Highland Bank News
Hot off the Press...Highland intensifies IT effort, Hires Craig Boivin from Excel - May 2008
Highland Bank’s Ken Wilmer Named SPEDCO’s Banker of the Year - April 2008
Highland Bank expands its south metro commercial market - June 2007
Highland Bank promotes five officers - May 2007
Highland continues Maple Grove commercial real estate expansion, hires Tobias - May 2007
Highland Bank hires VP of Cash Management, introducing Remote Deposit - March 2007
Highland intensifies IT effort, Hires Craig Boivin from Excel
St. Paul, Minn. —May 1, 2008 — Highland Bank is strengthening its information technology department and internet banking services. To lead this effort, Highland recently hired Craig Boivin as the Highland’s Chief Technology Officer.“Craig joins us with over 20 years experience implementing information technology and managing its risks and expenses in the banking, consulting and consumer sectors,” says Pat Bradley, Highland’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “He’s got an impressive track record. We look forward to great things coming out of our IT area in short order.” Most recently, Boivin comes to Highland after eight years as Chief Information Officer at Excel Bank in Minneapolis, where advancements in technology and internet banking contributed to asset growth of 20 percent per year during his tenure. Taking a top-down, collaborative approach, Boivin outlines his plans at Highland. “Working with business clients to make sure we are helping them achieve their goals, we will use technology to streamline our operations and processes,” he says. “We’re looking to reduce our expenses by out sourcing our core applications and working with that vendor to improve our customers’ banking experience.” For instance, Highland will be implementing a more fault-tolerant, wide area network to improve connectivity. “Once clients enter our site, multiple pathways will be available to them,” Boivin says. “If one link goes down, the self-healing network will instantly find another path to get users where they want to go. I don’t like it when I hit a dead end on other companies’ sites. That’s not going to happen to Highland’s customers on our site.” Boivin will also be: Rolling out cash management products, like Check 21 that enables merchants to capture their checks and send an electronic file to the bank; Investing in redundancies and backup data centers to provide even more fault tolerance; Assuring that Ridgedale State Bank’s customers are seamlessly integrated into Highland when this acquisition is completed. At Excel Bank, Boivin managed a $2 million annual IT budget and a four-person staff that supported in-house web development, IT infrastructure, all banking software, and the private branch exchange phone system. For two years in the late 1990s, Boivin was in the Minneapolis office of KPMG International – the audit, tax and consulting services company – where he implemented the general ledger for a $2.5 billion packaged goods company. Prior to that, Boivin was with Kellogg Co. of Battle Creek, Mich., for 10 years, ending as Director of IT for the company’s Latin American operations, where he managed its IT departments in Venezuela, Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in 1943, Highland Bank is an independent, family owned, community bank focused on building mutually beneficial relationships with small and mid-size businesses. With over 130 employees, the bank has grown to over $500 million in assets and six Minnesota locations: St. Paul, Bloomington, Burnsville, Maple Grove, St. Michael, and Albertville. The Bank also has its own operations center located in Bloomington.
While SPEDCO’s primary product is the SBA 504 loan program, the company also offers packaging services for the SBA 7(a) loan program.
back to topHighland Bank expands its south metro commercial market, hires Korinke
St. Paul, Minn. — June 15, 2007 — Highland Bank is increasing its presence in the South Metro commercial market by hiring Dick Korinke, a seasoned veteran of the industry. Korinke, Commercial Banker and Vice President, will team with Stephanie Kelly Siwek, Commercial Banking Officer, both at the bank’s Burnsville office. Patrick Bradley, Highland’s President and Chief Operating Officer, touted Korinke’s 27 years of experience in the Twin Cities commercial banking sector. “Our clients are at different stages of their careers, and we feel our bankers should be too,” Bradley says. “Dick brings to this new position, decades of exposure to, and hundreds of contacts within, the commercial market, especially in lease and equipment financing. He’s an outgoing, people person, who brings one creative solution after another to the table for the customer’s consideration.” Korinke makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm for the job at hand. “At Highland, commercial customers will find friendly, innovative, experienced bankers, dedicated to delivering outstanding banking services,” Dick says. “We’re up-to-date on the best cash management strategies. We offer competitive rates on deposits and a wide spectrum of loans. Highland is a full-service bank where the decisions are made quickly because they’re made locally by bankers eager to give customers personal attention. With a lending limit north of $6 million, we look forward to keeping pace with your growth.” Korinke started his banking career with Norwest Bank (now Wells Fargo) in Minneapolis for seven years into the mid-1980s, as a Commercial Banking Officer his last three years there. He next took a Commercial Banker position with Marquette Bank in Minneapolis for four years over the mid-1980s. In the late-1980s, he was Vice President of asset based lending for two years in the Minneapolis office of the Bank of New England. Korinke next held a Commercial Banker position with Richfield Bank & Trust for eight-and-a-half years into the late-1990s. Prior to joining Highland, he spent nine years with Carlton Financial in Wayzata as Vice President of Sales. Korinke and his wife, Amy Lynn, live in Edina and have two grown children. His interests include bible study, sailboat racing, golf, and fine wines.
