Twenty years ago, Denise Dionisio started a journey, even if she didn’t totally realize it at the time.

Denise Dionisio, pictured here with 8-year-old twins Logan and Gavin, just marked 20 years at NSB with a move to our Accounting Department.

“I was 21 at the time, working as a manager at Hardee’s and still living at home. I was really unsure of where I saw myself even five years down the road, with no real plan for my life, other than that I was planning my wedding,” Denise recalls. “My mom was a customer of Maritime Savings Bank, and she came home one day and said they were hiring tellers, and encouraged me to apply.”

A few days later, Denise interviewed at Maritime, and an hour later they called to offer her the job. After four months as a teller, she became a savings counselor, helping customers open new accounts. Then the bank’s treasurer, Fred Burr, stopped by her desk.

“He said, ‘You know, Denise, I think you’re a really smart girl with so much potential, and I would love to see you apply for the accounting position that is currently open,’” she says. “And so the next day I did.”

Denise got the job in Maritime’s accounting department, and spent more than 15 years there, until Maritime merged with North Shore Bank in 2010. She then moved over to Checking Services.

But she had already decided accounting was her field of choice — in 2009, she began pursuing an accounting degree at Milwaukee Area Technical College. She’ll complete it in May. And as of this week, she’s now a member of our Accounting Department, as cash management coordinator.

Doing the math
“I just like working with numbers,” Denise says of accounting’s appeal. “I guess I’m kind of a nerd. And I enjoy the research part — if something doesn’t balance, I want to find out why.”

When she started in Maritime’s accounting department, she didn’t expect to get so deep into the field, though. “I think it kind of pushed me when I knew Maritime was in trouble,” she says. “We didn’t know what was going to happen, and I was like, What am I going to do if I don’t have a job?”

Her degree expanded her knowledge into areas like manufacturing accounting and payroll accounting. And she remains deeply grateful for the push Fred Burr gave her. “His belief in my capabilities has guided my career ever since, and I will truly always be thankful for that,” she says.

A warm welcome
But he is far from the only coworker she acknowledges a debt to. As a longtime employee moving into a new situation, she was nervous and worried, at first, when North Shore Bank took over Maritime. Then, adding to her fears, she broke her leg quite seriously shortly after the merger. The injury would keep her away from her job — at a company where she was brand new — for about six months.

But her North Shore Bank colleagues came through.

“I remember getting a card one day in the mail, and [my coworkers] had all put cash in there to help me along,” she says. “These were people I barely knew. I’d only been here a week or two before I broke my leg.”

Denise is also especially grateful to Checking Services Supervisor Erica Johnson and VP Lyneen Fischer for their guidance, and to Kim Konieczny, her compatriot at both Maritime and in Checking Services.

“I can’t believe we have worked together for 15 out of Denise’s 20 years,” Kim says. “It has been wonderful being one of her coworkers and even better being her friend!”

Denise counts her adaptability and openness to change among the skills that have served her best. Still, she readily admits she’ll miss her coworkers in Checking Services as she settles into her new spot in Accounting.

“But I’m only a floor up — it’s not like I won’t see them anymore,” she says. “I’m excited. But then I remember it’s fiscal year end, and I feel a little overwhelmed. I’m ready for the challenge for sure, though.”