October 3, 2024 • 23 mins
Pam Blattner, a celebrated figure in the banking world and assistant vice president at Bank of Sun Prairie, shares her remarkable journey from retail to banking, and how her passion for community service drives her success. Discover how personal experiences with her daughter led Pam to create Limitless Wisconsin, an inspiring event that supports those with limb differences. As we explore her career, Pam reveals the transformative environment at Bank of Sun Prairie that recognized her potential and celebrates her as Sun Prairie's Best Businesswoman of the Year.
Learn how Bank of Sun Prairie is not just a financial institution but a cornerstone of community empowerment through initiatives like the Financial Fitness Center. This innovative project within Sun Prairie West High School is educating a new generation on personal finance, home ownership, and business building. Explore how these educational services aim to uplift individuals and small businesses, with a strong focus on equity and inclusion that supports small businesses of color. Pam highlights the bank’s unique, personalized approach to lending that sets it apart from impersonal national banks.
Our conversation takes a closer look at the bank's commitment to diversity and local business support, contrasting traditional banks with credit unions' community-centered efforts. Hear success stories of how the bank reinvests profits through extensive volunteer work and partnerships, impacting over 100 organizations. Dive into the vibrant relationship with the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce, which fosters local business growth through networking events like Sunrise and Sunset Sun Prairie. And for those looking to connect with the bank, Pam outlines the special promotions and services designed to cater to diverse financial needs. Listen in for an engaging and informative discussion on building a better community through financial literacy and support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everybody.
This is your host Dee Star herewith Pam.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Blattner.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
So for the people that don't know you, can you
tell us a little bit aboutyourself?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am the branch manager at Bank of Sun Prairie
at Main Street.
I serve on multiple boards inthe community.
So I serve on the Business andEducation Partnership Board in
Sun Prairie, which is wherebusiness leaders come together
with school admins and teachersand come up with programs to
make sure that kids haveemployability skills.
So we do a lot of volunteeringwithin the school district.
(00:29):
And then I also serve as thevice president for the Friends
of the Neighborhood Navigatorsand that is an organization that
is founded by the city and it'snavigators that are put in
at-risk communities throughoutSun Prairie and they kind of
help triage and connectneighbors to 90 of the
nonprofits in Dane County tomake sure that if they need
something we can help them withthat urgent need until they get
support and kind of get back ontheir feet.
So that.
(00:50):
And then I also I foundedLimitless Wisconsin and that is
an organizational event thathappens once a year where I
bring limb loss and limbs,different individuals all
together so that way they cannetwork and be with people that
are like them.
So lots of different thingsoutside and inside my four walls
here.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
How did you get into that, the limb loss?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So my daughter is going to be eight and she was
born with a limb anomaly.
So she was born with one digiton her left hand and a shorter
forearm and she had a reallyhard summer last year and she
just wanted to be around peoplelike herself.
So I said let's throw a partywith some of the people we know,
and there ended up being ahundred people that came, so
connecting this year with a lotof the veterans throughout
(01:31):
Wisconsin and UW Health and alot of other organizations to be
able to Miracle League of DadeCounty to bring individuals like
that together so that way theyhave a support network.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I don't know why I just teared up, but that is,
that is amazing, you know,especially like cause kids can
be very mean.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So to be around other kids that look like you and you
know can relate and understandand it's not a big deal for you
to have, like, a missing fingeror a missing leg or something
like that, it's like we're alllike this is fine, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Right and I keep telling her like she's not
missing anything, she's perfectthe way she is.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
There you go.
Yeah, can you share with usyour journey in the banking
industry and what led you toyour role as bank manager?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
That's a really great question.
So I want to say it was a flukeand I was in retail management
for 16 years and then I had kidsand realized that working
holidays and working weekendsand stuff just wasn't conducive
to family and I looked for jobsand the first thing I found was
Bank of Sun Prairie and Iapplied and got the job and I've
(02:39):
been here ever since.
So I've been here for seven anda half years and I just kind of
grew and the bank saw potentialin me and they just kept
rewarding me for good effortsand things done.
And over the last seven years Ithink I've been promoted five
times and now I'm the assistantvice president, senior branch
manager at the Main Streetlocation.
So things have been going well.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yes, things have been going well, seeing that you
just won a very prestigiousaward I seen you in the paper
today Sun Prairie's very ownBest Businesswoman of the Year
by the Sun Prairie.
Start right, yeah, All right.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I could not believe that I was one of five
nominees in Sun Prairie and thento be told that I won a couple
weeks ago was huge.
I feel like being at Bank ofSun Prairie.
I am encouraged and we supportso many different community
organizations and I feel likethat definitely played a part in
it.
Bank of Sun Prairie has justbeen such an amazing support
(03:38):
role and network.
We donated, I think, 5,300hours last year from our 100
colleagues and we impacted over100 different organizations in
Dane County and Sun Prairie.
So if I didn't have that, Iwouldn't have the network base
that I do to be able to connectwith all the different
organizations and such.
So, yeah, really huge award.
Thank you, Thank you.
(03:58):
I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, it sounds like you deserve it.
Thank you, you know, when I waswalking around with you to try
to find a suitable space for usto hold this interview, I just
seen a lot of admiration fromyour colleagues.
