Nancy Hanson marked 25 years with the bank this year.

Corporate receptionist Nancy Hanson marked 25 years with the bank earlier this year. Though she moved around a bit during her first years with the bank, she’s spent the vast majority of that time at the receptionist desk at Corporate, serving as sort of a central brain ensuring that callers and visitors get to the right person. She jokes that chairman and CEO Jim McKenna tells everyone: “‘If you want to know anything, just ask Nancy!’ I don’t know everything,” she clarifies, “but he seems to think I do!”

Nancy talked with Shorelines about her work, why she didn’t make a good teller, and what’s in store for the future.

What other positions have you held at the bank?
Receptionist was actually my first job here. There were two part-time receptionists at Corporate, and I covered afternoons. Then I wanted to work more hours, so I worked a little bit in Accounting. I think I even helped in HR a bit. When I was doing the accounting job, they said it would help to get experience as a teller, so I went to do that at the Pewaukee branch. I was only there, like, seven months and found out that being a teller was…not my forte.

What happened?
My manager would say to me, “You’re really great with the customers, but…” I was very nervous handling other people’s money. I never could balance! Even as a kid, I was never good at math. It’s kind of ironic, because my mom worked as an accountant for a bank. She had great math skills, and I did not inherit those.

The branch was nice, my manager was great, but it wasn’t the job for me. Then my manager called me into her office and said that Mr. McKenna had requested me to come back as the full-time receptionist for the Corporate office. I said yes immediately! And after I came back, I never left. This is the job for me.

What does your job involve now?
Before we had a call center, I answered all the calls. Now the call center has its own direct number, but customers still call the Corporate line. I have to get to know everybody in the building, so that I know what they do, where they are, and where to direct customers’ questions. It works out well — I’m a people person, and I get to meet and greet a lot of people. I like learning about what goes on behind the scenes of the bank and how everyone’s jobs tie into our success.

I also greet visitors, keep phone solicitors at bay, forward along customer service surveys when the customer wants to be contacted by a manager, and ensure the information is correct for the RPX emergency system. And of course I’m our liaison for the Weight Watchers At Work program.

You’re sort of the voice and face of the company.
Mr. McKenna always says he likes to call somewhere and have a live person answer the phone. The McKennas have very strong professional values and ethics. Customer service is really our top priority, and I’ve been here so long that I know what’s expected. I do have customers who call and say, “Oh! It’s a live person.”

It’s been 25 years, so what does your future look like?
Obviously, I’ll be finishing out my career here. I would say I’m going to make it another five or six years. I’ll probably make it to my 30th anniversary, at least!