Tag Archive for: Bulletin Board

Allan Michalski

The Board of Directors of Forward Bank has voted to elect Allan Michalski to be the chairman of the Board at their April meeting.

Michalski joined the Board of Directors in June 17, 2008 and has served on numerous committees including Audit, Compensation, and Loan. He replaces outgoing Board Chair John Marshall who will continue as an active member of the bank and holding company Boards and has been formally appointed Past Chair.

Michalski is the chief financial officer of Felker Brothers Corp. in Marshfield. He lives the Forward Bank mission with his community activities in the Marshfield area including being a past board member of the United Way, Marshfield Economic Development, and Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry as well as a past member of the Central WI Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund board.

“Al’s approach to leadership as a member of the Board has always been admired by the Executive team and employees of Forward,” said Bill Sennholz, CEO of Forward Bank. “He has a unique ability to question and support new initiatives at the same time, which makes our strategic planning process strong and helps drive us to new successes.”

Community State Bank (CSB) is pleased to announce the promotion of two team members to banking officers. Eloissa (Ellie) Heigl has been promoted to the position of media and communications director, and William (Bill) Fliess has been promoted to the position of assistant vice president – credit review manager.

Ellie Heigl

As media and communications director, Heigl is responsible for helping develop messaging, branding, content, and other communication pieces to help promote CSB, and Shepherds Community Café to our local communities. These communication channels include social media, podcasts, website development, and press releases regarding important information about the bank.

“Ellie has been an important part of CSB for nearly 10 years, and I’ve worked closely with her as part of the marketing team for the last seven,” said Gregory Wall, chief innovation officer for CSB. “She has an incredible ability to help tell the bank’s story, and the stories of our customers and communities. She connects with her audience in an authentic way and is able to really communicate how CSB is different. I want to congratulate Ellie on her accomplishments, and thank her for her dedication to our team.”

Bill Fliess

Bill Fliess joined CSB in 2017 and has been an integral part of the credit review team since that time. In his new role as credit review manager, Fliess will oversee and help develop other
members of the credit review team. Fliess is also responsible for reviewing credit worthiness of business loan applicants, and making recommendations to the Board of Directors for approval of loans. Fliess is also responsible for keeping the bank’s credit review policies up-to-date and in compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations.

“Bill is a dedicated and hard working member of this organization,” said CSB President & CEO Scott Huedepohl. “His area is critical to the success of Community State Bank, and I’m excited to see where he’ll lead his team.” Huedepohl continued, “I want to congratulate both Bill and Ellie on their new opportunities, and look forward to their continued success.”

Both promotions were announced internally to CSB team members in April 2022 and were effective immediately.

Molly Knoll has been promoted to vice president – senior commercial lender at Forward Bank. In this role, she will continue to provide exceptional service to businesses in the Medford area and will mentor new commercial lenders in Medford, Phillips, and Park Falls.

Knoll has over 7 years of banking experience in the Medford area with Forward Bank. She joined the team as a relationship banker and quickly moved into the office manager role. In 2018, Knoll expanded her role even further becoming a commercial lender. She was promoted to assistant vice president in 2019 and to a senior commercial lender earlier this year.

She is currently active serving our community as a member of the Gilman Development Foundation, City of Medford Planning Commission, Northwest Regional Planning, Neighbor to Neighbor board, Aspirus Medford Patient Family advisory council, and as the vice president of the Tee-Hi board.

“Molly’s drive and dedication to community has been inspiring to the entire Forward team,” said Dave Clark, president of Forward Bank. “The career path that she has taken with our organization not only helps her provide a broad array of financial advice for her customers, but it also helps her teach and mentor others.”

As the only tribe-owned bank in Wisconsin, it was only natural for Bay Bank to reach out and forge a strong relationship with the First American Capital Corporation, Inc. (FACC), a Native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) organization, certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

While Bay Bank offers a variety of loans and products to businesses, FACC works with many businesses initially unable to qualify for a traditional business loan.

“We share a similar mission — to help Native Americans through economic development,” said Nathan King, Bay Bank’s vice president. “We want to help FACC build its capacity since they can help more small businesses.”

FACC Co-Executive Director Gary Mejchar said working with Bay Bank allows the organization to assist more businesses, including expanding or newly formed tribally owned enterprises. FACC has been especially active in helping and growing construction industry-related firms, a market sector FACC has considerable experience and expertise working in. Those businesses will likely benefit from the 2021 federal infrastructure law since a portion of contracts will have participation goals for qualified businesses with Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) certifications. FACC aids businesses with the DBE and other local/state/federal minority certification programs.

“We can do more together,” Mejchar said. “There are some things Bay Bank cannot do, but we can,” such as providing in-depth pre-loan and post-loan technical services with clients as well as loan readiness assistance and helping businesses grow capacity so they eventually qualify for the credit standards of commercial banks. Likewise, Bay Bank, for example, provides both business and consumer banking services, while FACC can only serve business clients.

Another link between the two organizations is Bay Bank President Jeff Bowman, who helped found FACC and currently sits on the organization’s board of directors. “That’s a great connection between us,” Mejchar said.

Referrals also go between the two organizations. Bay Bank may recommend a customer without enough equity to receive a traditional business loan work with FACC first. Once FACC clients grow and can work with a traditional bank, Bay Bank hopes to be that option, King said.

“FACC fosters economic development in Native communities. They provide great technical assistance that helps businesses grow,” he said.

Based in Hales Corners, a Milwaukee suburb, FACC also provides its clients with business development services, such as assistance with business planning, business management assistance, and financial management assistance, along with application assistance for minority and disadvantaged business certifications.

Although Bay Bank works closely with FACC, King said it also has good relationships with the state’s three other Native-run CDFIs: Wisconsin Native Loan Fund in Lac du Flambeau; First Nations Community Financial in Black River Falls; and NiiJii Capital Partners Inc. in Keshena.