Molly on Milwaukee’s Daniel W. Hoan Memorial Bridge during the UPAF Ride for the Arts.

As part of our centennial coverage, the Senior Leader Showcase series highlights executives who’ve been instrumental in helping North Shore Bank celebrate 100 years of success.

Molly Schissler helms North Shore Bank’s HR, Compliance, and Facilities departments.

Chief human resources officer Molly Schissler always wants to go a little further. When she was hired in 2010, it was largely because the bank needed an HR leader who could take the department beyond administrative tasks and approach the role with a strategic mindset.

“Molly has done an excellent job in her time at North Shore, really elevating the Human Resources function to a strategic level,” says president and CEO Jay McKenna. “The many workplace awards we receive and engagement scores speak to that. I’m glad we have been able to give her additional responsibilities over the years to allow her to spread her wings a bit beyond just HR.”

Indeed, the HR Award she received from the Milwaukee Business Journal in 2019 is just one of many North Shore Bank has racked up under Molly’s guidance. Her success is due in no small part to her belief that understanding HR isn’t enough — an HR professional also needs to have a grasp on the business their company is in. She put that principle into practice when she completed her degree at UW-Madison’s Graduate School of Banking last year. And even before that, she was drawing on her experience at other jobs to lead North Shore’s Facilities and Compliance departments, which she took charge of in 2017.

“I really enjoy working for Molly — she is immensely professional, yet highly approachable,” says Facilities & Services manager Tim Dotson. “She somehow manages to listen intently to what might be categorized as fairly mundane facilities updates and provides great counsel, direction, and encouragement when needed.”

A lifelong learner who has “dabbled” in Spanish and Mandarin, Molly says she’s figuring out what area of study to pursue next. Outside of academics, she’s also put a lot of hours into learning to sail and is working on getting her American Sailing Association certification through the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center — a rather appropriate activity for someone who doesn’t like to be hemmed in.

What kind of change have you encountered here since you joined North Shore Bank?
At the end of May, I’ll have been with the bank for 13 years. It’s amazing to me the amount of change we’ve seen over this period of time. Just as I started, we were planning to acquire a bank (Maritime), and in my first six years we acquired two more. It was a fast-paced time in the HR area, as we updated our systems from pretty basic — and mostly manual — to UltiPro (now called UKG), implemented a fully automated onboarding system, along with an applicant tracking system, and added a learning system (KnowledgeBank) for training. And soon, we’ll have an all-new timekeeping and scheduling system that will add many improvements not only for HR, but for nearly all other employees as well. I am incredibly proud of the HR team and all they have done toward continuous improvement on many levels.

Molly and husband Jeff at Milwaukee’s Heart Walk in 2015.

It’s also kind of amazing to think about everything that has changed from an HR perspective in just the past 13 years. Some of the changes that stick out in my mind include fairly mundane things, like changing our dress code to allow jeans at most of Corporate and doing away with the requirement that women wear hosiery. (Doesn’t that sound funny in 2023?). Others are more exciting — like being recognized as a Top Workplace since 2012, starting our student co-op partnership with Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and internship program with Marquette University High School, and starting up and working with the members of our Emerging Leaders Group. Then there are various benefit improvements like paid leaves and implementing Seymour Salutes (Bucketlist) for rewards and recognition. And let’s not forget the near-breakneck speed with which we had to adapt during the pandemic.

Molly and the North Shore Climbers at the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb at Milwaukee’s U.S. Bank Center.

What other areas do you oversee and what has changed in those parts of your job?
I also have the pleasure to oversee our fantastic Facilities and outstanding Compliance teams. These certainly aren’t typical areas for a CHRO to be involved with, but at some of the past companies I worked for, I had responsibilities that incorporated facilities and health and safety. I was also involved with ISO compliance for a medical device manufacturer. So although my experience wasn’t specific to banking, it did give me insight into these other responsibilities.

And if not for the amazing leadership of Tim Dotson and Kristen Gagliano and the work of their teams — well, let’s just say I am very fortunate to have them, as we all are. I am so proud of these teams too. Under Kristen’s leadership, a separate Compliance/BSA department was formed — previously, BSA work was taken care of by the Deposit Services group — and since she started, there have been 18 new or revised federal regulations implemented, including Beneficial Ownership and expanded HMDA data collection. Meanwhile, Tim’s area also has seen some incredible transformations in just the past few years, such as modernizing the mail room, retrofitting 25 branches (and counting) with LED lighting, installing UV air-cleaning systems in all but two locations to provide improved air quality, and overseeing numerous branch remodels and refreshes. I’m tired just thinking of it all!

In February 2011, the BizTimes talked to Molly about how she got into the sport of hurling. (Click for a larger version.)

Was HR your intended degree/career choice?
I originally intended to get a degree in accounting. However, along the way I had an adjunct professor who was an employment attorney, and he got me more involved in the human resources area of my business degree. While he hoped I would pursue an employment law degree, I wasn’t as sure I wanted to go that direction at the time. Needless to say, though, an understanding of employment and benefit laws is pretty central to my role, and I’ve taken plenty of coursework and certifications in those areas as well. Fast forward to 2019, and I did go back to school: this time to earn my graduate degree in banking from UW-Madison, which I completed in 2022 after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic. When I trained others in HR a number of years ago, I stressed the importance of understanding the business you work in; it’s not really enough to “just know HR.” That’s one of the reasons I was determined to complete the banking degree.

What do you think the next 100 years will be like for North Shore Bank?
It’s interesting for each of us to think about the fact that we’re here at the beginning of North Shore Bank’s next 100 years, and to reflect on whether the employees who were here 90 to 100 years ago ever imagined what it would be like now. How different will it be 90 to 100 years from now, and how are we currently shaping that?

It is a true testament to the leadership and all of the employees who have seen us through the past ten decades to achieve this impressive 100-year anniversary. Understanding that we are here to continue to serve our communities is what stands out to me. My advice is to be an active learner, be creative, and continue looking forward.