Natalie Canadeo

Natalie Canadeo’s analytical mind serves her well, especially in her role as Research and Special Payments Supervisor. But what she really loves is making connections with others.

“When you’re supervising, it’s all about the people, and I really like that,” Natalie says. “I love interacting with my team, helping them, finding out what they want to learn. I love teaching someone something they didn’t know before.”

And there is plenty to teach. The Research Maintenance and Special Payments department — part of the Customer Support Center at Corporate — handles dozens of disparate tasks related to deposits, from reviewing new accounts to the annual escheatment process, which deals with the remittance of unclaimed property to the government. For that, Natalie and her crew must be familiar with different laws in all 50 states.

“I summarize the job as quality control,” she says. “We’re just really making sure that everything is tight. The branches will start the process, and we’ll finish it. There are a lot of regulations and compliance issues.”

After earning an art history degree at UW-Madison, Natalie didn’t plan on going into banking. She worked as a teller at Firstar Bank for five and a half years — at their Brookfield Square Mall branch, opposite NSB’s headquarters.

“I made the big jump across the street,” she says of her move to North Shore Bank in April 1997. She began as a Customer Assistance Rep, where she got familiar with the ins and outs of fiduciary accounts. Her aptitude has served her well.

“I like being able to provide clear instruction to our branches on anything they ask for,” she says. “I always try to teach something, so the caller will know for the next time, hence saving time for the customer.”

Natalie’s hobbies include cooking, participating in charity walk/runs and travel, among other things. She volunteered for four years at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Last October, she and her sister Laura visited Italy for two weeks. She loved how open the locals were, and how easily they invited the sisters into their homes.

“We really liked telling people where we were from,” she says. “We would say Milwaukee and get a blank stare. Then we’d say, ‘Happy Days — Richie Cunningham or Fonzie!’ and they would smile and respond enthusiastically: ‘Oh, yes, yes!'”