I am pleased to introduce additional Rising Star selections for 2011. The following mid-career bankers were honored in the July 1 edition of NorthWestern Financial Review magazine:

Dan Fagan, president and CEO of Tradition Capital Bank, Edina, Minn. Dan spent four years with the FDIC in its Chicago office before joining Western Bank of St. Paul, Minn., helping to set up its Edina office. He was recruited by a group of entrepreneurs in 2004 to help start Tradition Capital Bank; in 2010 he was named president and CEO.

Michelle Gross, vice president/information systems officer, State Bank of Bement, Ill. A third generation banker, Michelle is an advocate for the industry through her volunteerism with the Illinois Bankers Association. A musician and former teacher, Gross focuses on her customers. She is a loan officer who puts her community first.

Lori Heath, president and CEO, The Farmers State Bank of Brookston, Ind. Lori started her career as a part-time teller in the mid-1980s. She has been an auditor, loan officer, and trust officer. In 1997, she was promoted to vice president, in 2000 joined the bank’s board of directors, and in 2004 was named executive vice president. Two years ago she was named president and CEO.

Keith Willcut, president/CEO, Peoples Community Bank, Greenville, Mo. At only age 31, Keith is leading a $125 million bank with 56 employees and seven locations. The bank’s performance puts it among the top in the nation, with ROA of 4.04 percent for the first quarter of 2011. Keith, the son of a Missouri preacher, works long hours but he said he loves his work. “Every day I come in and work really hard, try to learn as much as I can, and hope to leave the bank a little better for tomorrow,” he said.

Rising Stars are nominated by readers and selections are made by the staff at NorthWestern Financial Review magazine. Click here for a list of bankers honored in our June 15 edition. See the June 15 and July 1 magazines for features on each of our selections. If you know a mid-career banker who you believe should be honored as a Rising Star, please send us an email with the banker’s name, contact info and a few sentences about why you believe they are Rising Stars. Click here for a list of all the bankers we have honored since 1998.

NorthWestern Financial Review has the pleasure, once again, of honoring mid-career professionals through its Rising Star program. Let me introduce you to three Rising Star bankers honored in our June 15 edition:

Jackie Herman, senior vice president, chief financial officer and director of operations for Flagship Bank Minnesota in Wayzata, Minn. Born and raised in Atwater, Minn., Jackie worked at the Atwater State Bank for a number of years before joining Flagship Bank a year ago. She was involved in numerous projects at the Atwater State Bank. On of her mentors was Keith Markwardt, president of Atwater State Bank’s sister bank in Kimball, Minn. Keith was honored with Rising Star recognition in 1998.

Doug Truex, president, Iowa Falls State Bank, Iowa Falls, Iowa. Raised in Denver, Iowa, Doug started his professional career as a bank examiner for the state of Iowa. In 1996, he joined the Homeland Bank Group in Waterloo, Iowa, but a year later was recruited over to Iowa Falls State Bank, where he has been ever since. In 1999, he was promoted to vice president/trust officer; and in 2002 he was named senior vice president/senior loan officer. He was named president of the bank in 2010.

David Hanson,senior vice president and chief financial officer, American State Bank & Trust Company, Williston, N.D. David worked for 10 years at an accounting firm before joining American State Bank & Trust in 2003. Hanson is past president of the Board of Education for WIlliston Public School District No. 1, he is an honors graduate of the Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colo., and he serves on the board of the North Dakota Bankers Association.

Four other banks will be honored in our July 1 edition. Watch for a future post to meet them. We very much appreciate our readers who took the time to submit nominations for this year’s selections.

I think it is very important to honor the best in any industry. Many, many people do important work and are rarely or only minimally acknowledged for it. The Rising Star program is NorthWestern Financial Review magazine’s way of shining a spotlight on some of the people who make banking a great industry.

Congratulations to S. Joe DeHaven, who was named 2010 Association Executive of the Year by the Indiana Society of Association Executives. The award was announced last Thursday.

Joe is president and CEO of the Indiana Bankers Association. Earlier, he was head of the Community Bankers Association of Indiana. When the two groups merged into the Indiana Bankers Association in 2006, Joe became the merged organization’s leader. Most states covered by NorthWestern Financial Review have two trade associations representing banks; Indiana has just one and Joe does a masterful job representing the entire spectrum of banks in his state. I always enjoy his “President’s Ponderings” column in the association’s magazine, The Hoosier Banker.

Prior to getting into association work, Joe was an executive officer at Merchants National Bank of Muncie, which is now called First Merchants Bank.

Also notable is the fact that IBA’s government relations team won the ISAE “Best Government Affairs Program” award on Thursday. Under Joe’s direction, that team is led by Amber Van Til and includes Dax Denton and Joshua Myers.

Four bankers are honored as Outstanding Women in Banking for 2010 in the November 15 edition of NorthWestern Financial Review magazine, which should begin arriving at subscribers’ mailboxes in the next few days. The magazine is pleased to honor:

• Susan Whitson of First National Bank of Waverly, Iowa;
• Cindy Haas of Gateway Bank, Mendota Heights, Minn.;
• Jana Sipe Berndt of Bremer Bank, Breckenridge, Minn., and
• Lesa Black of Princeville State Bank, Princeville, Ill.

Every year we solicit candidates from readers and make selections based on the strongest nominations. It is always difficult when we get several nominations from the same state, as we try to geographically distribute the honors. Each year, some excellent nominations are not selected; however, in the past, there have been several cases when a candidate has been selected after being nominated a second consecutive year.

We are fortunate to have so many quality people working in the banking industry in the Upper Midwest. The Outstanding Women in Banking recognition is one of three honors programs we run during the year. The other two are Banker of the Year (January 15) and Rising Stars (June 15-July 1).

Click here for a complete list of the women we have honored through this program since 1988.