Mitchell Street branch celebrates relocation

After postponing the ceremony for a week due to weather, our new Mitchell Street branch celebrated its opening on Milwaukee’s South Side with a ribbon cutting last Thursday, March 2, attended by Mayor Cavalier Johnson, North Shore Bank executives, and community leaders.

The new branch, off Mitchell and South 13th streets, replaces the branch inside the nearby El Rey Foodmart. The El Rey branch opened in 2004 as part of an active effort to court and serve the area’s growing Latino community. As local NBC affiliate WMTJ noted, the new location is well suited to offer even more resources to the neighborhood.

Manager Alfredo Martin’s bilingual staff moved with the branch from El Rey to Mitchell Street — and grew, as well. In addition to standard features like private offices, a larger lobby, and a coin-counting machine, the new location also houses a workspace for some of our video tellers.

“North Shore Bank has been a consistent partner in the city of Milwaukee, and today that partnership takes another important step forward,” Mayor Johnson said in a speech at the event.

As at El Rey, the Mitchell Street branch will focus on offering not just banking services but also financial education to customers and area residents.

“We’ve been part of the neighborhood for almost 20 years, but we’ve moved more than once during that time,” said North Shore Bank president and CEO Jay McKenna, who also spoke at the ribbon cutting, along with Alfredo. “After all that time, it’s nice to settle into this new space. We’re looking forward to continuing to serve a community that obviously means a lot to us.” •••

Casino Night raises over $9,000 for students

About 120 members of the community attended the Howard Suamico Business & Professional Association’s annual Casino Night on March 1, including nine North Shore Bank employees.

“Working on the planning and outreach for the event gave me the opportunity to continue strengthening our partnerships in the community,” said community engagement manager AVP Katie Longsine, who currently serves as HSBPA’s vice president. “And at the event, we all had a great time meeting new people and playing games — and we found a few minutes to gather together at the photo booth!”

Casino Night raised over $9,000 for scholarships that will be awarded to Howard-Suamico School District students. Another $2,000 raised was donated to local nonprofit the Giving Tree. •••

Bankers attend young professionals awards banquet

Community engagement manager AVP Katie Longsine and Allouez assistant branch manager Aubrey Abrahamson attended Current Young Professionals’ Future 15 & Young Professional Awards banquet on March 2 at Green Bay’s Radisson Hotel & Conference Center. The annual event recognizes 15 young professionals in the Green Bay area who making positive change through their work and community involvement.

About 400 people attended. “Aubrey and I had the opportunity catch up with existing community partners and establish some new connections,” Katie said. •••

Emerging Leaders Group bonds with axe throwing

The North Shore Bank Emerging Leaders Group held a 2023 kickoff event on January 20 at Milwaukee axe-throwing bar Axe MKE, where they got to reconnect, network — and throw axes.

“It was a unique and exciting way to unite ELG members and others throughout the bank, and step outside of our comfort zones,” Shorewood universal banker Micki Usama said. Attendees got a quick lesson from bar staff on how to throw axes and then jumped in. “The competitive spirit was high, and we all enjoyed cheering each other on and celebrating our successes.”

“It was an awesome event!” marketing data analyst Rachel Rasmussen said. “Some people really were naturals at it, but even those who weren’t still had a great time trying. It was a nice way to bring everyone together and see people in person that you wouldn’t normally get to.”

The Emerging Leaders Group is composed of North Shore Bank professionals committed to growing their careers by coordinating job-focused development programs and contributing to bank-wide initiatives, including networking events, Bank on Kindness sponsorship suggestions, and the Senior Leader Showcase Series. Anyone interested in joining or learning more should check out the ELG tab on Ask Seymour tab or speak to their manager. •••

Bankers win prizes from Elan

Mitchell Street personal banker Claudia Rubio and Brookfield Square assistant branch manager Mariella Zarb recently each received a pair of Sony noise-canceling headphones as winners in the Elan Elites sweepstakes, in addition to cash prizes they received earlier.

The Elan Elites program awards cash and the chance to win additional prizes to the top 100 credit card salespeople among Elan’s banking business partners.

North Shore Bank also had two winners in Elan’s quarterly sweepstakes: Pulaski universal banker Zach Burmeister, who won $200, and Jackson Park assistant branch manager Claudia Romo, who won $100. Congratulations to all of these winners! •••

Get free tickets to Milwaukee Public Museum

Looking for something fun to do? The bank has four-packs of passes to the Milwaukee Public Museum, available to employees at no cost while supplies last. The passes are good through June 30, 2023.

Current exhibits at MPM include the “Time Travel” gallery, which offers a glimpse of what Earth looked like millions of years ago, in the time of dinosaurs. The “Wisconsin Journey” gallery, which opens March 23, will focus on “the geological wonders and strong and varied cultures of Wisconsin — from the Driftless Area to the Northwoods, the Apostle Islands, the Great Lakes, and Wisconsin’s vast prairie lands.”

