Archive for category: Education

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Congratulations to the August BankWork$ Graduates!

In partnership with Employ Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA) is proud to bring the nationwide BankWork$ program to Wisconsin. BankWork$ is a free, eight-week training program to prepare participants — primarily individuals from under-resourced communities — for retail banking careers. Upon graduation, each class then takes part in a hiring event featuring BankWork$ employer partners.

In August, a class of nine students — including  — graduated from the program. WBA’s Rose Oswald Poels attended the ceremony and congratulated the graduates on their achievement.

Pictured (left to rigth): Front row WBA President and CEO Rose Oswald Poels, Agustin Khey, Erika Winters, Valerie Santiago, Victoria Smith, and instructor Adriene Wright. Back row Diarelis Rodriguez , Mariah Lee-Salisott, Glenn Morgan, Cortney Corprue, and Cynthia Cohn

Over the course of the eight-week program, students learned the heard and soft skills necessary for entry-level retail and operations positions. Beginning in 2019, the program has now provided over 130 individuals in the Milwaukee area with the opportunity to begin a career in banking.

Pictured (left to right): WVA President and CEO Rose Oswald Poels presented a check to program instructor Adriene Wright.

Oswald Poels also presented a sponsorship check from WBA to instructor Adriene Wright in support of the program.

To learn more about the program, or how your bank can get involved, please visit employmilwaukee.org/BankWorks.htm.

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From the Fields: A Look at REAP

By Jeff Wilke, Bank First

For agricultural producers looking to become more energy efficient, they may want to check out the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (“REAP”).  This program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural businesses and rural small businesses for renewal energy systems, or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers can also use guaranteed loan funds to install energy-efficient equipment and systems for agricultural production and processing.

Who can apply? Agricultural producers with at least 50% of their gross income coming from agricultural operations and small businesses in rural areas with populations of 50,000 or less.

How can funds be used? For renewal energy systems such as: Biomass (biodiesel and ethanol, anaerobic digesters and solid fuels); Geothermal for electric generation or direct use; Hydropower below 30 megawatts; Hydrogen; Small and large wind generation; Small and large solar generation. Funds can also be used to buy, build, and install energy efficiency improvements such as: High-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC); Insulation, Lighting, Cooling or refrigeration units; Doors and windows; Electric, solar, or gravity pumps for sprinkler pivots; Switching from a diesel to an electric irrigation motor; Replacement of energy-inefficient equipment.

What types of funding are available? Loan guarantees on loans up to 75% of total eligible project costs, Grants for up to 50% of eligible project costs, Combined grant and loan guarantee funding up to 75% of total eligible project costs.

Applications for REAP loan guarantees and grants are accepted year-round at the local USDA Rural Development office. Please visit www.usda.gov for more information.

Wilke is vice president – agricultural banking at Bank First in Denmark. Wilke also serves as the current Chair on the 2024–2025 WBA Agricultural Bankers Section Board of Directors.

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WBA Members Can Strengthen Cybersecurity Practices and Offer Employees Career Advancement

The Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA) provides members the opportunity to engage in more educational offerings through associate member SBS CyberSecurity. Membership in their SBS Institute grants access to webinars, certifications, and other cybersecurity resources.

In addition to SBS CyberSecurity’s cybersecurity risk management software, consulting services, network security, and IT audit solutions for financial institutions of all sizes, their SBS Institute serves the banking industry by providing cyber education through webinars and certifications to better prepare students and their financial institution for cybersecurity threats and regulations.

Banking specific, role-based certifications allow students to master the concepts and technologies required to perform essential cybersecurity functions. The certifications include real-world cybersecurity issues and establish solutions that make cybersecurity responsibilities more efficient and effective.

The SBS Institute certification program is designed around three learning paths: executive, manager, and technical.

WBA members who purchase an SBS Institute membership or hold an active SBS certification gain access to special pricing.

Upcoming webinars include:

Information Security Panel Discussion June 20, 2024 – 2:00 PM CST

Is it Time to Switch to the Cloud? July 17, 2024 – 2:00 PM CST

The certifications available through SBS Institute are:

Certified Banking Security Executive (CBSE)
Objective: Gain a better understanding of the key elements of an Information Security Program to make more informed decisions about risk mitigating activities. 

Certified Banking Cybersecurity Manager (CBCM)
Objective: Focus specifically on each element of the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool to build a solid foundation of understanding for the FFIEC guidance and defending cybersecurity threats. 

Certified Banking Security Manager (CBSM)
Objective: Understand how to build and manage a comprehensive Information Security Program (ISP). 

Certified Banking Vendor Manager (CBVM)
Objective: Dive deep into the vendor management process and become a trusted expert in the eyes of auditors and examiners. 

