2016 Rising Stars in Banking: Steven Erickson

In three years, Steven Erickson has turned his people skills and military leadership experience into a successful career as a commercial lender and team player at a Wisconsin community bank..After a stint at Morgan Stanley, Erickson switched to another large bank, but found the culture at odds with his own preferences. "I did well there, but the problem was getting paid a commission every quarter," he said. "That culture is not relationship-focused; it's very, very deal-focused. It was a good experience but ultimately it wasn't a great fit for me.".That led Erickson to have coffee in mid-2013 with Steve Peotter, president and CEO of Oregon Community Bank. The pair hit it off, with Erickson impressing his future boss with his drive and enthusiasm for the relationship-building side of developing loans. "He's incredibly skilled at building rapport with people," Peotter said..The addition of Erickson to the bank's staff came at a crucial time. Coming out of the crisis the Oregon, Wis., bank had some assets it needed to work through as well as a necessary restructuring of its operations to position the bank for growth.."We needed to have good people on the client side to help grow relationships, just as the green light was lit to take on new loans," Peotter said. Erickson was that person, and he harnessed all the tools at his disposal to build his portfolio to $50 million. Three-quarters of new client relationships at the bank came from Erickson in that first year. The bank itself has grown to $240 million in assets from $165 million since Erickson joined the bank..NorthWestern Financial Review is honoring Erickson, who is vice president and commercial lender at Oregon Community Bank, as a Rising Star in Banking for 2016, along with seven other bankers..Besides being an outstanding commercial lender in his own right, Erickson has brought his relationship-building skills to bear on the team of bankers around him, Peotter said. His leadership skills stem at least partially from his background as an infantry captain with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, including a 2008-2009 tour in Afghanistan. Prior to being commissioned in 2007, he also served as a recruiter, becoming the second-most productive recruiter in Wisconsin.."I think he gets this sense of collaboration and teamwork from his military background," Peotter said. "He's always aware and committed to helping out his clients, but he also always wants to understand and connect the loan to the larger goals of the organization. It's something he picked up from the military: How do the personal goals fit into the larger institutional ones?".Erickson credited his military training with an ability to formulate and execute plans while foreseeing and defusing possible road bumps. "When you develop a plan to move soldiers from point A to B, you have to look at all scenarios and attempt to mitigate the risks associated with them," he said. "It's a similar thing with credit requests – not just evaluating what the best possible outcome is, but isolating the worst case scenario as well, and structuring the loan accordingly.".Erickson has taken his highly-developed personnel skills beyond face-to-face meetings. He puts in a lot of legwork behind-the-scenes to understand the opportunity for the bank and to learn about the customer so that he can break the ice faster. "The ability to generate leads and contacts right now is higher than it's been in the history of sales," Erickson said. "I can go to somebody's LinkedIn page and see interests, job history, and then I can put together my own leads page.."I want to be the guy who has 1,500 contacts," Erickson continued. "I want to be posting every day so I'm the guy whose face is in front of everybody in terms of branding.".Erickson's research on customers makes a huge difference in a market as tight as Madison. For every lending opportunity Erickson sees, most have at least one other community bank in the mix, he said. Because it's so challenging, he has to work to earn relationships based on factors outside the interest rate.."The way I look at it, I'm selling a commodity, and my goal as a banker is to de-commoditize it," Erickson said. "I don't want them because I'm earning a commission, but because I want to do business with them, because I want them in my portfolio, because it's good for me and them.".Other 2016 Rising Stars in Banking honorees: Andy Schornack, Flagship Bank, Eden Prairie, Minn.Krista Heiss, NebraskaLand National Bank, North Platte, Neb.Darla Kauffman, First State Bank of Middlebury, Ind.Darin Johnson, Security State Bank Sutherland, IowaDave Mason, First International Bank & Trust, Bismarck, N.D.Bryan Toft, Community Bank Owatonna, Minn.Joel Rochleau, Security State Bank, Springville, Iowa