Linda Lassa has been all over North Shore Bank.

Now a service rep for the Checking and IRA departments, Linda has also been a teller, a personal banker, and the backup checking service supervisor at different times in her 30 years with the bank. She has worked at two of our branches and in different spots at Corporate.

“I know both ends of the spectrum,” she says. “I know what goes on in the branch, because I’ve been there, done that. I also know what happens behind the scenes at Corporate that branch people often never see.”

That knowledge has been a real blessing for both Linda and her coworkers, especially when she’s helping branch employees.

“I can walk them through what they’re attempting to do because I’ve been there,” she says. She is able to empathize with them, too, understanding what it can be like, for example, to be caught between a frustrated consumer and a colleague at Corporate who wants to help but is unable to provide the desired solution because of bank policy or other restrictions. “They’re on the front lines, asking for help with something, and we’re saying, ‘Well, we can’t do that.’ That’s rough.”

Building lasting relationships
Linda started in 1984 as a part-time teller at Southwest. She was a newlywed and had been working as an assistant manager at Kinney Shoes. “I was tired of the retail hours,” she says. “I didn’t feel like working 72-hour weeks anymore.” Chuckling, she notes that since that time, banks have of course expanded their hours, as well.

She has stayed with North Shore Bank because she’s been able to move around within the organization, and because she likes the people, both customers and coworkers. She’s enjoyed every spot she’s worked at in the bank, but particularly cherishes her time at Burlington in the ’90s, where she worked after giving birth to her son, John.

“It was just because of the crew at that particular time,” she says. “We girls still get together, even though none of us work there anymore.” Indeed, she says, she and Beth Williams, now in the CSC, are the last who remain at North Shore Bank.

“Since we both live in Wind Lake, we carpooled for a number of years and got to be good friends,” Beth says. “We’ve shared many things, including John growing up and starting college and me becoming a grandmother.”

Another member of that group was Kathy Storck, who retired in 2012 after serving as Burlington’s branch manager, a district manager, and a VP, among other positions. Linda and Kathy used to run 5Ks together; she fondly remembers doing the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Dinosaur Dash with Mr. McKenna. She and Kathy and their husbands have also vacationed as a group. The four of them took a whitewater rafting trip down the Colorado River.

Three decades of change
As you’d expect, Linda has noticed plenty of change since starting at North Shore Bank — ATM image deposits, for example, and mobile deposits. “Customers can take a picture of a check, and the funds get credited to their account without their ever having to go to the bank,” she says. Of course, with the greater convenience of online banking, she notes, comes a greater focus on identity theft and other security matters.

And she expects to see more change. Because of her love of travel, Linda says, if she weren’t in banking she’d love to try working at a resort in the Caribbean or Europe, or giving tours around the globe. But she plans to stay put for now.

“I’ll be learning new jobs,” she says, “which is what’s so nice about working here. I haven’t been doing just one job for 30 years. I’m ever-evolving, just as the bank continues to evolve.”