Nancy Kaye has packed a multitude of memorable experiences into her 20 years with North Shore Bank, but not all of them have been good.
She has been involved in nine robberies; she has left twice — once for another job and once for health reasons — and was rehired; she has endured four system changes; she has worked with 10 branch managers, 20 tellers and at least 15 personal bankers; and she has survived two branch remodels.
“I was once told that I didn’t do well with change in the banking business. Well, I must not mind change, because I’m still here,” she says.
Weekly travels take her to senior centers
As a teller supervisor at Jackson Park, her home location for her entire banking career, Nancy handles overrides. When a customer wants to cash a check on an account that lacks funds to cover it, for example, she steps in to assist.
But that’s a small part of Nancy’s job. Three days a week, she packs her roller bag with money, forms and other banking essentials and heads to senior-living facilities to offer basic on-site banking services. “I look like a stewardess,” she says. She accepts deposits, cashes checks, issues travelers checks and can help start the paperwork for new accounts or CDs.
Three seasons of regular excursions from her home branch in Midwest weather are enjoyable, but winters can be challenging. Nancy spends half days at senior centers Wesley Park, Wilson Commons, Howard Village and Layton Terrace, carrying North Shore to people who have difficulty getting to a branch or who aren’t candidates for online banking.
“I meet so many nice people,” Nancy says. “They’re like moms and grandmothers to me. Many don’t drive, and they often tell me how much they appreciate having the bank come to them.”
Business closings create opportunity
Before she entered banking, Nancy had worked at a printing company and a knitting company, both of which went out of business. Grant money made it possible for her to retrain at the Teller Institute in downtown Milwaukee, where she earned a certificate in banking and business.
She joined Badger Bank in 1992 as a teller, but after six months returned to the rejuvenated knitting company. “I got an offer I couldn’t refuse, “ she says. It closed its doors again in 1993. “My former manager at Badger heard I was available and asked me to come back, so I was rehired.”
A misdiagnosis and health problems kept her out of the workforce for several months in 2005, but she was welcomed back when she got things resolved.
Nancy has appreciated the support and guidance others have provided through the years, naming among those “great people” Checking Services Supervisor Erica Johnson, Assistant Manager–Operations Cindy Hundt, Call Center Manager Colleen Egan, Special Applications Representative Carol Burmeister and Loan Funding Team Leader Brent Neumann, all former Jackson Park staffers who moved on to Corporate when Badger and North Shore merged.
Nancy has tried to help others in return, advising, “Learn all you can, and listen. Be responsible in what you do. The future is high-tech, and you need to be involved.”
Silver lining turns trauma into teaching
She also has found a role helping robbery survivors. In one of her several brushes with that danger, two thugs came up behind her as she was entering the branch. “I got hit over the head and had a concussion that kept me out of work for five weeks. Because of a divorce and my history of losing jobs due to business closings and health issues, someone suggested I might want to spend some time with a psychologist.”
Nancy decided to give it a try, and now FBI agents invite her to speak to groups about how to physically and emotionally survive a robbery.
Nancy’s longevity with North Shore Bank proves she has more than just survived; she’s truly thriving, spreading her special brand of charm and humor wherever she goes.