2025 Outstanding Women in Banking: Sue Savat

Winona native playing a key role in Merchants Bank’s growthWinona, Minn.-based Merchants Bank has acquired a number of branches and banks in the past 20 years, expanding its presence in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin while growing in the Twin Cities area. .Central to that growth is CFO Sue Savat, a Winona native who has overseen onboarding the acquired banks. One such example is the bank’s 2019 acquisition of First National Bank in Northfield, Minn. First National Bank had played a major part in the history of Northfield, as it was the site of a failed 1876 robbery by the James-Younger Gang. The town now marks the event during its annual Defeat of Jesse James Days.Savat was executive sponsor for the integration planning and execution for the acquisition. She also had hands-on ownership of the process after Merchants took ownership in 2019, through its technology systems conversion the following year. “She is very detailed in how she approaches big projects, which is why she was so effective in making sure the integration and conversion work was extremely well-organized and managed effectively,” said President and CEO Greg Evans. “The integration for every acquisition poses challenges, but the Northfield transition was the most seamless we have ever experienced.” Savat prioritized spending time in the community and ensuring local residents knew Merchants cared about Northfield. Merchants Bank has local bank presidents in nearly all of the communities it serves. Local advisory boards with local leaders provide feedback and strategic direction. “We spent a lot of time in the community,” she said. “We spent a lot of time understanding what was important to the community and ensuring we respected that.“We needed to have consistent branding, but how do we respect that history? And, making sure our team members are still engaged in the community. We continued to support all of the connections they had to the community.” Savat credits the bank being fully staffed in its day-to-day and technical work for allowing her to focus on welcoming new communities to the bank. Merchants Bank has prioritized finding sellers with similar cultures, she added. “That helps a lot, because when you have caring people who are there for the right reasons, and they can see where we operate the same way, it gives them some comfort,” Savat added. The acquisition of First National Bank continued Merchants Bank’s rapid pace of growth since Savat became CFO in 2009. The $2.8 billion bank acquired five financial institution branches in Savat’s first few years in her role. Savat said the rapid growth required her to work with all departments at Merchants Bank to better understand their needs and goals during the migration process. Savat’s role in growing Merchants Bank has led to her recognition as one of BankBeat magazine’s 2025 “Outstanding Women in Banking.” Seeking new experiences, Savat left Winona after she graduated high school to study accounting at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The subject came relatively easy for her, and Savat enjoyed crunching numbers. “I loved the idea of accounting, because there is so much you can do with it,” she said. “You can follow the path of public accounting, you can do taxes, you can do bookkeeping or finance in any corporation. There are many opportunities.” A CPA with Chicago-based McGladrey & Pullen coming out of college, Savat’s career at Merchants Bank began in an internal audit role in the 1990s. She left Merchants for a short time to serve as controller for a family-owned manufacturing company in Winona, before returning to Merchants in a finance role in 2000. Savat provided leadership for many areas of Merchants Bank in the early 2000s, before growth enabled it to hire specialized roles for marketing, audits, compliance and risk management. She learned and enjoyed her time working with all of the departments. For a number of years she engaged with the bank’s business customers helping them implement new Treasury Management tools.“That was one of my favorite things when I was in public accounting as well as the bank, is getting to know the businesses and what they do,” Savat said. “And they are proud of what they have created. Being able to help and provide more value for the needs of our communities is what resonates with me.” Savat’s current responsibilities include overall responsibility for the financial results of the company as well as shareholder liquidity planning, working with investment bankers, balance sheet management and planning the structure of the holding company, Merchants Financial Group, Inc. Though the company is publicly traded, it is not on a listed exchange and does not file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Savat said the bank’s strategic plan includes being listed on an exchange as an SEC filer in the next five years. Merchants Bank remains focused on growing beyond its historical footprint. “We have a wonderful group of shareholders,” she said. “They are supportive of our community banking model and that helps our ability to continue to think long term and plan for that future and make the investments where we need to, but we are also aware of our responsibility to continue to grow the value for our shareholders.” Savat is leading the discovery and interviewing process with potential consulting partners leading up to Merchants Bank’s core contract renewal scheduled for 2027. It will be the first time Merchants, which has had a single vendor for the majority of its core services, uses an external consultant in the process. Savat oversaw Merchants Bank’s implementation of a general ledger financial reporting system in the past five years. “We have such better information at our fingertips, and we are getting to that functional usability level with that system that is going to significantly help us in using data to make decisions and provide our leaders with better, more timely information to manage their areas as well,” she said. Savat’s take on her leadership style reveals her appreciation for those who work at the bank and exemplifies her nomination as an Outstanding Woman in Banking. Savat has three direct reports, with more than two-dozen employees indirectly reporting to her. “Sue is highly-respected by bank CFO peers throughout the industry, by the company’s shareholders and the investment banking community,” Evans said. “She leads with empathy and heart. Sue embodies the strong core value system of the company and walks the talk in representing our mission/purpose as a community bank to help our customers and communities realize their financial hopes and dreams.” “Being a leader is all about surrounding yourself with great people and supporting them, giving them growth opportunities and making sure you are listening and finding ways to work together,” Savat said.“The people who I have been able to work with and hire, they tend to love the community banking environment and want to make a difference as well … that is why I am grateful to work at Merchants Bank every day.”