Certified Banking Business Continuity Professional (CBBCP)
Objective: Prepare your institution for the worst-case scenario with a clear understanding of the business continuity process. 

Certified Banking Incident Handler (CBIH)
Objective: Understand best practices of handling common incidents in the banking industry and become an expert in responding to incidents and minimizing losses. 

Certified Banking Security Technology Professional (CBSTP)
Objective: Explore the technical design and implementation of Information Security Program controls. 

Certified Banking Ethical Hacker (CBEH)
Objective: Master concepts and technologies used by today’s hackers to better defend your institution. 

Certified Banking Vulnerability Assessor (CBVA)
Objective: Explore what makes a vulnerability tick and how to identify and remediate those vulnerabilities in your institution. 

Visit Certifications | SBS CyberSecurity for more details.

Click here for the 2024 Online Certification calendar.

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Ask the Fed® Announces New Webinars

Ask the Fed®, a program covering the latest financial and regulatory developments for bankers and their boards of directors, consists of periodic conference call / webinars that feature Fed experts and guest speakers on top banking questions of the day, with time at the end for questions and comments. Three new webinars were recently announced.

May 23, 2024: Residential Real Estate Series, National Update. At the beginning of the year, there was growing optimism around improving housing demand. Inflation was trending downward, job growth remained persistent, home price growth had moderated, and mortgage rates had come down from recent peaks. However, midway through the peak of the 2024 home selling season, declining home ownership affordability has reemerged as a significant challenge facing the market. As both home prices and mortgage rates trend upward, buyers today are adjusting to the new reality of the cost of homeownership. In the months ahead, lenders, builders, and other market participants will continue to face challenges as they struggle to navigate the ever-changing housing market landscape. Domonic Purviance, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will host a webinar that addresses current housing market conditions and future risks and expectations over the next year.

May 29, 2024: 2024 CRE: Turbulence Ahead? Will 2024 Commercial Real Estate (CRE) weather the storm, or is it just under the weather? CRE continues to benefit from a healthy economy, including robust job growth, strong consumer spending, and available credit. But the industry is also beset by a challenging interest rate climate, appraisal issues, oversupply, falling rental rates, and increasing expenses. Additionally, increasing CRE delinquency rates and loan losses are presenting challenges to some financial institutions. Brian Bailey CRE, CCIM, will discuss trends and emerging risks in the CRE and CRE finance industries.

June 4, 2024: FedNow® Services Update: Erik VanBramer, Vice President FRFS Customer Relations, will provide an update on the industry progress with the FedNow Service. The conversation will provide progress updates, interesting use cases that are developing in the market, and a roadmap towards the future of instant payments.

Registration is open at www.askthefed.org under the “All Calls” tab.

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Executive Letter: Invitation to All-Member AI Webinar

By Rose Oswald Poels

If your early mathematics education was like mine, you were probably told that you need to learn to do math in your head or on paper because a calculator won’t always be available to you. Fast forward to today, when we do have calculators at our fingertips most of the time, and I am glad to both have the skills to solve problems and have the ease of using a calculator to work efficiently. Certainly, we have all experienced an instance where we saw an answer pop up on a calculator and thought, “that can’t be right,” and then typed in the equation again more carefully to verify. In the same vein, artificial intelligence (AI) offers to take mundane tasks off our plates — making us more productive and freeing up some of our time for other work — while still requiring the use of our critical thinking skills to make the best use of AI tools and check their accuracy. 

I recently had the opportunity, along with a group of bankers, to test out the capabilities of generative AI for a variety of banking-related purposes. We saw first-hand how the tool can apply to anything from bank marketing to creating workplace policies. Everyone in the room found so much value in the exercise that I decided to bring a tailored overview of ChatGPT to the Wisconsin Bankers Association membership as a complimentary webinar. Lake Ridge Bank’s Ben Udell, a leading banking expert in leveraging practical applications of artificial intelligence, will be our presenter for the webinar from 10:00–11:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.  

Whether you are already utilizing ChatGPT on a daily basis or have never laid eyes on it, you will surely walk away from the webinar with useful knowledge. Following an introduction to AI concepts and ChatGPT, Ben will cover important considerations surrounding privacy, bias, facts, and hallucinations. He will also provide tips on how to prompt ChatGPT to improve the responses it generates. Next, he will offer practical usage demonstrations for scenarios such as: 

  • changing writing styles to fit different audiences,  
  • producing content for marketing and financial literacy,  
  • using dictation and transcripts for content creation and review,  
  • writing manuals,  
  • creating training materials, 
  • improving HR conversations, 
  • upskilling in Excel and Word, and 
  • reviewing for bias and other compliance-related areas of concern.  

