Past Chapter Highlights

2021 Highlights

2021 UW Madison School                    
of Business Case Competition

2nd Annual Commercial Lending
Case Competition!


April 15th & April 16th 

1st Place Case Competition Winners from UW- Eau Claire

The second annual RMA Wisconsin Chapter Commercial Lending Case Competition took place on April 15th and 16th. The competition featured Wisconsin college students from UW-Eau Claire, UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-Stevens Point. The students presented a loan request to a committee of judges on day one. They then presented a term sheet to the judges, who took the role prospective borrowers on day two.

Judges on day one included Wisconsin Bankers Association's Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Daryll Lund, Byline Bank Chief Credit Officer Tom Carls and RMA Wisconsin Chapter and Integrity Loan Review President Kevin Graff.

Judges on day two included First Business Bank Chief Credit Officer Brad Quade, retired bank executive John "Jack" Wixted and RMA Wisconsin Chapter Board Member and Johnson Financial Group Portfolio Manager David Wilbik.

The top two teams were both from UW-Eau Claire. The first place team consisted of Jordan Boswell, Mason Petersen and Andrew Vaerst. The second place team consisted of Kristian Kletti, Carter Morrissette and Stephanie Sawvel. The third place team was from UW-Stevens Point. It consisted of Jordan Fader and April Hommerding.

Thank you to the SCHOOLS, MENTORS, SPONSORS and STUDENTS
that make this event such a exhilarating and challenging time!

Thursday's recordings:
UW- Stevens Point
UW- Madison #1
UW-Eau Claire #1
UW-Platteville
UW-Madison #2
UW-Eau Claire #2

Marquette University - Banking Panel

March 8, 2021


Marquette University's banking panel discussion led by RMA Academic Director John Sullivan (moderator) and students from the Commercial Banking Club.  Panelists included David Wilbik, Johnson Bank, Josh Sandleback, Forte Bank and Melissa Torres, State Bank of Cross Plains.



The RMA Wisconsin Chapter's Academic Case Competition was featured in the RMA Journal for 2021. 

STILL ZOOOOOM-ing, and lovin it!

March 2021



As the entire World was forced into the VIRTUAL world with the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 going on, our chapter has adapted and strived to utilize all of the functions of ZOOM. We continue to hold Quarterly Board Meeting, Roundtables, Industry Related Webinars and Educational Courses through this VIRTUAL meeting platform. We are excited to continue to connect with the Banking Industry Professionals and provide as much resources as we can to assist them in their roles. We hope soon enough we will be back to meeting in person, but until then we hope to see everyone through our VIRTUAL events.

2019 Highlights

UW-Whitewater - Finance Day
September 27, 2019

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David Wilbik (Johnson Bank) and Melissa Torres (State Bank of Cross Plains) of the RMA Wisconsin Chapter joined the Finance Association at UW-Whitewater on 9/27/19 for its first ever Finance Day! Students arranged for panels to present and discuss questions about the transition from college to the workforce, advice on succeeding in their careers and talk about why they decided on careers in finance. Panelists ranged from bankers to real estate agents to financial planners to investment bankers. It was an awesome event and we look forward to partnering with them at future events!

2019 UW Madison School
of Business Case
Competition


       Annual Commercial Lending 
              Case Competition!


12 teams of 3 - 4 Students which will represent the Banks as the Bank's Commercial Lending Team and will
compete against each other preparing and presenting two unique presentations and two executive summaries to two judging panels. 


Thank you to the SCHOOLS, MENTORS, SPONSORS and STUDENTS
that make this event such a exhilarating and challenging time!

2019 Winners Henry Utschig & Grant Myse
Henry Utschig & Grant Myse













2018 Highlights

MobCraft Networking Event
November 5th, 2018 – Milwaukee

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About a dozen RMA members and professionals met at MobCraft Brewery in Milwaukee for a networking event.  It kicked off with an eMentor demonstration from an RMA National representative, who guided the attendees through the various industry data resources and trainings that are freely available to RMA members.  If you were not able to attend and would be interested in learning more, please contact Allison Neff (aneff@rmahq.org). 

After the eMentor presentation, one of the MobCraft Brewery owners, Henry Schwartz, talked about his vision for a crowd sourced brewery and the unique financing road that brought the company to where it is today.  Henry was very knowledgeable and forthcoming, although he didn’t elaborate on his decision to turn down the offer made by Kevin O’Leary in a 2016 episode of Shark Tank (someone should have asked!).  Next, the group took a very informative brewery tour that lasted about 20 minutes followed by general socialization.  THANK YOU MobCraft for hosting this RMA event!

