October 2020 - Wisconsin Bankers Association

Recently, our long-time friend and colleague, Jennifer Harder, passed away after a long, hard-fought journey with cancer.

She was an amazing mother to her two children, Sophia and Nolan, her pride and joy who will remain her greatest legacy.

Her children were not her only legacy. Jen’s positive influence on WBA and Wisconsin’s banking industry will be felt for years to come. She worked for the association and its membership for nearly 18 years, starting after college. Her talent and creativity were exceptional and through her marketing and communication skills, she helped define how WBA served its membership in a variety of ways. Many of WBA’s education marketing pieces, along with other company product brochures were created by Jen. For several years, she represented WBA and the banking industry as a recurring television contributor on consumer finance topics at a local Madison TV station. She was also the staff liaison to the WBA Marketing Committee.

Jen's shining achievement was her work on the WBA Scenes of Wisconsin calendars. She took great pride in her work on the calendars and it showed. Every year she looked forward to working with bankers on the project and every year the project grew. More impressively, it became more beautiful over time. The 2021 edition, her last edition, coincidentally features photos she and her daughter took together.

Jen will be remembered by staff for her positive attitude, strength, and bright smile. She was always willing to lend a sympathetic ear for your troubles and a joyous laugh to lift your spirit. She was also a fighter and the example she set during her 11-year battle with cancer is one we will never forget.

Jen’s life will be remembered and celebrated by those she left behind, her children, Sophia and Nolan Hein; husband, Tim Harder; parents, Franklin and Jean Fredrick; sister, Lisa (Emmett) Blahnik and niece, Everleí Blahnik; and her extended family and life-long friends including her work family at WBA and across Wisconsin’s banking industry.

Jen’s Legacy
If you are interested in making a financial contribution to a memorial for Jennifer’s children, please send a check to the WBA Offices. WBA is collecting through the end of November. Checks should be made payable to “Sophia and Nolan Hein Trust.”

Wisconsin Bankers Association
C/O Rose Oswald Poels
4721 S. Biltmore Lane
Madison, WI 53718

By, Eric Skrum

By Rose Oswald Poels

Banking is about relationships. As a leader in your bank, many times you are making connections between different businesses and people to help them reach a common goal. It’s about leveraging those relationships for the greater good.

WBA has done the same thing throughout the years in its approach to advocacy to help achieve successes for the industry. Over the last few years, the WBA Board has encouraged staff to continue and grow our coalition building efforts to maximize the impact of our advocacy initiatives. For instance, late last Spring, WBA built a coalition of 34 different Wisconsin business groups urging SBA and Treasury to simplify the PPP loan forgiveness process. That effort placed WBA among the most successful state banking trade associations in that campaign and helped move the needle for so many businesses and banks.

More recently, on the same topic of PPP forgiveness, I orchestrated another business coalition. Groups like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Wisconsin Restaurant Association, and the National Federation of Independent Business in Wisconsin were just a few of the organizations I asked to join the effort in telling our Wisconsin Delegation how critical it is for Wisconsin’s businesses, your customers, to have automatic PPP loan forgiveness.

And, just last week, a meeting between Governor Evers, DFI Secretary Blumenfeld, WBA, a few bankers, and their business clients was held due to our efforts. While the message sent was that Wisconsin needs to stay open for the benefit of our economy, and can do so safely, the underlying goal was to connect the governor with the unique and broad perspective of the banking industry. During this conversation, he directly heard how the pandemic is impacting banks, their loan portfolios, and communities, while their business customers related the specific effects to their respective businesses.

WBA has a powerful reputation in this state, as does the banking industry as a whole. We’ll continue to leverage our relationships to ensure the strong voice of Wisconsin’s banking industry is heard by elected officials and other thought leaders on the local, state, and federal levels.

Jennifer Harder, A Friend and Colleague Remembered

Relationship Banking, WBA Style

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Archive for month: October, 2020

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