75th marks mother’s ownership, son’s ascendancy for bank president

Citizens Independent Bank of St. Louis Park, Minn., closed out its 75th anniversary year with the conclusion of 2025. With his three sons working in the bank, President Brad Bakken is hopeful for the future but happy to talk about the past, especially the legacy established by his mother Connie Bakken..Opening in 1950 under the name Citizens State Bank, the Bakken portion of the story starts in May of 1980 when Connie Bakken, recently divorced after a 30-year marriage to Medtronic co-founder Earl Bakken, purchased the bank. Brad explained that she was looking for a good investment when she became aware the $44 million bank was for sale. Having been a medical technologist, she had no experience in banking but an advisor told her not to worry because regulators would keep a close eye on things. Separately, another group of advisors approached her with advice to steer clear of banking. “They told her it was no business for a woman,” Brad said. “Hearing that only increased her determination to buy the bank.”Connie Bakken, who died at the age of 98 in 2021, wrote an autobiography in 2012. In it, she said she took classes from the American Institute of Banking and the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, Wis., to learn the business. She also joined a Dale Carnegie group to improve her public speaking.“In the early years, it was lonely being a woman who had chosen banking,” she writes. “There were some other female bankers, but in most cases, they’d become involved in banking after their husbands, who had been bank presidents, died. I began to seek out other women around the state who were doing what I was doing.”Bakken organized a group called Women in Banking “to give female bankers opportunities to support each other.” At its peak, the group included 28 members, meeting twice a year. “It was enormously helpful to have a time and place to talk over banking problems,” she wrote.When Connie Bakken bought the bank, it was located on Excelsior Boulevard in a building designed by Eugene Hickey, who co-founded the architecture firm known today as HTG Architects.In late 1982, Bakken purchased the Guarantee State Bank of Robbinsdale, which today is one of the bank’s four offices. Connie, who had advanced from vice chair to chair of the board, stepped in as acting president for a little over a year (1987-88) before she hired William Wilkening to be president, a post he held for a decade.This magazine honored Connie Bakken in 1990 with recognition as an Outstanding Woman in Banking. The bank hosted a celebration in her honor. About a year after that, the bank changed its name to Citizens Independent Bank..“My most important (though perhaps my quietest achievement) has been supporting my employees through the development and promotion of a career mapping program. We have made this available to all employees at CIB,” Connie Bakken wrote in her autobiography. “I have worked hard to develop a career ladder at the bank and to achieve pay equity among our employees. ... Education opens doors for advancement and is a lifelong process. Offering your employees the hope of upward mobility is crucial to running a good business.”Brad Bakken, who had graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in criminal justice, began working at the bank in 1982. “I started working in what used to be called the proof department,” Brad Bakken said. He eventually worked in many of the bank’s departments. He was named president in July 1998 when Wilkening retired. Wilkening stayed on the banks’ board as vice chair, while Connie Bakken served as chair. Shortly thereafter, the bank opened branches in Hopkins and Plymouth. In 2004, the bank moved a short distance to a new building in St. Louis Park called the Wolf Lake Professional Center.Brad Bakken works with his three sons: Eric, who is a finance specialist; Daniel who is an assistant vice president and business banker, and Dwight, who is vice president and manages the bank’s Hopkins office. The Bakkens recently spent time with a consultant in order to assess appropriate career paths for the family members. “They said they want to stay in the bank,” Brad Bakken said. “It’s gratifying that they want to be the next generation at the bank.”Brad Bakken said he appreciated the opportunity to celebrate 75 years but that he wanted celebrations to reflect service to the community more than he wanted to “throw a party for ourselves.” The bank gave away a 75-inch television set at each of the bank’s four locations. There were other give-aways also, such as a party at a local bowling establishment. The bank also ran a special on certificates of deposits, which Bakken said brought in needed deposit dollars..Bakken is clearly an advocate for the community banking model, saying he is concerned about industry consolidation, in particular what that means for communities that lose their locally-owned bank. He also said he is keeping an eye on developments around stablecoins, and that he is concerned about what new currencies and payment rails might mean for the banking industry’s traditional role in the payments system. Bakken has long been involved in industry advocacy and its trade groups, having served as president of the Bank Holding Company Association in 2004 and president of the Minnesota Bankers Association in 2008-09.While in his 44th year of banking, Bakken does not articulate a clear retirement strategy, saying he has enjoyed his career and is looking forward to the future.