While it’s officially her 20th anniversary here, senior ACH specialist Nancy Adamski is really celebrating 30 years with North Shore Bank.
“I started in 1979 as a teller at the Southwest office, worked for 10 years, and then I took 10 years off to raise my children,” she says. “When the kids were all in school, I came back part time in 1999 and eventually full time. And the rest is history! Wow, it’s really flown by.”
Have you worked anywhere besides North Shore Bank?
I worked at a Southwest Theater in West Allis and at Treasure Island, which, I don’t know if anyone remembers — it was a Walmart kind of store. But North Shore has been my only employer since I was 19. That’s incredible. I’m a fixture! I just really enjoy banking.
I came to the Brookfield Square branch as a teller supervisor in April 1982, so I’ve been in this building since it was built.
Were you always planning to come back to North Shore?
I wasn’t really planning on going back to work at the time, but I got a call from a close friend of mine who was still working here, and she said, “Hey, we have an opening in our operations area for a part-time person — are you thinking of coming back?” And the job seemed interesting. I liked the back-office work.
Had you done any of the back-office work before?
No, but I had worked here for 10 years, and when you’re a teller supervisor, you learn systems. I have a lot of respect for the branch employees and what they do, working with the public. They have to face the customer and sometimes give them bad news — or, hopefully, good news! I think the main goal of everybody in this area is to help them out.
Why have you stayed here so long?
I’m never bored, that’s one thing. Every day something new turns up — you think you’ve seen it all, and then, “Hey, I’ve never seen this before!” And there are also just an awful lot of nice people in this department. That’s why I’ve stayed, really.
You’ve seen a lot of change, as everyone has, I’m sure.
Yes, and especially because I’ve had different duties since I came back 20 years ago — I’ve worked in electronic banking, deposit services, ACH. But it’s amazing how fast things have progressed. When I first started in deposit services, they were issuing cards that were just ATM access cards. Now we have a million kinds of debit cards, gift cards. That part of it has really taken off.
And I guess with progress, there are always more rules and regulations. Everybody from a branch who’s talked to me knows I will quote rules at them.
My biggest professional accomplishment was achieving my AAP (Accredited ACH Professional) certification in 2007, and the bank has been very supportive of keeping it current. Every year, there’s something new to learn!
What does the future look like for you, professionally speaking?
I plan on staying here until I retire. Five, maybe eight more years, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll come back part time and work till I’m 80! As long as they’ll have me.