By Molly Schissler, SVP, Human Resources & Compliance

North Shore Bank is pleased to announce our 2023 SOAR Award winners. Nominated by their colleagues for their exceptional commitment to our customers, our communities, and our company, this year’s winners across three categories are:

Outstanding Service
Ryan Alfaro, Teller
Kelly Kading, Personal Banker, Northland
Nominees in this category exhibit superior performance in the areas of customer service, teamwork, and going above and beyond.

Community Involvement
Joline Lazarski, Branch Manager, Southwest
Susan Liedel, Mortgage Loan Originator
Don Mahnke, Teller, Southridge
Nominees for this award have made a significant contribution to North Shore Bank community initiatives and/or an external organization or group.

Legacy Leaders
Colleen Egan, VP, Customer Assistance Manager
Craig Witz, VP, Branch Sales
Nominees for this award have made a significant contribution to North Shore Bank throughout their employment, and must have been employed here a minimum of five years.

Here are excerpts from our winners’ nominations.

Ryan Alfaro: “I’ve watched Ryan train several new tellers and was trained by him myself. He is amazing, patient, and knowledgeable. The way he talks to customers and digs into their profiles to start meaningful conversations is very admirable. The customers absolutely love him and are always excited to see him when they catch him at a different location. His customer service is always outstanding. He never leaves the branch without making sure he’s done enough to help us, and even came in to cover on his birthday (which was normally his day off). He deserves an award just like this!” —Raven Florez, teller supervisor, Kenosha Central

Kelly Kading: “For the past 25 years, Kelly has been focused on delivering excellent customer service to both internal and external customers. He has created a following of customers by building trust and rapport with them, identifying potential financial needs, and making the proper recommendations to help them reach their financial goals.

“Kelly’s energy supports his drive and willingness to learn something new every day. He is quick to utilize the resources and tools provided by the bank to expand his knowledge in an effort to build lasting relationships with his customers. He continues to build his book of business, with well over 500 QQC customers to date. Kelly has also been a mentor to many employees throughout the bank, and his peers hold him in high regard.

“In short, he exemplifies the mission, vision, and values of the bank. He is one of a kind!” —Kerri Collins, district manager, North District

Joline Lazarski: “Joline has been an instrumental part of North Shore Bank for almost 34 years. Her dedication to helping her customers with their financial goals and living the North Shore Bank mission makes her worthy of this award.

“Joline has been involved with the community for her entire time with the bank, most recently as a board member of Candy Cane Lane, which helps raise money for the MACC Fund. In addition to working fundraising events in wind, snow, and cold, she serves year-round in planning and organizing the event and enlists bank staff to help support it. Consistently putting her team and customers at the top of her priorities, Joline lives the mission, vision, and values of North Shore Bank and has left a lasting mark on the bank and her community.” —Lauri Lunde, district manager, Metro South District

Susan Liedel: “Susan is very active in her community, hosting and attending events for the Racine Unified School District, Housing Resources Inc., and City of Racine employees. She works side by side with borrowers to obtain local grants by helping them become educated about homebuying, so they can reach the goal of home ownership. She is well known and respected in her community.” —Heidi Becker, residential processing team lead

Don Mahnke: “Don volunteers his time each Friday at Tricklebee Cafe, a pay-what-you-can vegan community kitchen. While he spent his career working around banking and financial operations, his not-so-secret passion is cooking. He uses this superpower to help prepare meals from scratch and his other superpowers (kindness, humor, humanity, and humility) to help build a tight-knit community. I think we all have our secret passions outside of banking, though we don’t always have the time, means, or resources to pursue them. Don has been able to pursue his, and his efforts have done something really good in the community — though he’ll be the first to say he is just a small piece of the puzzle.” —Kelly Doucette, teller supervisor, Southridge

Colleen Egan: “Colleen played a major role in pioneering the Call Center so many years ago. Today, with the onset of digital banking, the Call Center has become a focal communication channel for North Shore Bank’s external customers and internal colleagues looking for problem resolution. Call Center staff represent the voice of NSB — and under Colleen’s leadership and coaching, expectations for delivering the highest-quality customer experience are crystal-clear. She sets an example time after time.

“With over 44 years of banking experience in sales, operations, and management, Colleen’s enterprise-wide knowledge is second to none. She is knowledgeable about all digital platform systems, assists with testing new services, and troubleshoots when needed. She is a mentor to many. And she earns support and respect from her team, ensuring buy-in when introducing new initiatives or championing changes.” —Annette Mueller, quality assurance manager, and Kris Pappa, Online Banking supervisor

Craig Witz: “Craig’s transparent leadership over the past 17 years has made a positive impact across the entire organization. His current role, as vice president of branch sales and administration, allows him the opportunity to influence others by being customer-focused while following the SOAR principles of staying attentive to the activities, behaviors, and outcomes of the branch teams.

“Craig has spearheaded countless initiatives over the years that continue to help the bank thrive. He considers department impact, as well as customer and branch network impact, when implementing a change. The Community Engagement Manager initiative is one great example. Craig’s leadership involvement in this initiative has helped many individuals step outside of their comfort zones and develop relationship opportunities to support and grow the bank.

“In 2012-2014, we had the opportunity to work with Craig in a DM peer capacity. We admire his creative thinking — he comes up with new, fresh, and at times unexpected ideas to influence change. Craig continues to challenge us to be forward thinkers as we lead and coach our teams.” —Kerri Collins, Cristen Baumann, Brian Bozek, and Lauri Lunde, district managers, and Tricia Cravillion, VP, branch operations manager