2016 Rising Stars in Banking: Bryan Toft

With a year and a half under his belt as president of Community Bank Owatonna, Minn., Bryan Toft already has contributed substantially to the accomplishment of the bank's strategic goals, said Dale Bowers, the bank's CEO and a member of the bank's founding investor group. Bowers has been training Toft to lead the bank since he came onboard in November 2014..Community Bank Owatonna has one location in Owatonna, a town with a population of 25,000 and 11 banks and three credit unions. Leaders of the $52 million bank wanted to grow by diversifying to the Twin Cities, which is one hour north of the bank. Since coming to the bank Toft has found the bank significant loan growth in the Twin Cities market.."Bryan already has brought in some $7.5 million in new loans to us," Bowers said. "He has had the knowledge and experience with customers in the metro area that we needed. His loans have brought us a good revenue stream which we will put toward capital and a higher lending limit."."It's tough to find good quality help in banking," Bowers continued. "With Bryan we got really lucky and fortunate.".NorthWestern Financial Review is honoring Toft as a Rising Star in Banking for 2016, along with seven other bankers..Toft jokes that he could have saved some money on education if he had realized he had the same taste for banking as others in his family. His father, Dean Toft, is CEO of HomeTown Bank, Redwood Falls, Minn. His uncle owns Citizens State Bank of Tyler, Minn..His less conventional path to the president's office, however, prepared him well to lead Community Bank Owatonna. Toft majored in computer science at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, looking for a career in IT. After he got into the field, however, he realized it wasn't for him. As Toft looked for a new career direction, his father introduced him to David Reiling, CEO of Sunrise Banks, which was then operated as three separately chartered banks – Franklin Bank, Park Midway Bank, and University National Bank – based in the Twin Cities..Toft started as a credit analyst at University Bank in 2004 before becoming a commercial lender and completing his MBA at the University of St. Thomas in 2008. "That is when I really started spending half my time talking to people, understanding their needs and how their business came to be," he said. "It was so interesting to me. That is when I knew I wanted to be in community banking.".After its three charters were combined into Sunrise Banks in 2013, the bank brought its SBA lending and its New Market Tax Credit group together. Toft was selected to lead the department, which he did until he joined Community Bank Owatonna near the end of 2014..Bowers and other leaders at the bank chose Toft because he had the skills and aptitudes to lead the bank to double its size in the next 10 years, to move into the Twin Cities and upgrade the bank's technology. His background in computer science, his work with technology and lending at Sunrise, and his experience with SBA will help him lead Community Bank Owatonna to accomplish its goals in the years to come..Another example of Toft's work so far is the bank's Renovate and Restore Program, through which the bank lends to investors and builders to help them buy, remodel and resell houses. Bowers brought up the idea to Toft, who'd made similar loans at University Bank, and was impressed when Toft came back with complete marketing materials a few months later. "Between his knowledge up there and our knowledge down here, we have made loans in that niche in the Twin Cities and locally," Bowers said..Toft's experience in SBA lending will be important to the bank's future growth, especially in serving small-to-medium size businesses, Bowers said..His familiarity with technology also will help the bank expand its deposit gathering. Under the 35-year old president's leadership, the bank plans to bring mobile capture online by the end of first quarter 2017. In banking today, commercial customers care more about relationships than the location of the bank, Bowers said, and upgrades to technology will allow Community Bank Owatonna to gather deposits from the Twin Cities along with its loan activity..Bowers sees a bright future ahead with Toft at the helm. "I have been doing this for 42 years and you can't do it forever. We wanted to find someone who was community oriented, who wanted to be in smaller communities and who had a knowledge of current technology," he said. "Bryan had all that, with 10 years in banking as well, and he has the right personality to boot.".Other 2016 Rising Stars in Banking Honorees:Andy Schornack, Flagship Bank, Eden Prairie, Minn.Steven Erickson, Oregon Community Bank, Oregon, Wis.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.Joel Rochleau, Security State Bank, Springville, Iowa