Twenty years ago, Tammy Hendrickson was wrapping up a decade at Walmart, where she worked as customer service manager, as well as on the service desk and as head of the layaway department. “I also liked to fill in for office personnel when they would go on vacation. By the time I left, I could practically run the store!” she jokes.

It’s a similar story at our Sturgeon Bay East branch, where she’s a personal banker. “Tammy works hard towards her goals and prides herself on being a top-performing personal banker,” says AVP and branch manager Becky Kolstad. “She also reaches out to her peers from time to time for feedback on how she can improve on her performance and tracks her success. She has many customers who ask for her by name and come back for repeat business with her.”

“I always look forward to hearing the way she approaches things on our biweekly PB call,” says fellow personal banker Kelly Kading, from Northland. “She puts customer needs first and looks at the whole picture. She keeps her radar up, always looking for different ways to help. She has great insights when we all share and learn from each other.”

Tammy shared some thoughts on her time here and more with Shorelines.

Besides Walmart, you also worked as a welder and electrician at a shipyard before getting into banking. How did that happen?
I took welding classes at Northwest Technical College — I thought of it as a form of art. I left to have my son Josh. Then I trained as an electrician and went back to the shipyards for a second time — thought it would be fun to do something original. I also did not mind the high pay. I was a welder for about three years and then an electrician for another three. I left because they were not getting enough work contracts.

What has kept you at North Shore Bank for so long?
I was always a numbers person and like helping people — it’s the wonderful relationships I have built up over the years with my customers. Some of them have become like family to me.

How has your personal life changed in the last 20 years?
The biggest change was the blessing of marrying my husband and moving to the country. We have a hobby fruit farm with a dozen different fruits. We also have a pond, about one acre big, which we swim, fish, and kayak in.

What have you learned since you started here?
If you treat everyone with respect and are personable and caring, they will continue to come back to you when they have other needs or goals.