Kristen and her kids — Griffin, Brenna, and Asher — showing off her diploma and certificate. “They are very proud of me and happy to see me graduate because they know Mom won’t be working on homework at night and weekends!” she says.

For most people, August means getting ready to go back to school. But Kristen Gagliano celebrated completing her studies at the Graduate School of Banking earlier this month.

“It was an amazing program that exposed me to so many more areas of the bank,” says Kristen, vice president, BSA and compliance, of the 25-month program run through UW-Madison. “It allowed me to better understand the broader impact of the decisions made across the organization, and the leadership courses gave me insight into ways we can all improve our management skills.”

Graduate School of Banking curriculum covers finance, marketing, management, lending, credit, and more. Students must attend six weeks of classes in Madison and turn in eight in-depth research papers.

For the program’s final project, students practice running a bank for a simulated two years (eight days, with each day representing one quarter of a year). “We made funding, pricing, branching, and other management decisions every day,” Kristen says.

Kristen saw attending the school as an opportunity to get a better handle on some essential areas of banking, like credit and finance. “These areas are so critical to the strength and success of every bank,” she says. “I’ve always known they were important, but I have a renewed respect for them now.”

She says she found the research projects challenging, especially because she joined North Shore Bank after starting the school. “I had some catching up to learn more about North Shore’s history to complete my projects,” she says. “Everyone I worked with here to gather information for my projects was great and so helpful!”

Kristen enjoyed the chance to meet bankers from all over the country at the school. She also got to take a series of leadership courses through the program and received a certificate of executive leadership from the Wisconsin School of Business.

“Kristin should be very proud of her accomplishment — we certainly are!” says her supervisor, Molly Schissler, senior vice president, human resources and compliance. “The Graduate School of Banking is a rigorous program, which requires you to be in Madison for two weeks each summer, along with plenty of course work and projects when you are not in the classroom. Congratulations, Kristen, on this significant achievement!”

Nicole Daniels, vice president, loan administration, graduated from the program when Kristen was in her first year. She confirms that it’s a challenge, but a worthy one.

“The decision to pursue a graduate degree is not undertaken lightly,” Nicole says. “The beauty of GSB is that it allows you to focus on various aspects of banking instead of something broader like an MBA. The courses and staff at GSB provided a wealth of information that I am able to use in my current position with North Shore Bank.”

Senior vice president and chief credit officer Mark Ohlert, who helped Kristen with one of her school programs, agreed.

“I could tell from meeting with Kristen that she was committed to gaining as much knowledge as she could and was leveraging relationships to broaden her understanding of a part of banking in which she had little experience,” he says. “Based on the amount of time and effort she invested, I have no doubt she benefited greatly from her GSB experience.”

“It is a lot of work, and you will get out of the program what you put into it,” says Kristen, who was awarded a scholarship from the Prochnow Education Foundation that covered $1,300 of her schooling costs each year. “If you go, enjoy the experience. Stay in the dorms, go to the events and class parties, and engage with your classmates, upperclassmen, and the teachers. You can learn so much from them.”

Now that she’s done, Kristen says, she’s looking forward to some different courses of study.

“I’m going to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas without a project looming over my head!” she says. “I love to learn and try new things, but I’ll step away from banking topics for a bit and work on my cooking and gardening skills. I’ve already been looking at materials for master gardener classes.”