Scary Stories Event
October 31st, 2018 - Madison

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The Wisconsin Chapter hosted its third annual scary stories event on October 31, 2018, in Madison at the WBA office on the east side.  Panelists talked about scary lending stories and how they handled them.  Panelists included: 

  • Corinne Niemann, Senior Underwriter at Preferred Title
  • Jim Rudnicki, CPA, CTP from Rudnicki & Associates, LLC
  • Andy Price, Associate with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.
  • John Wink, Shareholder with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.
  • David Braden, CPA, Manager-Financial Institutions with CliftonLarsonAllen

 On behalf of the RMA Wisconsin Chapter, thank you to all of our panelists for their time and preparation into presenting for our chapter!


2018 RMA Article Writing Competition
.
  
We had some really great submissions and look forward to what will be presented next year!  The winners are:
 
1st Place - Jeremy Maricque - Marquette Student & RMA Student Member
Article titled:  Practical KRIs for a Community Bank Commercial Loan Portfolio
 
2nd Place - Frank Demogerontas - Marquette Student & RMA Student Member
Article titled:  Resurrection of the Glass Steagall Act
 
Congratulations to our winners!  We have forwarded their articles to the national RMA Article Writing Competition 
where they have the chance to be published in the RMA Journal!  Best of luck to you both!


Membership Social - Stevens Point

April 11, 2018 - Stevens Point

On April 11th, the Wisconsin Chapter of the Risk Management Association (‘RMA’) held a social gathering at the Stevens Point Country Club for current and prospective members, where attendees spent time hearing networking and hearing about the benefits of RMA membership, including the upcoming courses and roundtables coming up in the central and northern parts of the state. In addition, Mike Lensmire and Dean Johnson from CliftonLarsenAllen, gave a presentation on the changes that have, and will be occurring, with accounting standards that could impact the financial statements of our customers, as-well-as if that would affect income tax returns. If you would like more information on the events that we will be hosting in your area and how to become a member, please contact Sandy Gruber at sandy@rmawi.org or visit http://community.rmahq.org/wisconsin


Expert Panel Event (2 of 3): Environmental

March 13, 2018 - Waukesha

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RMA held its second of three Expert Panel Events of 2017-2018 on March 13th, with the focus being on Environmental due diligence.  Panelists Josh Neudorfer (The Sigma Group) and Kirk Kapfhammer (Endpoint Solutions) are shown above explaining the issues that peak-soil contamination can have on construction projects.  A focus was on recognizing the issue and then accounting for any remediation into the budget in order to make an informed credit decision.  Those that attended the event also learned about the different types of environmental reports that are available and the advantages and disadvantages of each.  The panel was very interactive and the hour flew by!

Credit Analyst Series Completion
March 2018 - Waukesha

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Awarded at long last!  Typically the Senior Credit Analyst Series is completed within a calendar year, however for Brian Caine it was a two year journey.  Having taken Advanced Documentation and Structuring the previous year, Brian set out to take the remaining four classes included in the Credit Analyst Series this year.  Proud manager and RMA Board Member, David Wilbik, is picture above presenting Brian Caine with his certificate.  Congratulations Brian!

2017 Highlights

Scary Lending Stories Panel Event
October 31, 2017, Madison, WI
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The RMA Wisconsin Chapter hosted its second annual scary stories event on October 31, 2017 in Madison at State Bank of Cross Plains.  Panelists included Cindy Albertson – State Bank of Cross Plains, Virginia Bartelt – Bartelt Grobe S.C., Jim Munhofen – Associated Bank and Bruce Paulson – BMO Harris Bank.  Panelists discussed loan situations that had lessons to be learned from underwriting the deal to appropriate documentation, monitoring practices and collection efforts.  Each panelist presented their lesson and then the audience engaged in discussion about what could have been done differently to mitigate risks.  Major take aways include maintaining regular site inspections to assist in watching for potential red flags; know your customer to understand the full scope of the loan and all parties involved; maintaining full relationships to also assist in monitoring red flags; and lastly obtaining appropriate documentation even for the smallest of loans.  On behalf of the RMA Wisconsin Chapter, thank you to all of our panelists for their time and preparation into presenting for our chapter!