I can tell that they reallylook up to you and they really
respect you.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's nice to hear.
I mean, you don't often hearthat, and being able to see that
vibe within 10 minutes isthat's huge.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Even the maintenance guy loves you.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I love them too.
That's huge.
Even the maintenance guy lovesyou, I love them too.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
That's really awesome .
Speaker 2 (04:32):
So can you tell us a little bit about this financial
fitness center?
Yeah, so my background before Ieven started working was that I
went to school for elementaryeducation, so I was certified
first grade through eighth grade, but I never took up the
opportunity to actually teach.
So this is a way for me to beable to bring that into the
things I do every single day.
And right when COVID happened,we were just about to roll out
our financial literacyprogramming and we ended up
(04:54):
having to do it virtually.
But the bank is very committedand sees that financial literacy
is something that every personneeds and we wanna be able to
play a role in being proactiveand trying to help people and
find ways to help them withtheir finances, because it
really impacts every portion oflife.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It absolutely does as a key figure in the Financial
Fitness Center.
What do you find more rewardingabout this program?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
For us at the bank, the most rewarding thing is our
impact with the students in SunPrairie.
The most rewarding thing is ourimpact with the students in Sun
Prairie.
We actually opened a banklocation within Sun Prairie West
High School as a financialliteracy outlet and we have a
colleague that's dedicated 40hours a week to being at the
teachers, readily available tosupport them in whatever they
might need.
(05:38):
So that's huge for students,for students.
And then recently GovernorEvers passed a law into effect
that every student needs to beable to have a certain amount of
credits of financial literacybefore graduating.
So we're actually able topartner with the school to help
students meet that criteria.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I believe this year is the first year that that goes
into effect for the schooldistricts, but we've been
working on this a little bit,and that's all on a stake, right
, wow, and do you know how manycredits that they need?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I want to say it's 0.5.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay, so they need to take a class?
Yeah, that is awesome and Ithink that's something that
everybody was kind of likechampion and saying, hey, I
think that we need to startteaching our kids financial
literacy.
It needs to be taught in school.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Absolutely, it does.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Besides it coming into law, what pushed the Bank
of Sun Prairie to be proactivein that?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So I think every financial institution is looking
for ways to give back to thecommunity, and this is just one
way where we know we can make asignificant impact and impact so
many lives, because I thinknone of us are really taught
things other than how to budgeta checkbook or balance a
checkbook.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I remember it vividly .
That was it.
It was balance, a checkbook.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Or write a check.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yep.
So they taught you how to writethe check balance, the
checkbook, and then that was it.
That was all for the financialliteracy.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Right, but that doesn't tell you all the other
little key components.
And I think money plays such abig factor in stress in
households that if we could takethat burden off of somebody and
help them be prepared, like howrewarding is that, you know,
for us to be able to impact acommunity in that way.
So we are really trying to justget involved wherever we can.
(07:17):
Wisconsin Banking Associationactually encourages every
financial institution that'spart of that group and
organization to give back,encourages every financial
institution that's part of thatgroup and organization to give
back.
And for the last three yearsthe bank has been recognized by
the Wisconsin Bankers Foundationfor certificates of excellence
in the things that we're doingto be able to promote financial
literacy.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How do you see the Financial Fitness Center
evolving to better serve thecommunity's financial needs?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, so one of the things that we're doing right
now is we partnered with the SunPrairie Library and we offer
courses where people can pop in,and then we offer courses as
well to students or to childrenthat can come in, and we try to
(08:05):
do in-person sessions that aresupport their employees to help
them live a better, balancedlife, as well as the school
district getting in and helpingparents, helping staff, helping
students.
So the possibilities are reallyendless.
We'll help anyone, but thoseare some of the avenues that
we're looking at right now tohelp support our customers at
the bank, as well as the schooldistrict and the people in our
community.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
What do you guys see?
What's next for the actualprogram?
What are you guys hoping thatyou can create?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I just hope that we create a better community.
You know, a lot of things areimpacted by somebody not being
able to have funds right.
It could be crime, it could bedesperation, it could be divorce
, it could be all of thesenegative things.
And we just hope to continue topromote the positive and the
proactiveness so that way ourcommunity is just more
(08:52):
well-educated, with financialliteracy, so that way we can
kind of help proactively curball of those things and make
every person in our communityhave a better life.
And I mean that's a really biggoal and a really big grasp at,
you know, trying to make thingsbetter.
But really that's what we'retrying to do is just make a
better community for everyone.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So can you go over some of the curriculum for the
Financial Fitness Center?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Sure.
So there's three different kindof categories.
The first one is just personalbanking, so just talking about
people in general and the thingsthat might be prevalent to what
they have going on, and thatcould be anything from budgeting
how to make your budget workdebt management, how to buy a
car.
What does retirement planninglook like?
Could be something as simple,too, as like mobile banking.
(09:36):
Sometimes mobility and tryingto understand online banking is
not easy for individuals.
Things that we're seeing rightnow that I think are important
too, are identity theft how dowe stay ahead of those things
and credit scores how do we stayahead of those things?
And credit scores how do youknow what your credit score is?
What makes up a credit score?
The other portion of that isbusinesses.
How do you build a business?
(09:56):
So how do you obtain businesscredit?
