44
Wisconsin Community Banker
September/October 2014
CHANGING SCENE
Call us for quick response,
competitive rates and
flexible underwriting.
Gary Keller
3100 13th Ave. S.
Fargo, N.D.
701.371.3355
Member FDIC
4949
Make your
opportunity a
“done deal”... fast!
•
Participation loans
(commercial, agricultural,
construction, operating lines
and term loans)
•
Bank stock & ownership loans
•
Bank building financing
•
Business & personal loans
for bankers
•
Multi-family long-term
permanent financing
New BOLT Board
Members
Tim Kolek of Bank of Galesville
recently joined the BOLT (Building
Our Leaders of Tomorrow) Board of
Directors representing the Northwest
District. Also joining the board is
Traci Hollister of WIPFLI as an asso-
ciate member.
Bill Sennholz Interviewed
MARSHFIELD— Bill Sennholz,
Forward Financial Bank president and
CEO, was interviewed at length in the
Sept. 15 News-Herald, explaining the
benefits of community banking. He
noted:
“We made a strategic decision
several years ago to be a rural-focused
bank. We found larger banks had
wholesale abandoned that market.
We are in the businesses of providing
banking services to communities that
won’t be served in the future by large
banks.”
He added, “People here do an
exceptional job of taking care of our
customers and growing our institu-
tion. They are very much a part of
their community — they live here,
their families grow up here and, every
day, they are very proud of where they
live and what they do.”
Founded in 1919 as Marshfield
Building and Loan and later renamed
Marshfield Savings Bank, the bank
took its present name in 2007. For-
ward Financial has $325 million in
assets and 106 employees.
Gruetzmacher Joins
Royal Bank
ELROY—Jeff Gruetzmacher has
joined Royal Bank as
vice president, located
at the Cassville branch.
With 21 years of expe-
rience with the USDA,
he brings a strong
foundation of agri-
culture and financial services experi-
ence to Royal Bank. A graduate of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison in
agriculture and applied economics, he
also is a Certified Financial Planner.
Chris Bauer to Stay on at
Anchor
MADISON—Chris Bauer, president
and CEO of AnchorBank and the
executive responsible for leading the
Madison institution out of a series of
regulatory enforcement orders, has
signed a three-year contract to con-
tinue leading the bank.
Promotions at Anchor
MADISON—Tom Dolan, former CFO
at AnchorBank, was named COO for
both the holding company and the
bank. Taking over from Dolan is Bill
James who was promoted from senior
vice president and treasurer. Dolan
joined the bank in 2011 following his
role as a consultant with Anchor. He
will oversee the bank’s operations and
management information systems
areas, with a focus on operational
excellence and continued oversight of
strategic and financial management.
James, who joined the bank in
2013, will expand his role as treasurer
to include the bank and the holding
company. He will also oversee treasury
management, finance, and accounting
areas for both the bank and holding
company.
AnchorBank also named two
employees to senior vice president
roles. James Saer was named senior
vice president and will be respon-
sible for the overall risk of the bank’s
commercial real estate division. Saer
has more than 15 years of banking
experience, most recently with Wells
Fargo’s Wisconsin commercial real
estate office.
Ron Steinhofer was named senior
vice president and will oversee the
bank’s retail lending activities includ-
ing loan production/sales, operations,
Jeff
Gruetzmacher
PEOPLE
down from $2.35 billion a year ago.
Nonperforming loans totaled $42.2
million, down from $107 million at
this time last year.
AnchorBank completed a $175 mil-
lion recapitalization and bankruptcy
reorganization last September.
