2013 Outstanding Women in Banking: Lori Allan

As the compliance officer for the $306 million Beacon Bank, Lori Allan has spent a part of every day this year on regulations created in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Act. Yet, she has found time to build a partnership with Duluth, Minnesota's Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank in a program which places food in the backpacks of needy children every Friday to ensure they eat during the weekend..Allan is one of NorthWestern Financial Review's 2013 Outstanding Women in Banking..At the beginning of 2013, Allan read an article in the Duluth News Tribune which reported on the work of the food bank to help some 600 children in the Duluth area who go without food on weekends. "The article reported that for these children, their Monday meal at school is often the first meal they've had since leaving school on Friday," Allan said..Allan liked Second Harvest's approach. Volunteers pack bags of food at the food bank's warehouse. The bags are transported to local schools. There, on Friday, school staff goes to students' lockers and places the food in their backpacks, a process that saves students the embarrassment of standing in line..She felt she must act. "I have always felt that giving back to the community is very important," she said. "But when I found there are young people who look forward to going to school again simply because they do not have meals away from school, I knew we needed to take responsibility to help solve the problem.".Allan created Beacon Bank's "Jeans for charity" program in which staff members buy coupons to wear jeans to work. The program generated the bank's first $1,000 donation to the food bank. The bank has given $1,800 so far this year..The food bank packs bags on the first Thursday and Friday of each month; Allan has made sure that she, or a colleague from the bank, is there to help. Second Harvest's Backpack Food Program distributes nearly 1,000 bags of ready-to-eat food to children throughout the region..Helping and interacting with people has been a passion for Allan since she worked as a teller in her home town of Silver Bay, Minn., as a junior in high school. She worked at the bank until 1982. She moved to First Bank, Edina, Minn., in 1985. The bank was later bought by U.S. Bank. Allan continued to work for the bank after the purchase, making consumer and small commercial loans until 1992..Then Allan decided it was time to move into management. She was hired as a branch manager at North Shore Bank of Commerce in Duluth in 1996 where she began to devote considerable time to community service. As she developed business for the bank she also served as a board member and later as chairperson of the Hermantown Area Chamber of Commerce. She also served on the board of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce..Allan moved to Beacon Bank in 2003 and is its senior vice president. Beacon Bank is based in the Twin Cities suburb of Shorewood, Minn. By 2008, she was a member of the Minnesota Bankers Association's compliance committee; she served as the committee's chairman in 2012..Even in her current role Allan said her job is about people. "Details are my thing," said Allan, who completed the Independent Community Bankers of America's certified regulatory compliance manager accreditation this year. "But, as a compliance officer who has been a teller, lender and branch manager, I am grateful that I know from experience how changes in bank procedures affect others. Meeting people and building relationships is what community banking is all about."Other 2013 Outstanding Women in Banking honorees include:Kim Schroll, NebraskaLand National Bank, North Platte, Neb.Emily Hofer, Merchants State Bank, Freeman, S.D.Rose Wageman, First Eagle Bank, ChicagoDawn Zimmer, Bank Midwest, Spirit Lake, Iowa