Great North Bank Announces Promotions

Great North Bank is pleased to announce the following promotions.

Sara Ferguson was promoted to SVP – Chief Accounting Officer. Sara started her career with KPMG, LLP in Minneapolis, and was a Senior Audit Associate when she left. Following, she spent several years with Anderson Tackman & Company, PLC in Iron Mountain, MI, and left as a manager. Sara joined Great North Bank in 2017 as the bank’s Controller. At GNB she has been a part of the Senior Management Team, participating in Strategic Planning and Core Conversion and systems/software upgrades and implementations. She has led the ALCO Committee, Information Security Program, and oversees IT operations. Sara was instrumental in helping the bank navigate through its recent acquisition with Multi-Bank Services (MBS). Sara graduated from Northern Michigan University with a BS in Accounting/Corporate Finance and earned her CPA license for Michigan in 2010. She recently completed the 2024 Financial Managers School in Madison, WI, sponsored by the Graduate School of Banking and National Financial Managers Society.”

Michelle Chartier was promoted to Vice President – Deposit Operations. Michelle began her banking career in 2007 as a Teller at a credit union near Baton Rouge, LA. Eventually, she moved into operations and was a Plastic Card Coordinator, Accounting Assistant and Payments Specialist. She worked at the credit union until she relocated back to the upper peninsula of Michigan in 2015. Michelle joined Great North Bank in 2018 as a Deposit Operations Specialist and was promoted to Deposit Operations Manager, and then Assistant Vice President – Deposit Operations. Michelle has been a critical part of many projects, including revamping our deposit product offerings along with the addition of fraud prevention tools, refining deposit operation processes and functions, and deposit compliance. Michelle has also provided guidance and training to many staff and other departments with her wide array of knowledge and expertise. Most recently Michelle has taken on a very difficult and expansive role of managing the multiple projects that have been recently contracted with FIS. Michelle will also be attending the WBA Deposit Compliance School in Madison this fall.