How do you use it?
What does a business plan looklike?
What are your financialstatements need to look like,
and then different bankingservices that go along with that
.
The third is homeownership, sohow to consider if you're ready
for homeownership.
What do mortgages look like?
What about mortgagemodifications?
So those are kind of the threebuckets and kind of a wide
variety of different things thatwe have to offer, but we've
(10:19):
even created course content too,to go into different places,
and someone says this is whatwe're looking for, and we try to
ebb and flow and give them whatthey need as well.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Wow.
So how much do these servicescost?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's a great question.
They're free.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You like how I did that, that alley-oop right there
.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, there you go.
I like that.
Thanks for the assist Well.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
so these are 100% free services, ladies and
gentlemen, free that you canjust go to the Bank of Sound
Prairie, contact them or go ontheir website and you can look
up these services and see whatfits your schedule.
And I think you guys have someonline courses too, you know, so
you can do them at your leisureand take advantage of these
(11:02):
free programs and all of thisfree knowledge free game so you
can build a better future foryourself and your loved ones.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Absolutely so.
There's 17 in-person coursesand there's over 50 online
courses that we provide atabsolutely no cost.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Can you elaborate on the specific initiatives the
bank has launched to supportsmall businesses of color?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
That's a great question.
I think in anything that we'redoing, we're always thinking
about equity and inclusion andtrying to figure out what does
that mean for our community?
How can we make sure we'resupporting anyone and everyone
and I mean that starts with,obviously, our regulations and
banking and making sure that wehave fair and consistent lending
.
We encourage and we want topromote any walk of life to be
able to come in here and pitchour idea to us.
(11:48):
I mean, as a small communitybank, there are so many
different things that we havethe ability to do that a big
bank can't do, and we want tohear about them.
We want to support thoseindividuals and really, just you
have a dream, regardless of whoyou are.
We want to support it.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, I think that's very important for people to
know that you guys don'tdiscriminate.
And we know it happens.
Right, we know it happens.
But it's really good to hearsomeone from the actual bank say
hey, you know, you guys arewelcome, you can come here.
We want to hear your ideas.
It's important to us.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You have a dream and you want to figure out how to
make it happen.
We want to support that.
What challenges do thesebusinesses typically face and
how does the I think educationright, I think it all starts
with this financial piece, righthere in this literacy piece is
knowing and understand what youneed, because you might have a
dream, but there also needs tobe something built and
(12:42):
established to help you makethat dream.
So maybe it's you don'tunderstand what your credit
score is right now and whatsteps you need to take to be
able to make sure that you canget that loan.
We'll take you back a few steps.
We'll walk you through.
We'll walk hand in hand withyou.
If it takes two years to figureout how to make sure we're
rebuilding credit to get youwhere you need to be, we'll do
that.
(13:02):
There's so many people that comein and they'll sit down and say
this is where I'm at, but Iwant to buy a home.
That's great, but let's figureout what steps we need to do to
be able to build, to be able toget you there.
And maybe it's set up a plan,maybe it's credit.
Let's talk about those thingsand take baby steps and do baby
check-ins just to make sure that12 months from now, 24 months
from now, you're reaching thegoals that you need to obtain,
(13:23):
whatever that may be, whetherit's homeownership, you want to
take that special vacation, youwant to build a business.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We want to support you.
You spoke about the differencebetween the Bank of Sun Prairie
and a bigger bank, a nationalbank.
Can you kind of take us throughwhat would be the difference
between the two?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I think that every bank is regulated just a little
bit differently based on theirsize and because of that, we
have different things that wehave the ability to do, such as
maybe our lending guidelinesmight be different or our
programming might be different,in that our checking account
processing or the way that we dothem might be a little bit
different than a bigger bank.
I think the cool thing aboutanything when you get outside of
(13:58):
the corporate world is you'renot just a number Like you could
walk in here and, just like Iinteracted with the people
around me, I do that with ourcustomers too.
So you walk in here.
You're not just another number,you're Joe or you're Suzanne or
you're D-Star right, You're yourown unique person and we
recognize that and it's reallyone-on-one and it's very
(14:19):
personal, which is nice.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
So I guess the big question is what is the
difference between a traditionalbank and a credit union?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
There really isn't a whole lot of difference between
the two.
We both service customers, weboth make money the same way.
We both do lending.
We both have some of thesimilar consumer products.
A bank, though, traditionallyis not for profit and a credit
union is typically a non-profit.
With that being said, you knoweveryone needs to have profits
(14:47):
to be a business and there's alot of discussion regarding
banks and credit unions.
That is outside of my world andconcept and ability to discuss,
but I think the cool thingabout being a bank in general
and being for-profit is theprofit that we do make.
We get to reinvest into thecommunity in a lot of different
ways and when people come hereand they say why choose Bank of
(15:08):
Sun Prairie, it's because we cangive those 5,300 hours back to
the community and we have theability to support over 100
different organizations and usesome of the funds that we have
to just better the communitythat we live.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know.
I wanted to know do you haveany success stories that you can
share with us, or any smallbusinesses of color that you
guys have helped grow over theyears?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I don't know if there's any that I am privy to
give like names oracknowledgement to, but there's
a couple of them that I canthink of that are very local
around here.
