Working in home community offers Minnesota banker satisfaction of supporting local developmentThe saying “it’s all in who you know” is usually directed at job seekers, but it’s also apt for bankers looking to fill their employee pipeline..Kevin Hegland was a numbers guy in college, unsure of his career trajectory when he did a J-term internship at a Bloomington, Minn., bank. The four-week trial run gave him an idea of what bankers do day in and day out. There was “never a shortage of interesting projects the bank was involved with,” he said. He found he enjoyed the variety and proceeded to work at that bank for five years after graduation.Now, Kevin Hegland, senior vice president at Security State Bank & Trust Co., Glencoe, Minn., is being recognized as a 2026 “Rising Star in Banking.”The bank that offered him the internship also gave him the opportunity to meet Brian Wagner, who nominated Hegland for this honor. “I’ve seen him come up in banking” and watched him continue to grow, said Wagner, now chief lending officer at Security Bank & Trust Co.“Kevin has built a career defined by relationship-driven service, prudent decision-making, and meaningful impact on both his institution and the communities it serves.” Hegland’s strong example of “leadership, commitment, and long-term potential” is part of the reason he is being recognized as a Rising Star.In 2012, the Bloomington bank was sold. With the transition, Hegland looked to see what other financial institutions might “check all the boxes” for him, and Gale Hoese, a board member at the Bloomington bank and owner of another Minnesota bank, approached him. “He was someone I liked and respected. I knew how he operated, knew that would be a really good fit for me,” Hegland said.Hoese asked him to think about taking a position at the Chaska branch of the now-$1.27 billion Security Bank & Trust Co. Back then, Chaska was more rural and yet a right-sized city where he and his wife felt they could raise their kids.Hegland is now senior vice president and senior lending officer for the Carver County market. During his 14 years at Security Bank, he’s “learned that stability is important. [People] want to tell me their story once. I’m their voice in the bank when we do underwriting, approvals,” he said. It’s up to him to accurately convey their message, he said. “I don’t know everything within banking; not everything is my area of expertise, but I do want to be good at finding the right answers” for clients.Building those relationships over time, making those connections means “being able to build that story over time. [It] makes a difference,” Hegland said. “Seeing that business arc ... makes approvals and everything else easier.”Hegland gave the example of a successful customer who is a visionary but not a “put-things-down-on-paper kind of guy,” he said. Hegland takes the idea and makes it workable for the bank and the businessman. “He trusts my advice on structuring, being able to accomplish what his goals are,” he said. “I trust who he is as a person, character-wise, that we’re going to be able to make it work.”Those relationships also lead to new ones. Recently, the bank’s social media touted a significant line of credit Hegland closed. “The $750,000 was a referral from another client,” he said. “When you get a referral, it means you’ve done things right. They’re putting their stamp of approval behind you, so you better live up to that.”Hegland also works to build rapport with those who report to him. “He elevates the team he works with, the people around him,” Wagner said. Hegland oversees the Chaska branch and six lenders. He is “highly engaged” with them, mentors them well, and “is well regarded by his team. They both respect him and enjoy working with him.”Wagner touted Hegland’s decision-making process. He works to “creatively structure” good loans that allow his clients to expand while maximizing capital, Wagner said. Hegland has “learned all the different funding sources, learned best how to allocate those and put them together to help business owners accomplish their goals.”“He can take a complex situation, analyze it, and turn it into an executable plan,” Wagner said.Yet, Hegland learned first-hand the value of prudence and keeping that top-of-mind as the first bank he worked at was heavily invested in real estate. “When the stock market crashed, [the bank’s] portfolio crashed likewise,” he said. “Being the most creative and aggressive isn’t always best.” Experience has paid dividends. “I think I can identify fairly early in the process if something will work or not, and structurally what’s the best path to go down. It saves headaches and creates efficiencies,” he said.Hegland also seeks to have “meaningful impact” on his city through a community-banking hallmark: volunteering. “If you think about the place where you want to live, raise your family, spend your time, you should spend time benefiting the community,” Hegland said.“There are a lot of people doing the work to create the community we all want to have. I think it’s on all of us to do our part.”For now, that investment for Hegland looks like serving a term on the local community foundation, being the sergeant-at-arms for Chaska Rotary, and coaching his kids’ sports. He also includes his family in volunteering as a way to train up the next generation to make their part of the world a better place.While hesitant at first to live and work in the same community, he has found that to be one of the perks of the job. “I like the connection of being involved ... helping people buy businesses, expand, hire more folks,” helping people achieve their dreams, he said. It’s “cool to see that, not only from my work seat, but also my outside day-to-day.”
