Bremer Bank Expands Business Banking Focus in the Twin Cities Adding New Business Banking and Branch Director Positions
St. Paul, Minn. - July 23, 2008 - Bremer Bank Twin Cities recently created three new positions in an effort to enhance its focus on business banking. The company has named Jerry McGraw business banking sales manager; Brent Iserman, business banking specialty sales manager and Jill Bickford, branch director for the Central Region.
"Jerry and Brent have extensive banking expertise that will help us leverage our strengths and continue to grow our business banking efforts," said Steve Meads, Bremer Bank Central Region President. "The branch director role was created to focus on delivering our business strategies within the branch network. Jill’s years of experience working both in bank roles and the corporate office made her uniquely qualified to help us bridge the retail and business models and unite them."
In his new role, McGraw will direct business banking activities and oversee the sales staff. He has more than 30 years of commercial banking experience spending the last eight years of his career at Bremer. McGraw most recently was a senior vice president in commercial banking. Prior to working at Bremer, he also held commerical banking positions at U.S. Bank, Firstar, Marquette and Norwest.
Iserman will direct the Central Region’s specialized business banking functions, including nonprofit banking, SBA, private client services and treasury management. He most recently was a senior vice president and lender at Bremer Bank in Willmar. Previous to that, Iserman worked as a middle market commercial lender at U.S. Bank in the Twin Cities, a business banker with Bremer in Brainerd and as an investment representative and business banker for Community First Bank in Fargo.
Bickford transitioned into the newly-created branch director role in late April. She has nearly 30 years of banking experience, most recently serving as the branch administration director at Bremer. Prior to that, Bickford held multiple positions and served in line and management roles at U.S Bank and another community bank.
Bremer Financial Corporation
Bremer Financial Corporation is a privately-held, $7.5 billion regional financial services company jointly owned by its employees and the Otto Bremer Foundation. This unique ownership structure is the only one of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1943 by Otto Bremer, the company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and provides a comprehensive range of banking, investment, trust and insurance services to more than 100 locations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Company profits are distributed in the form of charitable grants by the Otto Bremer Foundation to communities served by Bremer. In 2007, more than $30 million in charitable donations were given across the Bremer footprint and employees donated more than 92,900 volunteer hours to their communities.