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Winter 2015
Vol. XI
SALINA - OHIO
(785) 827-5522
SALINA - 9TH
(785) 827-1264
BENNINGTON
(785) 488-3344
MINNEAPOLIS
(785) 392-2136
WAMEGO
(785) 456-1806
LUCAS
(785) 525-6445
SYLVAN GROVE
(785) 526-7155
BSB Groundbreaking in Wamego
Trust & Wealth
Management Growth
Did you know that Bennington State
Bank’s full service Trust & Wealth
Management division continues to grow
at a rapid pace? In fact, we continue to
build this area of our bank, and we have
made significant investments over the
past 12 months that have allowed us to
now manage over $250 million for clients
worldwide!
Big things are taking place here that are
allowing us many dif­ferent opportunities
Continued on Page 3
BSB Banking App Awarded
The Bennington State Bank broke
ground November 13, 2014 on a new
bank facility to be constructed in
Wamego. It is located on the West Highway 24 subdivision just west of its current location. Construction on the new
6,000 square-foot building began just
before the holidays, with a completion
date in the summer of 2015. The groundbreaking marks the 10th anniversary of
the Wamego Branch.
The Bennington State Bank opened a
loan production office in Wamego in
2004 and within 12 months moved into
its present location, which offers full
banking services. The bank has outgrown its existing facility and will have
additional office spaces and another
drive thru lane and other areas to accommodate future growth. With the larger
facility, the bank will be able to expand
its services to include Wealth Management and other investment needs for the
Wamego community.
Participating in the groundbreaking
ceremony were representatives of Bennington State Bank, the City of Wamego
and the Wamego Area Chamber of Commerce.
BSB’s mobile banking application
was recently given an award for their
outstanding ebanking applications
that make it easier for bank customers to check balances, transfer
funds, make mobile deposits, bill pay
and make payments, all from their
personal iPad and Android phone or
tablet.
Download BSB’s mobile banking
app from the Apple App Store or
Android Google Play Store. Call your
local branch for more information.
Download Mobile
Banking App
Now with mobile
deposit feature!
Left to Right: Rob Eichman, Developer, Jason Moore, Chamber President, Kara Holle,
Chamber Asst Director, Megan Umcheid, Chamber Executive Director, John Bettencourt,
Chamber Director, Roy Bruna, BSB, Vic Enns, Mayor of Wamego, Donna Johnson, BSB,
Jody Price, Chamberette, Jackie Koch, BSB, Rod George, BSB, Lana Lindhorst, BSB, Burke
Matthews, BSB, Alex Berkley, BSB, Darren Gragg, BSB, Jeff Gillam, Architect JGM, Inc,
Merl Page, Wamego City Clerk, Maggie Gillam, Architect JGM, Inc, Tom Beem, City Commissioner, Steve Bryant, President Bryant Construction Services, Inc
Bennington
State Bank
During Salina BSB’s Customer Appreciation Day Mike Benjamin and Rhonda Hull
hand out hot dogs to customers. Cayden Colucci struts his stuff on Ohio St.
Toni and Don Born support BSB during Tootlefest where they took 3rd
place in the car show.
Ladies of BSB having fun at the Long McArthur
Ford’s For Women Only night.
During Christmas this year BSB employees and families decorated stockings for those spending the holidays in local
hospitals, and gathered and wrapped gifts for local Angle Tree programs. Salina employees participated in the
Parade of Lights and took themselves a little less seriously for a day wearing tacky Christmas sweaters.
Toni Born (Salina) walking with her parents to support Relay for Life.
Trust & Wealth
Management Growth cont.
Salina employees practice CPR on dummies during their
training to become certified.
BSB employees volunteer at the Workplace Campaign
Kickoff 2014.
Janie Klaus of Minneapolis, Kara Lerret
from Solomon and
local Salina business
Mighty Duct (LaShelle
Hammett pictured),
were winners of
Shazam’s monthly
gift card giveaway.
Bank customers visit the Bennington branch
for their Open House.
Kory Tinkler (Salina) wins Chamber of
Commerce drawing.
BSB purchased a
statue through
the Salina
Sculpture Tour
for the third
year in a row.
The statue is
located at the
Salina Soccer
Complex.
Bennington, Sylvan Grove and Salina branches dress down
for some Halloween fun.
to serve you. We want to be your full service
provider handling all of your financial needs
from the accumulation phase all the way
through the execution of your estate plan.
Our team is made up of two experienced
Trust Officers, Casey Hoffman and Brandy
Felzien, both holding 15+ years of experience and various certifications in Trust
Administration and Financial Planning.
Bonnie Barrett and Martha Bombardier,
complete the team, handling many of the
day to day functions of the department and
assisting clients as needed. Our approach is
simple, we make sure that your best interests
are first and foremost. We want to spend
time with you identifying and prioritizing
your needs and then we customize a solution for your situation. We have full fiduciary powers which allows for us to handle
many different complex financial situations
from an approach that holds us to the highest standard of service and acting in the best
interests of you, the client.
In the past few months, we’ve made many
changes to increase that standard of service.