From restaurants that we helpsupport, there are haircutting
salons and barbershops and nailareas that I know that you know
we've helped them from the verybeginning to get them to where
they are now.
(15:53):
I think just anyone right thatwalks in the door again back to
that.
That doesn't matter who you are, we're going to help you.
But there's so many differentpeople from so many different
walks of life that just livehere in Sun Prairie that you
walk down the road and we'rediverse, like we're a diverse
community, and it's really cooltoo to see how many different,
diverse restaurants andbusinesses and different
(16:15):
establishments there are fromall different walks of life
throughout the area here.
It's really neat to see.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I know I agree with you Sun Prairie is more diverse
than what people might think.
In my neighborhood it's verydiverse, A lot of everything
that lives in my neighborhood.
So how does these successstories influence the bank's
ongoing commitment to diversityin business?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
You know, I think that once you help someone from
a community, they're able tothen tell their story to
somebody else and it builds.
And I think that you know thatone success story can become
multiple success stories ordream obtaining situations, just
because of trust.
You know, you establish trustwith one individual and that
(16:58):
goes so far.
It doesn't matter what walk oflife you come from.
I think that word of mouth isthe best advertiser, and when
you do something good and yousee one success, someone else
comes to you and says I wantsome of that too.
How can I get that?
And it just kind of spreads,which is a really cool thing to
see.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
What other programs do you guys offer for the
community regarding financialliteracy?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Beyond this stuff right here that we just kind of
went through, I think one-on-oneis something else that we offer
.
You can come into the bank andyou can sit down and maybe you
don't feel comfortable sittingin a big setting with people and
going through and talking aboutbudgeting.
But you come in here and yousay, hey, one-on-one, I could
use some help.
We'll customize anything tohelp meet your goals.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And it did feel very welcoming.
When I came in here.
They asked hey, do you wantsomething to drink?
Tea, water, coffee, a beer?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I was going to say did they take you next door?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
They were really really nice and really really
friendly and I appreciate that.
So thank you guys for thehospitality.
The staff here seems very, verynice.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
It's a great organization to work for, and
having co-workers that you enjoyevery single day is super
important.
So, yeah, I think that we'reour own little family here,
which is nice.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Absolutely, definitely, good vibes here.
So is there any communitypartners that you would like to
acknowledge?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
There are so many community partners.
I was just at an event over theweekend and the mayor was there
and he said Pam looking around,he's like I'm looking at every
single booth that's here andthere is not one organization
that the bank doesn't touch.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Wow.
And that was true Except StarMedia Group.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Except right now.
We're right here.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
We're starting it.
We're starting it and shout outto the mayor.
I like the mayor.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah right, he's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And shout out to the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
What is the relationshipbetween the Bank of Sun Prairie
and the Chamber of Commerce andhow you guys work together to
support the businesses in thiscommunity?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
One of our executives , joe Shook, is actually the
chamber president currently.
Really, yeah, I didn't knowthat.
Yeah, and then we have at leastone ambassador right now.
Alan Sobranek is ambassador.
Anything that they do, we tryto support.
I mean, they are so integratedin the community and doing such
amazing things.
Christina and everyone there.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Under her leadership Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right.
It's just amazing the coolthings that they're doing and
bringing so many people togetherto be able to network so many
times a week and a month, Ithink is just phenomenal.
Being able to support that ishuge.
I mean from Sunrise Sun Prairie, being a sponsor of that.
Sunset Sun Prairie is cominghere soon as well.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, so that's actually going to be at the
cannery.
They're going to actually havea networking event after hours.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
For the people that can't make it during the day.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yep Coffee chat on Fridays.
She was talking about that lastyear.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
She's like we're thinking about, instead of doing
the coffee chats like in themorning, that we would do
something also at night for thepeople that can't make it in the
morning.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yep, it's starting.
So I mean just the networkingpossibilities are amazing
through the chamber and, like Isaid, that trust and that
establishment of networking ishuge.
I mean a lot of the people atthe chamber are getting other
business referrals just becauseof connections being made.
And I mean it's not justcommunity members that have that
trust that happens, it'sbusiness leaders too.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I joined the chamber last year yeah, it was last year
and it's just been a really,really great experience.
I met a lot of different people, not only just in the community
but other business owners, andI've had nothing but great
things to say about them, andespecially Barbara and Christina
(20:46):
.
They're both really, reallynice.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Absolutely.
They're all nice there.
They're so amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
So what's next?
What's next for the Bank of SunPrairie?
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Oh, my goodness.
I mean there are so many peoplehere on so many different
boards serving and we're allgoing in so many different
directions.
I mean, as the community of SunPrairie grows, we grow with it,
and as we grow with it, I thinkthat every single year we have
volunteered since I've startedhere, almost an extra thousand
hours per volunteer year.
So I mean the possibilities arereally endless.
(21:16):
Customers come to us.
We'll figure out how to makeyour dreams come true.
We'll try to help get thechecking account you need or
whatever.
That is to support you, andwe're here to help you grow.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So how can people get in contact with you or the Bank
of Sun Prairie, or if they wantto start a business account, or
if they want to, like you said,realize their dreams?
How do they get started?
What's the first step?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, I think the first step is getting reaching
out and getting in contact withus, and I think the easiest way
is probably going to our website.
