Lynn Ferry cuts her cake while Stephanie Moeller waits for the first piece.

Lynn Ferry sold real estate in California years ago, but she and her husband, Bill, had three young children at the time. The unpredictable hours made it a difficult profession.

The experience, however, provided insights that helped her in a later role: She joined North Shore Bank’s corporate office in 1995 as a mortgage loan processor for our Green Bay loan originators. “Processing, underwriting and closing of mortgage loans had moved from Green Bay to our corporate office,” she explains.

When her husband changed jobs in 1999, the Ferrys moved from Mequon to Kenosha County. “The new Kenosha mortgage office opened in 1999, and I left Corporate to fill a loan processing position there,” Lynn says.

A year later, she accepted a newly created position: mortgage sales assistant. “I had no idea what the job would entail when I started it in 2000, but it developed over many months,” she says. “I had the opportunity to work with customers, loan officers, underwriters and processors.”

Last position was her favorite
As Lynn gets ready to retire on Friday, Sept. 28, she reflects that she enjoyed the position as much as any she has ever held. 

Lynn’s duties ranged from helping customers, supporting mortgage sales staff, and acting as an R1 Administrator, to training new loan originators and even ordering office supplies.

“It has been fun coming to work every day to assist a team of sales people,” she says. “They are such a positive group! Mark Koenig [VP, Mortgage Loan Production Manager] has been a wonderful person to work for — level-headed and resolving issues with a great sense of humor.”

Lynn notes that she has relied on underwriters, the Secondary Department and Janis Bertagnolli to help her find answers to a multitude of questions from loan originators. “I will surely miss several people I have gotten to know over so many years,” she says.

Tedious hand processing evolved during her tenure
Every banking function has changed since she entered banking in the mid-1990s. Lynn recalls having neither a desktop computer nor email when she worked as a mortgage processor at another bank.

“We used the phone,” she says. “Loan applications were handwritten by the originator. Data processors entered all information on their computers, and loan processors received printed applications. They added or corrected information by pen, and then the printed forms went back to data processing to be updated. We even calculated income on adding machines,” she recalls.

Fax machines, now almost extinct, and U.S. mail were the only ways to send the required verifications.

North Shore mortgage processors had computers when she arrived, but applications still came in handwritten from the originators. “We still used mail and faxes quite a bit. Things have greatly changed — and for the better,” she says.

Emails and scanners have made it possible to get documentation in minutes instead of days. And although Lynn appreciated coming to work for a more forward-thinking bank, it was not the technology that kept her in the North Shore family. It has been the people. “North Shore bank has been a very nice place to work,” she says.

Bill Ferry joined Lynn to celebrate her retirement.

Upstate New York back on their radar screen
Travel is in her and Bill’s future. “We have grandchildren in Minnesota and California, ages 4 months to 6 years. We’re looking forward to seeing more of them and helping with them when we can,” she says.

They eventually plan to sell their lakefront home and return to their native Upstate New York.

Meanwhile, they have their bags packed and are ready to take off; they’ll attend a family wedding in North Carolina in October, followed by visiting family in Southern California in December.

Mark Koenig has appreciated Lynn’s contributions during her years with the bank. “Lynn has been a great asset to the entire mortgage team. We all wish her and Bill a wonderful future and plenty of quality time to enjoy their children and grandchildren,” he says.