Ben will be available for a live Q&A at the conclusion of the webinar. If you are interested in learning more about how ChatGPT can be a part of your strategy to, as Ben puts it, “future-proof” your bank, I invite you to join us for the webinar on June 4. 

Register for the webinar here.

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Graduate School of Banking at UW–Madison Welcomes New Leadership

Paul C. Katz Selected to Succeed Retiring President and CEO

Paul C. Katz

The Board of Trustees of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (GSB) is pleased to announce that Paul C. Katz has been selected as the next GSB/Prochnow Educational Foundation (PEF) president and CEO. Katz succeeds Kirby Davidson, who announced his retirement in October of 2023. Katz will begin as president on June 1, 2024, and assume the role of CEO upon Davidson’s retirement on December 31, 2024.

Katz comes to GSB following 25 years in banking industry leadership roles. He most recently served as managing director & head of bank relations at Promontory MortgagePath in Danbury, Conn. Prior to that, he was EVP of the State Association Alliance with the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. where he collaborated with 51 state bankers associations to improve the competitive position of the nation’s banks. In both roles, he established himself as a strategic thinker with a proven track record for growing existing business. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in political science from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md. and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program — Leadership for Extraordinary Performance — at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business.

“I have the highest respect for GSB and its students, alumni, faculty, and staff,” said Katz. “I am honored to be entrusted to lead the organization and look forward to building on its longstanding tradition of educating professionals and creating leaders.”

A national search, managed by The QTI Group of Madison, yielded applications from more than 300 candidates for the position. It was important to the Board of Trustees that the search committee include various perspectives and backgrounds. For this reason, the eight-member committee consisted of state association executives, banker alumni, and faculty. The seven-month process included surveys and input from key constituent groups including Trustees, bankers, faculty, and staff.

“The Board of Trustees is very thankful for the thorough effort the search committee put into this important leadership position,” said Randy Hultgren, president and CEO of the Illinois Bankers Association and chair of the GSB Board of Trustees. “Paul will be an outstanding leader and intuitive thinker, who will help shape the School and its various in-person and online educational programs for years to come.”

Current GSB/PEF President and CEO Davidson said, “GSB has always been recognized as the best and most progressive graduate banking school in the country. I am confident that under Paul’s leadership this tradition will continue. We are on the cusp of some major enhancements and additional offerings that, with Paul’s background, will serve the School well in the years to come.”

More information on the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin–Madison can be found at gsb.org.

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May/June 2024 Wisconsin Banker

Learn more about WBA’s Top Workplace recognition, Ryan Boebel, WBA’s 2024–2025 BOLT Section Chair, and banking in the age of generative AI.

Featured inside are the Chair’s Column by Donna Hoppenjan, current WBA chair and president and CEO of Mound City Bank, Platteville; the Community Advocate, Jeff Johnson, president and CEO of First National Bank of River Falls; and a recap from the 2024 Power of Community Week.

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FinTech Showcase Brings Insights on Leading-Edge Solutions

Charles Potts, ICBA

On April 15, 2024, bankers and FinTech vendors came together for WBA’s second annual FinTech Showcase. The full-day event opened with a keynote session on harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) by Charles Potts, EVP and chief innovation officer at ICBA. Potts covered three important aspects of preparing for an AI-driven future:

  • Invest in Training: upskill employees to work alongside AI tools.
  • Collaborate with Tech Firms: Partner with AI innovators for best solutions.
  • Stay Updated: Keep abreast of the latest AI trends and technologies.

“I now use ChatGPT more than I use Google Search.” – Charles Potts

Throughout the day, attendees had the opportunity to watch eight live FinTech demonstrations (20 minutes each) and network with other bankers and over a dozen FinTech providers in the Showcase Hall. A variety of vendors presented live demonstrations of their products and services:

Brandon Ragan, Alkami; and Cyrene Wilke, Horicon Bank

Alkami Technology, Inc. is a leading cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions in the United States that enables clients to grow confidently, adapt quickly, and build thriving digital communities. Alkami helps clients transform through retail and business banking, digital account opening, treasury management, data analytics, and marketing solutions.

Eisley Nkwonta, Array US, Inc.

Array is a leading financial innovation platform that helps financial institutions get compelling consumer products and features to market quickly. Our table stakes products include credit monitoring and identity protection features that improve financial literacy, increase digital engagement with customers, and provide non-interest income opportunities. Banks also have access to Array’s Offers Engine which unlocks hyper-targeted marketing for credit products.

