(Back row, L to R) Breanna Rooney, Ryan Melcarek, Kristin Monday, Ray Guardiola, Rachel Rasmussen, Mike Monday (husband/guest of Kristin), Sara Speich; (Front row, L to R) James O’Brien, Melissa Grode, Kari Tuyls, Beth Wianecki, Rebecca Guardiola (wife/guest of Ray), Jenni Horst (twin sister/guest of Beth)

The Emerging Leaders Group (ELG) recently celebrated its new Core Team with a fun day of friendly competition between group members at Game Show Battle Rooms. Broken into two teams, they went head to head in games that are similar to classic game shows.

Beth Wianecki, AVP and branch operations support manager, is the new chair of the Core Team. The team coordinates the group’s scheduling, content, and events. Beth said individuals are nominated to the group by their managers.

“It’s for people starting out with North Shore Bank or within their career here who have a drive to be involved and move up,” Beth said. ELG members offer support for bank initiatives, participate in community events, and organize a group outing each year to volunteer for a worthy cause.

The employee-led, voluntary group has 27 members, which includes the Core Team. Beth said the ELG does a “just for fun” outing like the Game Show Battle Rooms once a year to get the group together outside of bank-related events. “It was very competitive. I was not on the winning team,” Beth said with a laugh.

The winning team is (back row, L to R) Kristin Monday, Breanna Rooney, Ray Guardiola, Mike Monday, (front row, L to R) James O’Brien, Ryan Melcarek, Kari Tuyls.

Throughout the year, there is typically one ELG event per month, such as webinars, meetings with senior leaders of the bank to learn more about how they got started and the responsibilities of their roles, and sessions on leadership.

And while learning and leadership is the focus, Beth said the relationships formed throughout the group are also a key benefit. “You make connections with people in other departments and that’s really helpful,” she said. “It’s such a great group of people. All are driven, but so fun to be around.”

The new Core Team will lead the group for the next two years. In addition to Beth, members of the Core Team are:

• Vice Chair Kristin Monday, Accounting operations manager
• Incoming Vice Chair Rachel Rasmussen, Marketing data analyst
• Board Members: Aubrey Abrahamson, Allouez assistant branch manager; Tisha Kenfield, Northland assistant branch manager; Ryan Melcarek, Human Resources training specialist; Heather Somers, Oak Creek branch manager
• Executive Sponsors: Molly Schissler, chief HR officer; Sue Doyle, SVP retail banking

In future months, we will feature members of the ELG in Shorelines, so keep an eye out for that!