Starting with the creation of investment
model portfolios that concentrate on
providing solid, consistent performance,
measured and monitored continually by an
internal committee of officers. We believe
strongly in investing for consistent long
term performance. Our approach uses only
the top performing mutual funds with low
expenses and consistent returns over the
long run. We continually monitor them
looking for any weak link in the bunch, if
one is identified we don’t hesitate to make
changes. This approach assures that your investments are continually being monitored.
You don’t have to worry that someone isn’t
keeping an eye out for your best interests.
Our dedicated staff is experienced in handling the complex and sometimes emotional
issues of trust and estate planning. Our
strategy is to partner with other professionals like attorneys and CPA’s to provide you
with the most complete plan. This is a highly
collaborative effort and we are happy to
work with those partners you have already
established a relationship with. If needed we
can make recommendations of other trusted
partners to fit your specific needs.
For some, the thought of estate planning
Continued on Page 4
Kathy Weatherman Retirement
Kathy Weatherman began working at
the Sylvan Grove branch in 1977 as a teller
and retired as full time assistant cashier on
December 31, 2014. During her 38 years with
BSB she worked with many different people
and wore many different hats, but serving the
customers was always her primary goal. Kathy
and her husband, Mike, have two grown
children, Bryan and Stacy, and two granddaughters and one
grandson. Kathy looks forward to spending more time with her
family, especially those grandchildren, and catching up on her
reading. Bank customers will be glad to know that Kathy will
continue to work part time as a teller two days a week.
New Employees
Brandy Felzien joined
BSB in July of 2014 as a
Trust Officer. She graduated from Goodland High
School and then earned
a B.S. in Finance from
McPherson College. She
has worked in the Trust
& Wealth Management industry for the past
15 years, primarily in trust administration,
compliance, employee benefit plans and
financial planning. Brandy and her husband
Brent have two daughters and in her spare
time she’s on the go with her children’s activities and enjoys spending time on the lake.
She is thankful to be a part of the BSB team
and looks forward to helping clients achieve
their financial goals.
Stacy Klein joined BSB in
September of 2014 as a teller. She graduated from Fort
Hays State University with
a B.S. in Agribusiness. After
graduation, she moved to
Kearney and lived there for
five years with her husband,
Eric, where she worked in banking for four
years. Her family has recently moved back
to Minneapolis, where her husband’s family
lives, with their two boys; Charlie (six), and
Easton (two). Her family enjoys being outside
so her boys can play and she can read and
relax. She is most looking forward to getting
to know, and help, people in her new community and looks forward to being back in the
banking world.
Featured Employees
Melanie Ohlson joined
The Bennington State Bank
in May of 2003, and is currently serving the Salina
Ohio branch as the Loan
Processing Supervisor.
Melanie and her husband
Russell, are raising their
three boys to be active in both the Bennington school and community and these activities fill the family’s free time. Melanie loves
that “BSB supports the communities that
we are in, both financially and with many
volunteer hours from our employees. BSB
hasn’t forgotten that it is the people in these
communities that have given us the opportunity to rise up and achieve the great ratings
that we have today.”
Loy James joined The
Bennington State Bank
in June of 2012, and is
currently serving as a
Loan Officer at the Bennington branch. Loy grew
up in Clay Center, KS and
graduated from Kansas
State University with a degree in Agriculture.
He moved to Beatrice, NE to teach at Southeast Community College, but moved back to
the Bennington area to work with BSB. He
and his wife, Kate, have two grown children,
and recently gained a new son-in-law. What
he loves most about working for BSB is the
teamwork, “Our team of BSB employees is
committed to providing our customers a full
service banking experience.”
Trust & Wealth
Management Growth cont.
is overwhelming, but we make the process
simple and straightforward. We want to help
you meet your financial objectives today,
tomorrow and for generations to come.
BSB Trust & Wealth Management also
offers various solutions to managing retirement plans, including 401(k) plans. For most
business owners that sponsor a retirement
plan, they know that there are a number of
complex ERISA rules and IRS requirements
that have to be managed and followed. Our
platform offers compliance oversight and
investment options, along with plan administration, which helps eliminates much of the
burden on the plan sponsor; leaving more
time for business owners to focus on growth,
productivity and bottom lines!
In our fiduciary outsourced option, plan
sponsors are able to outsource the plan administration, investment selection, employee
education, record keeping, and audit functions.
While most brokerage firms and advisors
offer a record keeping and investment advisor solution, the plan sponsor is typically
left with all of the administrative functions
like notices to employees, plan document
updates and 5500 filings, for example. That’s
not the case with our solution. The only decisions and functions the plan sponsor has to
serve in is the selection and monitoring of us
as their provider and accurate payroll files.
This type of platform solution is rare in the
employee benefit arena. If you are a business owner that sponsors a retirement plan
we would love the opportunity to discuss
this solution with you. We will compare the
features and cost of your current plan to
an outsourced solution. If you don’t offer a
retirement plan but are considering it, we’d
love to visit with you too. Please give Casey
or Brandy a call if you are interested in a
proposal or stop by your local branch. We
would be glad to discuss this option in detail
with you.
We are thankful we have the opportunity
to serve our customers, and we take earning
your trust and managing your assets seriously. It’s important to us that we serve you well
and always have your best interests at the
forefront of all the decisions we make. Stop
by and see us anytime. We’d love to share our
expertise with you!