Dave Mancl, Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions; and Joe Saari, ELEVATE Wisconsin

ELEVATE Wisconsin® is a financial wellness program that provides interactive, effective, unbiased online instruction in personal finance and investing fundamentals designed to enhance the lives of Wisconsin employees and their families. This program was created through public-private collaboration with the Department of Financial Institutions, the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and iGrad/Enrich Financial Wellness to help empower and improve the financial literacy of Wisconsinites.

Rahul Rao, EngageGPS

EngageGPS by Customarkable, LLC is a transformative customer engagement and growth platform for community banks that redefines how the financial institution connects with its customers. It’s the next-gen of relationship management solutions that until now has only been available to large regional and national banks.

Lori Shao, Finli, Inc.

Finli helps community banks grow business deposits, attract, retain, and deepen relationships with business customers, and compete effectively against NeoBanks, FinTechs, and large banks. We offer an embedded and turnkey comprehensive digital back office for micro, small, and mid-sized businesses offered through community banks.

Amber Robinson and Kim Snyder, KlariVis

KlariVis is the only cloud-based, core-agnostic enterprise dashboard and data analytics platform built for bankers, by bankers. KlariVis helps your entire organization see data clearly, empowering you, your team, and your customers to live and work better.

Paul Lehnert, Lenderful Solutions

Home Equity Turbo by Lenderful Solutions allows a lender to process and close a loan in two days. The solution has built-in automation tools, including AVM, Credit Pull (soft or tri), VOI, VOE, VOA, ID verification, property reports, insurance quotes, and underwriting summaries.

Scott Earwood, White Clay

White Clay is a software solution that helps you build great relationships, know what they are worth, and see them in an actionable dashboard so your bankers can make smarter decisions to drive better returns.

To find additional FinTech providers and other companies that cater to Wisconsin’s banking industry, please visit the WBA Associate Member Directory.

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Executive Letter: Promoting Financial Literacy During Financial Literacy Month

By Rose Oswald Poels

For banks, promoting financial literacy and capability is a long-standing, year-round tradition. These efforts are especially amplified throughout April, Financial Literacy Month. It is during this time that our industry showcases our ongoing commitment to supporting the financial wellness of our local community members.

With a mission to promote financial literacy and capability to the public and to broaden consumer empowerment in the financial services industry, the Wisconsin Bankers Foundation is proud to partner with banks across the state to aid in the effort to equip individuals of all ages with the knowledge and skills essential for making informed financial choices. In addition to scholarships offered annually to Wisconsin students and research published on Banconomics.com, education remains a significant priority. As such, the Foundation has curated a list of digital resources bankers may leverage in their efforts to promote financial well-being. These resources are free to use in April and throughout the year.

In addition to promoting these efforts in conjunction with your team’s participation in WBA’s Power of Community Week, I ask that your team also complete the Foundation’s 2023–2024 Financial Education Summary Forms to capture and celebrate the numerous ways bankers volunteer their time and expertise to foster financial literacy. While many bankers do not seek recognition for their outstanding service to Wisconsinites, reporting the financial education-focused activities your bank is involved with helps inform the efforts of WBA and WBF staff and is compiled for elected officials and members of our communities to highlight our collective efforts.

As economic uncertainties linger, personal finance and financial stability remain top of mind for communities throughout the country. In Wisconsin, it is evident that bankers remain dedicated to building a stronger and more resilient financial future for all. Thank you for your continued commitment.

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From the Fields: All-Star Lineup for the 2024 WBA Ag Bankers Conference!

By Jeff Wilke, Bank First

Spring is here, and with it comes the excitement of another Milwaukee Brewers baseball season. I cannot tell you if there will be any All-Stars on this year’s Brewers team. But what I can tell you is there is an All-Star lineup of presenters who will be at the 2024 WBA Agricultural Bankers Conference held at the Kalahari Resort Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells on April 11–12.

Leading off is Doug Johnson from Moody’s Analytics, who will be discussing ag trends and silent disruptors we face in production ag today.

Batting second will be Mike North from Ever.ag to provide a “home run” Dairy Outlook presentation.

Next in the lineup is Eric Snodgrass from Nutrient Ag Solutions. He will once again be providing a “hall of fame” weather presentation that will highlight high impact weather and changes in predictive weather science.

These three presenters are just part of the All-Star lineup at the Conference.  Also, do not forget about the wonderful opportunity that the conference provides for networking with the team of ag bankers assembled for the two-day event.

If you have not registered yet, there is still time. Just go to wisbank.com/ag to register and to learn more about the conference.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Wilke is vice president – agricultural banking at Bank First in Denmark. Wilke also serves as the current Vice Chair on the 2023–2024 WBA Agricultural Bankers Section Board of Directors.

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