Shorewood assistant branch manager Enrik Braho recently took his 3-year-old son to the museum, where they had a blast.

You can learn more about the museum at mpm.edu. To get your passes, just email Nancy Hanson. But hurry — they won’t last long! •••

Promotions for February 2023
The following employees were promoted in February:

• Rosalyn Koller was promoted from Residential Loan Administrator to Consumer Loan Servicing Specialist.
• Shannan Mahloch was promoted from Consumer Loan Servicing Specialist to Senior Loan Funding Representative.
• Brittany Ramos was promoted from Teller at Milwaukee Capitol to Video Teller.

Leave a comment to congratulate them!

Co-workers celebrate Fleischman
Colleagues celebrated Treasury Solutions and commercial loan specialist Mary Fleischman’s 35th anniversary with the bank with cake and a small party on Friday, February 25.

Treasury Solutions operations manager AVP Jeff Marsho also presented Mary with her Lifetime Service Award from the Wisconsin Banking Association. •••

New Hires for March 9
It’s always exciting to add new members to our team. Here are some of the fresh faces at North Shore Bank.

MLK Drive teller supervisor Lisa Allgood is from Milwaukee. She worked in the Milwaukee County Family Court for 14 years and on weekends still helps parents learn how to file documents with the court. “I know what a difficult time parents have when it comes to child support and visitation,” she says. “So I feel the need to share the knowledge I have.” Lisa will be putting on workshops to explain what parents need to do.

Marketing manager Whitney Bartholomew has lived in the Milwaukee area her whole life. She previously worked as brand manager for the Lutheran High School Association of Greater Milwaukee. In college, she discovered that she loves to camp. “Since then, I’ve camped almost every summer at least once,” she says, naming her top camping destinations as Wisconsin’s Perrot State Park, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. She adds: “A bonus about camping in Glacier was that my boyfriend and I went to a sapphire mine near Helena and dug and sifted out sapphires to use for our wedding rings!”

Union Grove personal banker Nick Ditscheit is from Union Grove. He previously worked as the business service representative for Racine County for the Southeastern Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. “I enjoy building, taking apart, and tinkering with things. Some of my favorite things to work on are computers and cars,” he says. He got really into it in high school. “It was more out of necessity at first, as my first two car required a lot of work and I was repairing them often. I have since come to enjoy doing the work.” •••

Don’t sleep on these helpful tips for better rest

Sleep — we all need it, and most of us don’t get enough of it. UMR Wellness has tips for getting more rest every night:

• Keep a sleep diary for two weeks to see what your sleep routine really looks like. (Use this PDF!)
• Make a point of going to sleep and getting up at the same time each day. Give yourself time for at least seven hours of sleep.
• Don’t nap. Or if you must nap, keep it to 20 minutes.
• Get exercise every day, but avoid strenuous activity for the three hours before bedtime.
• Get lots of light — especially sunlight — during the day, and avoid bright light as bedtime approaches.
• Don’t work or do other activities in your bedroom. Reserve that space for sleep.
• Limit your caffeine intake, and avoid it later in the day.

And check out these links for more information:

• Sleep Deprivation: Symptoms, Causes, and Effects
• Sleep Tips for Older Adults
• The Science of Sleep
• What are Sleep Deprivation & Deficiency?

Download this PDF for more information, and speak to your doctor if you’re dealing with a serious sleep problem and need relief. •••

Northland hosting diaper drive for Jake’s Network
What’s going on with you? If you or someone in your family has a special event — a concert, show, sporting or charity event, or another important moment — send the details to shorelines@northshorebank.com. We’ll include information about select events to let your colleagues know about all the cool stuff happening with the North Shore Bank team.

Looking for more to do? Here are suggestions from the bank’s event calendar:

The Brown County Home Builders Association Spring Showcase of Homes continues through Sunday, March 12. Tonight and Friday, March 10, are Family Nights, when kids 16 and under attend for free. More info here.

Our Northland branch is hosting a diaper collection drive for Jake’s Network of Hope through Tuesday, March 14. A third of families in the United States struggle to provide clean diapers for their babies. New, unopened diapers and wipes are wanted. There is a special need for size 6 diapers and 4T/5T pull-ups, but any contribution is welcome and appreciated. More info here.

The next installment of our Path to Wealth seminar series takes place the evening of Wednesday, March 29, at our Jackson Park branch. Area manager Alfredo Martin and community lending manager Miguel Pesqueira will cover the topic of financial goals and how to achieve them. More info here.

The next Milwaukee Business Journal Power Breakfast Presented by North Shore Bank will be Thursday, March 30, at the Pfister Hotel. Advocate Health co-CEOs Eugene Woods and Jim Skogsbergh will appear together for the first time since the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health made them the fifth-largest U.S. health system. More info here. •••