Expert Panel Event (1 of 3): Attorneys
October 24, 2017, Waukesha, WI

The RMA Wisconsin Chapter will be holding three panel events for 2017-2018 that will feature several experts who will discuss current banking needs related to their industry and other hot topics.  The three panel events are planned as follows:

  • 10/24/17 - Attorneys.  Expert attorneys from Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. cover cyber security issues as they relate to banking and loan documention mistakes that can jeopardize deals. 
  • February 2018 (exact date TBD) - Environmental Experts
  • May 2018 (exact date TBD) - Loan Review Experts

RMA Southern WI held its first in a series of expert panels in October.  The panels are designed to offer access to experts to discuss current topics in the lending arena.  The first event focused on legal expertise with an emphasis on cyber security and loan documentation mistakes.  Attorneys from Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S. C. were the featured speakers.  Attorney John Reichert focused on cyber security and highlighted how the regulatory agencies will soon be spending much more time on this as they examine our member banks.  Several strategies were presented to deal with regulators and cyber events.  Attorneys Robert Heinrich and Christopher Rechlicz went on to detail loan documentation issues and how they can jeopardize deals.  Asset filings and accidental releases were some of the issues the attorneys provided guidance on.

There was active discussion of all topics and RMA members were able to address potential legal issues in a friendly format that allowed for deep questioning and thorough exploration of the issues.  Afterwards Reinhart treated members to a networking session that included cocktails and appetizers.  Members had the opportunity to follow up on any remaining questions and also network with fellow bankers and attorneys.

RMA 2017 Chapter Leaders
Conference
June 22-23, 2017, Scottsdale, Arizona



Melissa Torres, RMA Wisconsin Chapter President, presenting at the National RMA Leaders Conference.  



Wisconsin Chapter Article Submission wins National Contest
It is with great pride that one of our article writing submissions won FIRST PLACE with RMA national’s Article Writing Competition!! 

We congratulate Ryan Kelley from State Bank of Cross Plains on winning 1st Place!

The tangible form of this recognition is a cash award of $1,000. Ryan received his award at the RMA Annual Risk Management Conference on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017.   This year’s conference was held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston, MA. Ryan's registration fee, as well as spouse/guest’s, was complimentary. 
Also, Ryan's article will be featured in an upcoming RMA Journal.
Great job Ryan!  We hope you enjoyed your stay in Boston!

Loan
Review Panel Discussion
May 24, 2017, Waukesha

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The RMA Wisconsin Chapter held a Loan Review Panel event on May 24th at the Reinhardt Law Office in Waukesha.  Panel experts (pictured from left to right) included Peter Nugent from Enlighten Financial, Barry Tessmann from the FDIC, and Pete Warmenhoven from Nicolet National Bank; the event was moderated by David Wilbik from Johnson Bank (not pictured).

This was one of several RMA member-only free events held throughout the year.  The session was generally well attended with representatives from eight different financial institutions across the greater Milwaukee area.  All attendees left the event with a much better understanding of the loan review process, the advantages and disadvantages of internal versus external loan reviews, the typical annual penetration coverage for commercial portfolios, how credit administration is a large factor in the process, and many other topics as a result of the open format Q&A session at the end of the event.


2017 Lenders Conference
May 18-19, 2017, Kalahari, Wisconsin Dells

Richard Mattoon was one of the 4 presenters the RMA Wisconsin Chapter provided during the conference.


2017 Lenders Conference (Richard Mattoon, Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)


2016 Highlights

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Principles and Practices of Credit Risk Administration
December 1, 2016, class held in Racine.  Gary Maples presenting.

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Platinum Chapter Planning Award

Congratulations to the Wisconsin RMA Chapter for winning a Platinum Chapter Planning Award at the Annual Risk Management Conference in Dallas. The Platinum award is the highest level of recognition given from the National RMA Association. (Pictured  L to R are Harlan McLain, Pete Brethouwer and Melissa Torres)

Essentials of Dairy Lending Workshop

Nearly 40 banking professionals attended the first offering of Essentials of Dairy Lending, a workshop hosted by the NE WI chapter on 11/4 in Appleton, WI. Katelin Haglund reviewed credit underwriting practices, Cyrene Wilke covered documentation topics, while Derek Taylor of Michael Best presented information related to legal issues.