Stephenson National Bank & Trust looks back on 150 years

MARINETTE - Stephenson National Bank & Trust (SNBT) was first established on Oct. 30, 1874, when its heavy vault door could only be delivered to the bank’s front door in Peshtigo by rolling it across a limited number of logs, which were then removed and replaced at the front of the line until it reached its destination. Today, that same vault door still guards the community’s investments in the Peshtigo location.

The founder and first owner of SNBT was none other than Isaac Stephenson himself, who said of his mission: “Let us conduct the affairs of this bank in such a manner that it will serve this community for over one hundred years.”

Stephenson’s wish has come true, and throughout the bank’s 150 years serving the community, President and CEO Greg Salmen said it has proudly remained independent and family-owned, with many current stockholders being descendants of original owners.

“Owners from three or four generations ago have passed on their ownership stake to family members and future generations,” Salmen said, “So today, many of the stockholders of the bank are literally grandchildren or great grandchildren of people who were owners 50-100 years ago.”

According to Salmen, the secret to SNBT’s longevity is a strong community presence.

“The two things that have not changed are our focus on being a pillar of the community – taking care of the community that we serve and operate in and giving back and leadership within that community – and our focus on being a solid, independent bank in the future,” Salmen said.

Community leadership is a core value at SNBT, according to Salmen, and it benefits everyone involved.

“We firmly believe the reason we’re still here 150 years later is because the community has supported us so much, and our support of the community is just a way of giving back,” he said, “It’s a circle.”

One of the most impactful and also most easily forgotten developments in the world of banking is when women finally earned the right to open their own bank account in 1974. For SNBT, however, things moved a little quicker. Third bank owner Louis Staudenmaier defied the norms of the time and not only allowed women to bank before the ruling but also, in 1979, made his daughter Mary Staudenmaier the owner and president of the bank.

“Mary Staudenmaier became the bank president at this point in history when she was literally breaking the glass ceiling, before many people realized there was such a thing, as a woman bank president who was very successful at it for 21 years, demonstrating to all women and the whole community about women in leadership,” Rowe said, “She was a great role model.”

While its core business philosophy hasn’t changed, Vice President of Brand and Marketing Laura E. Rowe said SNBT has to stay relevant in a rapidly expanding world of technology and changing customer needs.

“A lot of things have changed in the banking world, especially the way that people interact with their money,” Rowe said, “And if we want to remain a relevant, independent community bank for another 150 years, we’ve got to roll with the changes and keep innovating and keep updating and help our customers embrace those changes as well.”

In order to help customers better understand the intricacies of the new options available to them, whether it be online banking or a banking app, Salmen said SNBT has continuously developed the resources and training available for their employees, both internally and externally.

“Our continued focus on employee training and the expertise level on a lot of subject matter in the financial world, all under one roof,” he said.
Each employee goes through a leadership training program internally, which Rowe said helps “define and develop the culture that we really want our employees to adopt.”

SNTB is an active member of both state trade and national trade associations, Salmen said.

Some of the associations the bank works with include the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Wisconsin Bankers Association and the Michigan Bankers Association.

“They offer tremendous training opportunities,” Rowe said, “So whether it’s training the employee on technical subject matter, or helping them develop as a leader and a professional, we use those sources heavily to provide that kind of training.”

Salmen said another way SNBT works to better both their community and their employees is by engaging with area nonprofits.

“Many area nonprofits have somebody on their board of directors who works here,” he added.

Some of the organizations with board members working at SNBT include The Rainbow House Domestic Abuse Shelter, Healthy Youth Coalition, Community that Cares and local church and school boards.

SNBT is known for its reliable employees within the community, Salmen said.
“We often get reached out to by organizations asking, ‘Do you have somebody that we’d be interested in?’ And they just know that it’s kind of part of our fabric of who we are as an organization, and that we invest time in teaching and helping our teammates learn how to do roles like that and do them well,” he said.

That isn’t just talk, according to Salmen.

“We have brought in outside experts to give talks on what it takes to be a good board member of a nonprofit organization,” he said, “We’re asking our team, ‘What kind of skills should you be bringing? What kind of commitment should you have? How do you understand the articles and bylaws that govern that organization? How do you make sure that organization follows the state’s rules about being compliant as a not for profit?’”

Beyond training employees on ways to better the community, SNBT gives back directly, as well.

“We make a commitment out of the money that we earn annually and we set it aside to donate it, whether it be to local hockey, football or soccer teams. So we know going into it at the beginning of the year we’re going to be giving some money out, and we try to make sure that we spread it around, taking into consideration what the needs are of the community and how can we have the largest impact with the largest kind of impactful organizations around the area,” Rowe said.

As the economy fluctuates, it has bankrupted both citizens and banks alike.

“While we’re always focused on the future, we’re rooted in this rich history of what sound banking practices are, and learning from and remembering prior banking and financial crises which helps inform our day-to-day decision making to ensure we always stay solid and true to what are just fundamentally good banking decisions,” Salmen said.

SNBT has survived its fair share of financial crises, he said.

“You won’t find our bank getting blown with the wind,” Salmen said, “When a crisis comes along, it tends to have a much less of an impact on us, because we were just operating solidly and sticking to the plan all along.”

When the mortgage crisis hit in 2009, Salmen said SNBT found itself in the eye of the hurricane.

“Prior to that crisis, our approach to mortgage lending did not change. In other words, we knew what good mortgages are. We knew what good borrowers who can afford to repay the mortgage through their earnings look like, and we simply kept making solid loans to those people,” he said.

When concerned customers came in with questions about how the national crisis might affect their personal finances, Salmen said SNBT’s staff was ready to quell their worries.

“We said, hey, we’re not that Wall Street bank that’s in the news for having caused the crisis. We’re your local bank that still stands ready to make you a loan tomorrow to buy your house,” he said.

The bank received a warm response from the community for staying stable throughout the mortgage crisis.

“Our customers were really appreciative that we were still open and making loans,” Salmen said.

Not only that, but the bank’s good standing allowed for more leeway with those who had been impacted by the crisis.

“The crisis led to unemployment jumping. So now you have people who had a good job, had done the loan the right way and due to no fault of their own, they just lost their job,” Salmen said, “Well, now we’re in a better position to work with those people and help them get through the crisis as well.”

One of the most recent significant changes in the bank’s history occurred in 2022, when it transitioned to employee ownership through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

“[ESOP] is a specific kind of retirement plan where our employees, through their retirement funds, can be owners of the bank, and so our employees now own a portion of the bank and as years go on, they will own a bigger piece,” Salmen said, “So it’s a great way to further engage our employees and truly own a piece of the place you work.”

While this change is one of the newest at only two years old, Rowe believes it has and will continue to improve their customer service.

“Certainly any owner of a business has that much more of a vested interest in great customer service and keeping customers happy,” she said, “And so as our employees experience more and more of that mindset, I think it will only serve to elevate our customer service level.”

One way SNBT hopes to continue to give back to the community in the future is by launching an “Out of the Blue” campaign in the next 12 months, involving random acts of kindness to bring joy to the community. Rowe said her team has a variety of ideas, like buying coffee or gas for community members, hiding small trinkets or sending cards, though nothing has been finalized yet.