Jennifer Mooney celebrates 20 years with North Shore Bank this month.

Getting hired by North Shore Bank 20 years ago was a bit of a surprise, says Jennifer Mooney. But it was the good kind of surprise.

At the time, she’d been the assistant branch manager at a TCF Bank location inside of a Jewel Osco supermarket for a year, after moving out of a career in retail management because the job didn’t fit her needs as a single mother. She applied for a personal banker position at our Southridge office, but didn’t think she had much of a chance.

“I had only had one year of banking experience, and being in an in-store setting, my banking product knowledge was quite limited,” Jennifer recalls, now a senior debit card/ATM processing specialist. “When offered the position, I was elated and quite nervous!”

She later moved from Southridge to the New Berlin branch, where she was a teller supervisor, and then helped open Franklin and served as assistant branch manager there. In 2007, she joined the Security team at Corporate and later moved into BSA Compliance, before settling in Ebanking (now known as Debit and ATM Processing).

Of course, Jennifer has witnessed lots of changes here as she’s moved around.

“Products, regulations, even how people do their banking — being able to conduct teller transactions at an ATM is a big one!” she says. “Most recently — and I think most impactful for me — was our conversion from FDR to Fiserv EPOC for our debit card platform. It is the first major conversion that I was a part of in the department. It required a lot of preparation and a lot of attention to details.”

Her boss, Laura Kramer, was very glad to have Jennifer on board for that transition.

“Jeni played such a critical role in the EPOC conversion by keeping track of all of the disputes that were in flight and making sure they were processed per Reg E timelines. That task was a huge undertaking,” Laura says, noting that Jennifer’s time at our branches provided a strong foundation for the jobs she’s done at Corporate. “She also does an excellent job making sure the bank remains compliant with the Reg E debit card disputes on a daily basis. And she brightens our team with her sense of humor and smile.”

On the personal side of things, Jennifer got married in 2007 — and was introduced to her husband by a co-worker from North Shore. They each came into the marriage with a child, have a daughter and son together now, and also welcomed a granddaughter in 2018.

Given that she didn’t think she’d get hired, it’s also a bit surprising to have spent two decades here in so many different roles. But Jennifer says now she’s pretty sure she’s staying put.

“Being able to explore opportunities and ultimately find what I feel is my perfect position is one of the main reasons that I stayed this long,” she says. “Many of the people here have become like family, and it is great to come to a place where you look forward to not only the job that you do, but also the people you work alongside. I had no idea that I would stay this long, but I really can’t imagine being anywhere else.”