Over 40,000 Wisconsinites Reached by Banks’ Financial Education Efforts
Excellence in Financial Education award recipients were recognized during the WBA FLEX Retail & Marketing Summit in Wisconsin Dells.
Wisconsin Bankers Foundation Recognizes Volunteer Service of Bank Employees
On Thursday, November 20, 114 Wisconsin bankers and 25 banks were honored by the Wisconsin Bankers Foundation (WBF) for their efforts in promoting financial literacy to Wisconsin’s community members. WBF is the charitable arm of the Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA) whose mission is to promote financial literacy and financial capability to the public and to broaden consumer empowerment in the financial services industry through research, education, grants, and scholarships.
The outstanding efforts of all honorees were celebrated at the recent WBA FLEX Retail and Marketing Summit held in Wisconsin Dells on November 19–20, 2025. During the 2024–2025 fiscal year, the individual and bank-level WBF Excellence in Financial Education award winners helped WBF expand its financial education to reach over 40,000 people throughout the state. These efforts included giving presentations in local classrooms to teach children about saving and managing money, leading homeownership workshops, and hosting fraud prevention seminars, among many other initiatives.
“Wisconsin bankers want to help their communities to thrive,” said Rose Oswald Poels, chair, treasurer, and executive director of the Wisconsin Bankers Foundation Board. “We are glad to recognize the remarkable work of these individuals and banks who help Wisconsinites build brighter financial futures.”
This year, Sue Krause of Fox Valley Savings Bank in Fond du Lac was awarded the prestigious Financial Literacy Banker of the Year Award. Krause completed 133 financial education presentations over the year. Jen Yager, of Royal Bank in Elroy, was recognized with the Financial Literacy Banker Award for completing 66 financial education presentations.
Pictured (from left to right): Elizabeth Fenton, WBA communications coordinator, presents the Financial Literacy Banker Award to Jen Yager of Royal Bank in Elroy.
In addition, Krause and Yager were honored with the Certificate of Excellence alongside Sharilyn Zimmerman and Peter Schleicher, Bank of Lake Mills; Sam Reierson, Bank of Sun Prairie; Ann Cooley, Community First Bank; Rachael Ehrenberg, Farmers State Bank of Waupaca; Amy Weiss, The First National Bank of River Falls; Tammy Tongusi, Forte Bank; Mary Albrecht and Lisa Pauly, Port Washington State Bank; Jenean Friedl, Ashley Lombard, and Paige Vieth, Royal Bank; and Michelle Friemoth, Unity Bank for exceeding 20 financial education presentations in their local communities during WBF’s 2024–2025 fiscal year.
Ninety-nine individuals received a Certificate of Recognition completing at least five financial education presentations. This year’s recipients are Christian Del Aguila, Shane Moen, Katelyn Hodel, Ty Neupert, and Jay Smith, Bank of Lake Mills; Lisa Schwalen, Sue Neuzil, Laurie Janowski, Heather Kadletz, Ashley Bley, and Brian Vogeltanz, Bank of Luxemburg; Dena Hineline, Pam Blattner, Pamela Sanderson, Hector Solis, Stephanie Wallom, and Ryley Mondragon, Bank of Sun Prairie; Scott Rockwell, Bank of Wisconsin Dells; Cassy Diercks, Emily Powers, and Molli Hundt, Citizens First Bank; Kim Rabska, Community First Bank; Sam Klein, Deb Ihm, Deanna Hinderman, Kim Schmelz, and Shari Zenz, Community First Bank; Tami Miller, Dave Hirstein, Melissa Godden, Rachael Danielson, and Gabby Magin, The First National Bank of River Falls; Aaron Mork, FNC Bank; Bryana Williams, Fortifi Bank; Rochley Gross, Forward Bank; Kirsten Quam and Katie Schuff, Fox Valley Savings Bank; Jason Scherer, Darlene Kurtz, Alerris Alexander, and Whitney Brunn, Horicon Bank; Kat Detloff and Skye Neidermann, Ladysmith Federal Savings & Loan Association; Courtney Pickel, Amanda McWilliams, Sarah Frisch, and Tammy Christ, Mound City Bank; JoNell Empereur, Amanda Schultz, Karri Oelke, Lauren VanLoo, Betsy Reigle, Karen Beck, and Kari De Smith, National Exchange Bank & Trust; Tracy Odegaard, Felicia Kaltenberg, Jace Gustafson, Hannah Corning, and Nona Havey, One Community Bank; Lindsay Monacelli, Peoples State Bank Wausau; Tony Meyers, Lisa Lyon, Erik Thompson, Christine Buckman, and Julie Powers, Pillar Bank; Meghan Menke, Angie Regnitz, Lisa Barrows, Chanel Schmidt, Linda Chay, and Tracy Foss, Port Washington State Bank; Tammy Daebler, Tara Knaack, and Payton Zblewski, Premier Community Bank; Connie Zueleger, Prevail Bank; Carter Uppena, Michelle Hancock, Morgan DeGuire, Beth Shaw, Michael Starks, Ashley Phillips, Courtney Dean, Cassandra Noble, Lauri Schroeder, Brant Gille, and Luke Manke, Royal Bank; Veron Gray and Mario Monterrey, The Equitable Bank, SSB; Mondi Hernandez, Emily Kaeppel, Jose Velez, Juliet Martinez, and Nicole Tindall, Waukesha State Bank; Jenni Badtke, Eric Hopfensperger, Spencer Bloxham, Traci Chisholm, Miranda Schultz, and Brandon Conger, Wolf River Community Bank.
Elizabeth Fenton congratulates the 114 Wisconsin bankers who were honored.
The WBF Excellence in Financial Education Award was presented to 25 WBA-member banks for their bank-wide dedication to financial education: Abby Bank, Bank of Lake Mills, Bank of Luxemburg, Bank of New Glarus, Bank of Prairie Du Sac, Bank of Sun Prairie, Community First Bank, Farmers Savings Bank, Farmers & Merchants State Bank, The First National Bank of River Falls, FNC Bank, Forte Bank, Ladysmith Federal Savings & Loan Association, National Exchange Bank & Trust, One Community Bank, Pillar Bank, Port Washington State Bank, Premier Community Bank, PremierBank, Royal Bank, Security Bank, The Stephenson National Bank & Trust, Waukesha State Bank, Waumandee State Bank, and Wolf River Community Bank.
WBF would like to extend a warm congratulations and thank all honorees for their outstanding efforts in promoting financial literacy in capability across Wisconsin.