All of our colleagues'information is all right there,
and I'm on there for like thefinancial literacy piece too, so
my contact information is outthere phone call, email,
whatever it might be.
We'll get you in the rightdirection once you call.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Absolutely.
Do you guys have any likespecials or anything?
Is there any incentives if theycome and sign up now a checking
account or something like that?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
We have a lot of different specials on different
promotions within ourcertificates of deposit.
We have different perks foreach type of account that you do
open with Bank of Sun Prairie.
So it kind of depends upon whatyour needs are and we can kind
of help guide and direct youthat way.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Absolutely Well, pam.
I really appreciate youstopping by the podcast.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Hey, no, thank you so much for having me.
It's been fun.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'm D-Star.
What's up everybody.
This is your host Dee Star herewith Pam.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Blattner.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
So for the people that don't know you, can you
tell us a little bit aboutyourself?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am the branch manager at Bank of Sun Prairie
at Main Street.
I serve on multiple boards inthe community.
So I serve on the Business andEducation Partnership Board in
Sun Prairie, which is wherebusiness leaders come together
with school admins and teachersand come up with programs to
make sure that kids haveemployability skills.
So we do a lot of volunteeringwithin the school district.
(00:29):
And then I also serve as thevice president for the Friends
of the Neighborhood Navigatorsand that is an organization that
is founded by the city and it'snavigators that are put in
at-risk communities throughoutSun Prairie and they kind of
help triage and connectneighbors to 90 of the
nonprofits in Dane County tomake sure that if they need
something we can help them withthat urgent need until they get
support and kind of get back ontheir feet.
So that.
(00:50):
And then I also I foundedLimitless Wisconsin and that is
an organizational event thathappens once a year where I
bring limb loss and limbs,different individuals all
together so that way they cannetwork and be with people that
are like them.
So lots of different thingsoutside and inside my four walls
here.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
How did you get into that, the limb loss?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So my daughter is going to be eight and she was
born with a limb anomaly.
So she was born with one digiton her left hand and a shorter
forearm and she had a reallyhard summer last year and she
just wanted to be around peoplelike herself.
So I said let's throw a partywith some of the people we know,
and there ended up being ahundred people that came, so
connecting this year with a lotof the veterans throughout
(01:31):
Wisconsin and UW Health and alot of other organizations to be
able to Miracle League of DadeCounty to bring individuals like
that together so that way theyhave a support network.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I don't know why I just teared up, but that is,
that is amazing, you know,especially like cause kids can
be very mean.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So to be around other kids that look like you and you
know can relate and understandand it's not a big deal for you
to have, like, a missing fingeror a missing leg or something
like that, it's like we're alllike this is fine, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Right and I keep telling her like she's not
missing anything, she's perfectthe way she is.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
There you go.
Yeah, can you share with usyour journey in the banking
industry and what led you toyour role as bank manager?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
That's a really great question.
So I want to say it was a flukeand I was in retail management
for 16 years and then I had kidsand realized that working
holidays and working weekendsand stuff just wasn't conducive
to family and I looked for jobsand the first thing I found was
Bank of Sun Prairie and Iapplied and got the job and I've
(02:39):
been here ever since.
So I've been here for seven anda half years and I just kind of
grew and the bank saw potentialin me and they just kept
rewarding me for good effortsand things done.
And over the last seven years Ithink I've been promoted five
times and now I'm the assistantvice president, senior branch
manager at the Main Streetlocation.
So things have been going well.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yes, things have been going well, seeing that you
just won a very prestigiousaward I seen you in the paper
today Sun Prairie's very ownBest Businesswoman of the Year
by the Sun Prairie.
Start right, yeah, All right.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I could not believe that I was one of five
nominees in Sun Prairie and thento be told that I won a couple
weeks ago was huge.
I feel like being at Bank ofSun Prairie.
I am encouraged and we supportso many different community
organizations and I feel likethat definitely played a part in
it.
Bank of Sun Prairie has justbeen such an amazing support
(03:38):
role and network.
We donated, I think, 5,300hours last year from our 100
colleagues and we impacted over100 different organizations in
Dane County and Sun Prairie.
So if I didn't have that, Iwouldn't have the network base
that I do to be able to connectwith all the different
organizations and such.
So, yeah, really huge award.
Thank you, Thank you.
(03:58):
I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, it sounds like you deserve it.
Thank you, you know, when I waswalking around with you to try
to find a suitable space for usto hold this interview, I just
seen a lot of admiration fromyour colleagues.
I can tell that they reallylook up to you and they really
respect you.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's nice to hear.
I mean, you don't often hearthat, and being able to see that
vibe within 10 minutes isthat's huge.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Even the maintenance guy loves you.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I love them too.
That's huge.
Even the maintenance guy lovesyou, I love them too.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
That's really awesome .
Speaker 2 (04:32):
So can you tell us a little bit about this financial
fitness center?
Yeah, so my background before Ieven started working was that I
went to school for elementaryeducation, so I was certified
first grade through eighth grade, but I never took up the
opportunity to actually teach.
So this is a way for me to beable to bring that into the
things I do every single day.
And right when COVID happened,we were just about to roll out
our financial literacyprogramming and we ended up
(04:54):
having to do it virtually.