Highland Bank Promotes Five Officers
St. Paul, Minn. — May 11, 2007 — Highland Bank’s Board of Directors has approved the promotions of five officers, who have a cumulative tenure of 26 years with the bank. The promoted officers are: · Alisha JR Johnson, was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, Senior Vice President; · Kim Storey, was promoted to Manager of SBA Lending, Senior Vice President; · Serra Dewey Vickery, was promoted to Human Resources Manager, Vice President;· Todd VanWambeke, was promoted to Commercial Banker, Assistant Vice President; · Melynda Anderson, was promoted to Support Services Manager, Asst. Vice President; “Promotions and officer titles at Highland are an honor, and with each designation there is a leadership accountability that accompanies it,” says Patrick Bradley, President and Chief Operation Officer. “I am very proud of our officer staff and applaud the contributions they have made over the years that have earned them these promotions. I congratulate each of them.” The officers are eager to offer their views on current trends in the banking industry. Johnson, lives in Eagan and started with Highland in December 2000. “Technology is the great equalizer in financial services,” she says. “The number and location of branch offices will become less important. Identifying, knowing, and staying in touch with your customers, so you can understand and meet their needs and wants, will drive the success of marketing and the growth of the bank.”
Storey, lives in Plymouth and joined Highland in August 2002. “SBA lending has become increasingly competitive over the past 10 years as more banks specialize in it,” she says. “But Highland, while maintaining a high standard of credit quality, will increase the number of SBA loans we book because we know the SBA programs inside-out, so clients can be sure they’re getting the financing package that’s best suited to their business.” Dewey Vickery, lives in Eden Prairie and started with Highland in January 2002. “In the next few years, as the baby boomers retire and as millions fewer enter the workforce, all businesses will be facing major shortages of workers,” she says. “In the future, employers that create a great place to work will be the ones that thrive.” VanWambeke lives in Eagan and joined Highland in November 2005. “We intend to expand Highland’s presence in the Minneapolis market,” he says, “by continuing to provide high quality service to our existing customers and by attracting new clients to the Minneapolis branch by demonstrating that we will serve them as a valuable financial resource.” Anderson lives in Ramsey and started with Highland in May 1999. “Technologies are improving the availability of funds for a bank’s customer,” she says. “They also make the bank more efficient and aid us in detecting potential fraud sooner. It’s a very exciting time to be in banking.”
back to top
Highland continues Maple Grove commercial real estate expansion, hires Tobias
St. Paul, Minn. —May 21, 2007 — Highland Bank is enlarging its commercial real estate division by hiring Mike Tobias, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Lending. Tobias joins the Maple Grove office’s more senior commercial real estate banker, Thomas Palumbo. “Mike has 20-years of multi-disciplined experience working in the Twin Cities area,” says Patrick Bradley, Highland’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “In developing real estate, Mike has been on his own and has worked within banks and non-bank companies, so he has seen the market from the owner/investor point of view. He’s well known and respected in the commercial real estate market here.” Tobias knows how to empathize with commercial real estate clients because he’s been a commercial real estate client himself. “I’ve spent a lot of time sitting on their side of the table,” Tobias says. “So I know the issues they face and the concerns they have. I’ll help them with their project, not just with its financing. With my contacts, I can connect them with the right people – architects, engineers, appraisers, attorneys – who’ll guide their project through to completion.” At Highland Tobias originates and funds office, industrial, retail and single and multi-family residential projects. “Given our entrepreneurial spirit at Highland, and the fact that we’re locally owned with a flat management structure,” Tobias says, “clients get quick-turn decisions.”
