2009 Outstanding Women in Banking: Lois Bednar

Lois Bednar, senior vice president of risk management for Grand Forks, N.D.-based Bank Forward, thought she was going to be a nurse. She wanted to work with the public and help people. As it turns out she has, just not in the way she expected..In 1989, Bednar took a part-time job at the Hannaford, N.D., office of what today is Bank Forward, but from the day she started she has never worked part time. She immediately took on full-time responsibilities in the growing organization, starting as a teller and moving into loan operations. In 1991, she became one of the first internal auditors in the state's community banks, after being certified by the Independent Community Bankers of America. Later she also became the compliance officer, for which she was ICBA certified in 1995.."Compliance at the time definitely didn't make the headlines like it does now. If you got a new regulation every three years, that was probably about as often as any changes occurred," Bednar said. "I actually looked forward to new regulations as something new, something challenging.".Times have changed, and the intervals between new regulations now can be only days, weeks or months..Change has been a hallmark of Bednar's experience at the bank, starting in the 1990s with mergers and acquisitions in Wimbledon and New Rockford, and carrying on to Carrington, Cooperstown and Jamestown. During this time Bednar developed a fun approach to education, driving around to each location to conduct lunch-and-learn training sessions in compliance. The bank bought lunch, and Bednar provided the "edutainment."."When you say compliance everybody goes, ugh," Bednar said. But she used games and giveaways plus real-world examples the employees could appreciate..Bednar retired the road show as the bank continued to grow, but for as long as it lasted it was very well received. "I liked compliance a lot, and I just wanted everybody else to like it too," Bednar said..Around this time the bank introduced an organizational layer of "resource leaders"—essentially, subject matter experts scattered throughout the organization. Bednar is one, and there are others for operations, various subsets of lending, like residential real estate, loan operations, commercial, retail, etc., as well as other bank functions. Bednar said the change supported a doubling of the bank's asset size during the last 15 years. Today Bank Forward has 13 locations and $500 million in assets..The bank hired a new internal auditor in 2004, freeing Bednar to concentrate on compliance and risk management, "which at the time was kind of a new thing for community banks." In 2006, the internal auditor became the compliance officer, and Bednar hired someone new for internal audit. Bednar then began to concentrate on risk management.."Fraud was one of the biggest things we were watching out for [at the time]," she said. "Now it's focused on asset quality and liquidity and all of the hot topics that the examiners are watching for.".Bednar is chairman of the education committee for the North Dakota Bankers Association, and she served on ICBA's education certification board for seven years..In her association work, as in her road show of earlier days, Bednar has seen that bankers are disciplined learners.."They want to do it right, so if you can provide them with the tools so that they do it right the first time, they're definitely eager to learn," she said..For her part, Bednar credits Marlys Brown, one of the bank's owners and the former head of human resources, for her own ongoing interest in learning.."She had a strong work ethic, positive attitude and a desire to see dedicated women succeed in banking," Bednar said. "She strengthened my desire to learn and grow."Other 2009 Outstanding Women in Banking honorees include:Margaret Howard, Bank of Wolcott, IndianaMarcia Malzahn, Tradition Capital Bank, Edina, Minn.Stefanie Kramer, Shelby County State Bank, Harlan,