state
and industry publications. Ask an
employee and they'll tell you that the
bank's secret to success is tenacity.
That tenacity-born of its
hardworking, Midwestern roots,
employees say-stems from Norm
Skalicky, chairman of Stearns
Financial Services, Inc., who acquired
the bank in 1964. His daughter, Kelly
Skalicky, leads the community bank
today as president and CEO.
" The pace that Stearns sets,
A hardworking family
While Stearns Bank has the closeknit
environment you'd expect from a
family-run institution, Plumski says
not to mistake that for avoiding hard
work. " Family means you are in it
to get the job done, whether you're
in the heat of harvest when you're
putting up hay or rock picking in
the spring, " she says. " You're doing
tasks together that need to be done.
A family works through that together
and enjoys the benefits together. "
One way that tenacity plays out
day to day is Stearns Bank's proactive
strategy. That approach means
the community bank is constantly
assessing new opportunities. For
example, the bank has expanded
into new markets in Scottsdale,
Ariz., and Florida's Gulf Coast and
is continually pursuing fintech
partnerships and other expansion
opportunities across the country.
" One of the key objectives of our
strategic plan is risk management
at the forefront, " Erickson says.
" It's risk management built in,
helping people all be educated and
understand where our risks are at. "
That also carries over to the
cybersecurity side, where the
community bank uses a cybersecurity
risk assessment tool to actively
identify issues and get ahead of
them. Across the institution, the
independentbanker.org Q 67
ultimately, is from the Skalickys, "
says Heather Plumski, chief financial
and strategy officer. " They set a tone
throughout the institution. "

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Independent Banker - June 2021

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