But the bank is very committedand sees that financial literacy
is something that every personneeds and we wanna be able to
play a role in being proactiveand trying to help people and
find ways to help them withtheir finances, because it
really impacts every portion oflife.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It absolutely does as a key figure in the Financial
Fitness Center.
What do you find more rewardingabout this program?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
For us at the bank, the most rewarding thing is our
impact with the students in SunPrairie.
The most rewarding thing is ourimpact with the students in Sun
Prairie.
We actually opened a banklocation within Sun Prairie West
High School as a financialliteracy outlet and we have a
colleague that's dedicated 40hours a week to being at the
teachers, readily available tosupport them in whatever they
might need.
(05:38):
So that's huge for students,for students.
And then recently GovernorEvers passed a law into effect
that every student needs to beable to have a certain amount of
credits of financial literacybefore graduating.
So we're actually able topartner with the school to help
students meet that criteria.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I believe this year is the first year that that goes
into effect for the schooldistricts, but we've been
working on this a little bit,and that's all on a stake, right
, wow, and do you know how manycredits that they need?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I want to say it's 0.5.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay, so they need to take a class?
Yeah, that is awesome and Ithink that's something that
everybody was kind of likechampion and saying, hey, I
think that we need to startteaching our kids financial
literacy.
It needs to be taught in school.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Absolutely, it does.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Besides it coming into law, what pushed the Bank
of Sun Prairie to be proactivein that?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So I think every financial institution is looking
for ways to give back to thecommunity, and this is just one
way where we know we can make asignificant impact and impact so
many lives, because I thinknone of us are really taught
things other than how to budgeta checkbook or balance a
checkbook.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I remember it vividly .
That was it.
It was balance, a checkbook.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Or write a check.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yep.
So they taught you how to writethe check balance, the
checkbook, and then that was it.
That was all for the financialliteracy.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Right, but that doesn't tell you all the other
little key components.
And I think money plays such abig factor in stress in
households that if we could takethat burden off of somebody and
help them be prepared, like howrewarding is that, you know,
for us to be able to impact acommunity in that way.
So we are really trying to justget involved wherever we can.
(07:17):
Wisconsin Banking Associationactually encourages every
financial institution that'spart of that group and
organization to give back,encourages every financial
institution that's part of thatgroup and organization to give
back.
And for the last three yearsthe bank has been recognized by
the Wisconsin Bankers Foundationfor certificates of excellence
in the things that we're doingto be able to promote financial
literacy.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How do you see the Financial Fitness Center
evolving to better serve thecommunity's financial needs?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, so one of the things that we're doing right
now is we partnered with the SunPrairie Library and we offer
courses where people can pop in,and then we offer courses as
well to students or to childrenthat can come in, and we try to
(08:05):
do in-person sessions that aresupport their employees to help
them live a better, balancedlife, as well as the school
district getting in and helpingparents, helping staff, helping
students.
So the possibilities are reallyendless.
We'll help anyone, but thoseare some of the avenues that
we're looking at right now tohelp support our customers at
the bank, as well as the schooldistrict and the people in our
community.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
What do you guys see?
What's next for the actualprogram?
What are you guys hoping thatyou can create?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I just hope that we create a better community.
You know, a lot of things areimpacted by somebody not being
able to have funds right.
It could be crime, it could bedesperation, it could be divorce
, it could be all of thesenegative things.
And we just hope to continue topromote the positive and the
proactiveness so that way ourcommunity is just more
(08:52):
well-educated, with financialliteracy, so that way we can
kind of help proactively curball of those things and make
every person in our communityhave a better life.
And I mean that's a really biggoal and a really big grasp at,
you know, trying to make thingsbetter.
But really that's what we'retrying to do is just make a
better community for everyone.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So can you go over some of the curriculum for the
Financial Fitness Center?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Sure.
So there's three different kindof categories.
The first one is just personalbanking, so just talking about
people in general and the thingsthat might be prevalent to what
they have going on, and thatcould be anything from budgeting
how to make your budget workdebt management, how to buy a
car.
What does retirement planninglook like?
Could be something as simple,too, as like mobile banking.
(09:36):
Sometimes mobility and tryingto understand online banking is
not easy for individuals.
Things that we're seeing rightnow that I think are important
too, are identity theft how dowe stay ahead of those things
and credit scores how do we stayahead of those things?
And credit scores how do youknow what your credit score is?
What makes up a credit score?
The other portion of that isbusinesses.
How do you build a business?
(09:56):
So how do you obtain businesscredit?
How do you use it?
What does a business plan looklike?
What are your financialstatements need to look like,
and then different bankingservices that go along with that
.
The third is homeownership, sohow to consider if you're ready
for homeownership.
What do mortgages look like?
What about mortgagemodifications?
So those are kind of the threebuckets and kind of a wide
variety of different things thatwe have to offer, but we've
(10:19):
even created course content too,to go into different places,
and someone says this is whatwe're looking for, and we try to
ebb and flow and give them whatthey need as well.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Wow.
So how much do these servicescost?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's a great question.
They're free.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You like how I did that, that alley-oop right there
.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, there you go.
I like that.