Born in Burlington, Wisc., Tobias graduated the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a Bachelors of Science degree in Landscape Architecture. One year later, also at UW-Madison, he earned a Masters of Science degree in Real Estate Appraisal and Investment Analysis. In 1990, Tobias obtained his Minnesota state license for appraisal professionals. Tobias first came to the Twin Cities in 1987 as a Senior Investment Analyst for ITT Real Estate Services in St. Paul. In the early 1990s, Tobias was a Commercial Real Estate Appraiser with Kramer, Geisler & Strand in St. Louis Park. For most of the 1990s, Tobias was a Vice President of Commercial Real Estate, first at National City Bank (now M&I Bank) in Minneapolis and then at Mid America Bank (now Wells Fargo) in St. Paul. At both banks, he originated and underwrote commercial real estate acquisition and construction loans ranging from $500,000 to $10 million. Tobias next was the Manager of Finance and Development for Sherman Associates in Minneapolis for six years. After one year running his own development company, and just prior to starting at Highland, Tobias was with JAG Company in Little Canada for two years. There, in three of its business units, he, respectively, underwrote mezzanine financing for residential land development, was a Commercial Banker at its East Bank, and underwrote multi-family housing developments. Tobias, his wife Stephanie and their four children live in Maple Grove. With a cabin near Motley, the family enjoys camping, hiking, biking, fishing, golfing – or, as Tobias says, “pretty much all sports.”
back to top
Highland hires Vice President of Cash Management, introducing Remote Deposit
St. Paul, Minn. — March 26, 2007 — Highland Bank has hired banking veteran Diane Fischer as Vice President of Cash Management. One of her initial responsibilities will be to guide the bank’s launch of its Remote Deposit product. Remote Deposit eliminates the need to go to the bank in order to make a deposit – with Remote Deposit, clients can deposit checks electronically from a remote location, such as their place of business. Highland Bank’s Remote Deposit Service will be available in early April. Pat Bradley, Highland’s President and Chief Operating Officer, says Remote Deposit improves both the customers’ convenience and the bank’s competitive position. “Remote Deposit eliminates the need for a business to have a branch in close proximity. A client no longer needs to have a nearby branch. This service allows us to level the playing field when it comes to competing with the larger banks that have more branches.” More generally, the rise in short-term rates and the relative stability of long-term rates have produced a negative yield curve that makes cash management all the more compelling. Which is where Fischer comes in. “As short term rates have increased, people have become more sensitive to making sure their money is hard at work for them,” Bradley says. “Diane has been immersed in the cash management industry since the early 1980s. She’s always looking for the newest thing, distilling it down to a practical application, tying it to client needs, and explaining it concisely.” Fischer joined Highland Bank in December. She is proactively developing new cash management products like Remote Deposit, which “renders location a non-issue,” she says. Fischer also works with clients, either directly or indirectly through their bankers, to make sure all their cash management needs are well served. “Because the decision making at Highland is local, our customers get their questions answered right away,” Fischer says. “We work more freely here than is the case at other banks. There’s not a lot of red tape at Highland, so we’re able to give our clients additional attention and faster, better answers.” From college, Fischer went straight into banking. She started at Twin City Federal as a Teller and Teller Trainer. She began her career in cash management when she moved to Wells Fargo Bank, then Norwest, in Minneapolis, as an Operations Officer in cash management before being promoted to Cash Management Officer. She followed this with Vice President positions in cash management first at Marquette Bank and then at Marquette Bancshares. In 1997, Fischer left banking for nine years to launch her own company, Lynco Advertising Specialties in Coon Rapids. She also started her own cash management consultancy in 2003. Fischer’s return to corporate life at Highland has been made all the easier because the bank doesn’t seem corporate. “While I work in Bloomington, inside Highland’s office it feels like we’re in a small town,” Fischer says. “Because we have a better relationship with our customers, we have pricing flexibility. We don’t have to say, ‘I need to check with somebody and get back to you.’ The customer appreciates that.” Fischer is involved with several non-profits, including: United Way, American Heart Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Financial Women International, and Alexandra House – a shelter for battered women and children, serving Anoka and Northern Hennepin counties.
back to top