Thanks for the assist Well.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
so these are 100% free services, ladies and
gentlemen, free that you canjust go to the Bank of Sound
Prairie, contact them or go ontheir website and you can look
up these services and see whatfits your schedule.
And I think you guys have someonline courses too, you know, so
you can do them at your leisureand take advantage of these
(11:02):
free programs and all of thisfree knowledge free game so you
can build a better future foryourself and your loved ones.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Absolutely so.
There's 17 in-person coursesand there's over 50 online
courses that we provide atabsolutely no cost.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Can you elaborate on the specific initiatives the
bank has launched to supportsmall businesses of color?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
That's a great question.
I think in anything that we'redoing, we're always thinking
about equity and inclusion andtrying to figure out what does
that mean for our community?
How can we make sure we'resupporting anyone and everyone
and I mean that starts with,obviously, our regulations and
banking and making sure that wehave fair and consistent lending
.
We encourage and we want topromote any walk of life to be
able to come in here and pitchour idea to us.
(11:48):
I mean, as a small communitybank, there are so many
different things that we havethe ability to do that a big
bank can't do, and we want tohear about them.
We want to support thoseindividuals and really, just you
have a dream, regardless of whoyou are.
We want to support it.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, I think that's very important for people to
know that you guys don'tdiscriminate.
And we know it happens.
Right, we know it happens.
But it's really good to hearsomeone from the actual bank say
hey, you know, you guys arewelcome, you can come here.
We want to hear your ideas.
It's important to us.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You have a dream and you want to figure out how to
make it happen.
We want to support that.
What challenges do thesebusinesses typically face and
how does the I think educationright, I think it all starts
with this financial piece, righthere in this literacy piece is
knowing and understand what youneed, because you might have a
dream, but there also needs tobe something built and
(12:42):
established to help you makethat dream.
So maybe it's you don'tunderstand what your credit
score is right now and whatsteps you need to take to be
able to make sure that you canget that loan.
We'll take you back a few steps.
We'll walk you through.
We'll walk hand in hand withyou.
If it takes two years to figureout how to make sure we're
rebuilding credit to get youwhere you need to be, we'll do
that.
(13:02):
There's so many people that comein and they'll sit down and say
this is where I'm at, but Iwant to buy a home.
That's great, but let's figureout what steps we need to do to
be able to build, to be able toget you there.
And maybe it's set up a plan,maybe it's credit.
Let's talk about those thingsand take baby steps and do baby
check-ins just to make sure that12 months from now, 24 months
from now, you're reaching thegoals that you need to obtain,
(13:23):
whatever that may be, whetherit's homeownership, you want to
take that special vacation, youwant to build a business.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We want to support you.
You spoke about the differencebetween the Bank of Sun Prairie
and a bigger bank, a nationalbank.
Can you kind of take us throughwhat would be the difference
between the two?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I think that every bank is regulated just a little
bit differently based on theirsize and because of that, we
have different things that wehave the ability to do, such as
maybe our lending guidelinesmight be different or our
programming might be different,in that our checking account
processing or the way that we dothem might be a little bit
different than a bigger bank.
I think the cool thing aboutanything when you get outside of
(13:58):
the corporate world is you'renot just a number Like you could
walk in here and, just like Iinteracted with the people
around me, I do that with ourcustomers too.
So you walk in here.
You're not just another number,you're Joe or you're Suzanne or
you're D-Star right, You're yourown unique person and we
recognize that and it's reallyone-on-one and it's very
(14:19):
personal, which is nice.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
So I guess the big question is what is the
difference between a traditionalbank and a credit union?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
There really isn't a whole lot of difference between
the two.
We both service customers, weboth make money the same way.
We both do lending.
We both have some of thesimilar consumer products.
A bank, though, traditionallyis not for profit and a credit
union is typically a non-profit.
With that being said, you knoweveryone needs to have profits
(14:47):
to be a business and there's alot of discussion regarding
banks and credit unions.
That is outside of my world andconcept and ability to discuss,
but I think the cool thingabout being a bank in general
and being for-profit is theprofit that we do make.
We get to reinvest into thecommunity in a lot of different
ways and when people come hereand they say why choose Bank of
(15:08):
Sun Prairie, it's because we cangive those 5,300 hours back to
the community and we have theability to support over 100
different organizations and usesome of the funds that we have
to just better the communitythat we live.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know.
I wanted to know do you haveany success stories that you can
share with us, or any smallbusinesses of color that you
guys have helped grow over theyears?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I don't know if there's any that I am privy to
give like names oracknowledgement to, but there's
a couple of them that I canthink of that are very local
around here.
From restaurants that we helpsupport, there are haircutting
salons and barbershops and nailareas that I know that you know
we've helped them from the verybeginning to get them to where
they are now.
(15:53):
I think just anyone right thatwalks in the door again back to
that.
That doesn't matter who you are, we're going to help you.
But there's so many differentpeople from so many different
walks of life that just livehere in Sun Prairie that you
walk down the road and we'rediverse, like we're a diverse
community, and it's really cooltoo to see how many different,
diverse restaurants andbusinesses and different
(16:15):
establishments there are fromall different walks of life
throughout the area here.
It's really neat to see.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I know I agree with you Sun Prairie is more diverse
than what people might think.
In my neighborhood it's verydiverse, A lot of everything
that lives in my neighborhood.
So how does these successstories influence the bank's
ongoing commitment to diversityin business?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
You know, I think that once you help someone from
a community, they're able tothen tell their story to
somebody else and it builds.
And I think that you know thatone success story can become
multiple success stories ordream obtaining situations, just
because of trust.
You know, you establish trustwith one individual and that
(16:58):
goes so far.
It doesn't matter what walk oflife you come from.
I think that word of mouth isthe best advertiser, and when
you do something good and yousee one success, someone else
comes to you and says I wantsome of that too.
How can I get that?
And it just kind of spreads,which is a really cool thing to
see.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
What other programs do you guys offer for the
community regarding financialliteracy?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Beyond this stuff right here that we just kind of
went through, I think one-on-oneis something else that we offer
.
You can come into the bank andyou can sit down and maybe you
don't feel comfortable sittingin a big setting with people and
going through and talking aboutbudgeting.
But you come in here and yousay, hey, one-on-one, I could
use some help.
We'll customize anything tohelp meet your goals.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And it did feel very welcoming.
When I came in here.
They asked hey, do you wantsomething to drink?
Tea, water, coffee, a beer?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I was going to say did they take you next door?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
They were really really nice and really really
friendly and I appreciate that.
So thank you guys for thehospitality.
The staff here seems very, verynice.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
It's a great organization to work for, and
having co-workers that you enjoyevery single day is super
important.
So, yeah, I think that we'reour own little family here,
which is nice.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Absolutely, definitely, good vibes here.
So is there any communitypartners that you would like to
acknowledge?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
There are so many community partners.
I was just at an event over theweekend and the mayor was there
and he said Pam looking around,he's like I'm looking at every
single booth that's here andthere is not one organization
that the bank doesn't touch.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Wow.
And that was true Except StarMedia Group.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Except right now.
We're right here.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
We're starting it.
We're starting it and shout outto the mayor.
I like the mayor.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah right, he's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And shout out to the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
What is the relationshipbetween the Bank of Sun Prairie
and the Chamber of Commerce andhow you guys work together to
support the businesses in thiscommunity?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
One of our executives , joe Shook, is actually the
chamber president currently.
Really, yeah, I didn't knowthat.
Yeah, and then we have at leastone ambassador right now.
Alan Sobranek is ambassador.
Anything that they do, we tryto support.
I mean, they are so integratedin the community and doing such
amazing things.
Christina and everyone there.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Under her leadership Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right.
It's just amazing the coolthings that they're doing and
bringing so many people togetherto be able to network so many
times a week and a month, Ithink is just phenomenal.
Being able to support that ishuge.
I mean from Sunrise Sun Prairie, being a sponsor of that.
Sunset Sun Prairie is cominghere soon as well.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, so that's actually going to be at the
cannery.
They're going to actually havea networking event after hours.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
For the people that can't make it during the day.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yep Coffee chat on Fridays.
She was talking about that lastyear.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
She's like we're thinking about, instead of doing
the coffee chats like in themorning, that we would do
something also at night for thepeople that can't make it in the
morning.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yep, it's starting.
So I mean just the networkingpossibilities are amazing
through the chamber and, like Isaid, that trust and that
establishment of networking ishuge.
I mean a lot of the people atthe chamber are getting other
business referrals just becauseof connections being made.
And I mean it's not justcommunity members that have that
trust that happens, it'sbusiness leaders too.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I joined the chamber last year yeah, it was last year
and it's just been a really,really great experience.
I met a lot of different people, not only just in the community
but other business owners, andI've had nothing but great
things to say about them, andespecially Barbara and Christina
(20:46):
.
They're both really, reallynice.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Absolutely.
They're all nice there.
They're so amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
So what's next?
What's next for the Bank of SunPrairie?
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Oh, my goodness.
I mean there are so many peoplehere on so many different
boards serving and we're allgoing in so many different
directions.
I mean, as the community of SunPrairie grows, we grow with it,
and as we grow with it, I thinkthat every single year we have
volunteered since I've startedhere, almost an extra thousand
hours per volunteer year.
So I mean the possibilities arereally endless.
(21:16):
Customers come to us.
We'll figure out how to makeyour dreams come true.
We'll try to help get thechecking account you need or
whatever.
That is to support you, andwe're here to help you grow.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So how can people get in contact with you or the Bank
of Sun Prairie, or if they wantto start a business account, or
if they want to, like you said,realize their dreams?
How do they get started?
What's the first step?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, I think the first step is getting reaching
out and getting in contact withus, and I think the easiest way
is probably going to our website.
All of our colleagues'information is all right there,
and I'm on there for like thefinancial literacy piece too, so
my contact information is outthere phone call, email,
whatever it might be.
We'll get you in the rightdirection once you call.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Absolutely.
Do you guys have any likespecials or anything?
Is there any incentives if theycome and sign up now a checking
account or something like that?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
We have a lot of different specials on different
promotions within ourcertificates of deposit.
We have different perks foreach type of account that you do
open with Bank of Sun Prairie.
So it kind of depends upon whatyour needs are and we can kind
of help guide and direct youthat way.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Absolutely Well, pam.
I really appreciate youstopping by the podcast.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Hey, no, thank you so much for having me.
It's been fun.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'm D-Star.
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