Nominator: Brittney Clarke  |  November 2023

I’d like to nominate Liz and Kathy for raving fans-meet and exceed the clients’ expectations. A client was given extra cash when he was in on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving from the teller line. Because of his work schedule, he was not able to return the cash to use until the next day, and he didn’t want us debiting his account for the amount. Kathy and Liz graciously agreed to meet the client after he was off work on Thanksgiving at the bank and helped secure the extra cash safely. Thank you to both of them for taking great care of this client and meeting him on a holiday!  

Nominator: Lori Tomasek  |  November 2023

I would like to nominate Liz Loney and Kathy Langenberg for Ravings Fans Service.  A private banking client went to the Council Street branch to conduct a transaction.  There was an error made in the transaction.  Once the error was identified, Liz contacted Kathy and asked her to contact the client.  Kathy called the client right away and explained the situation.  The client was at work at the hospital and couldn’t verify the funds that he had received until his shift was over.  He didn’t get off work until late that evening, after we closed on Wednesday.   

  The client offered to come into the bank on Thanksgiving Day, before he went to work at the hospital, and correct the transaction.  Kathy and Liz agreed to meet him on Thanksgiving morning.  The client was very happy that everything worked out, and that Liz and Kathy provided a solution to the problem, knowing it cut into their holiday.   

 Even though there was an error initially made by the bank, the client said that he was sorry that the error happened.  He was thankful that Kathy and Liz took time to meet with him on Thanksgiving.  I want to thank Kathy and Liz for exceeding the client’s expectation and turning an error into a better client experience.  Way to go Liz and Kathy! 

Nominator: Tyler Flores  |  December 2023

I would like to nominate Maddy for a recent client interaction that she went above and beyond for the client to provide Raving Fan Service. 

 A retail client’s account had been closed due to the account officer not getting a signed signature card submitted to back office within a specified required time. As it would happen to be, the client actually did return the signed signature card but to another branch, and things unfortunately did not end up getting properly submitted for the client to keep their account open. The client was of course upset that we had closed his account the week of Christmas and did not have access to their direct deposit. Maddy stepped up and listened to the clients concerns, provided assurance she would get this problem resolved, and then got to work on getting things fixed. She had back office re-open the account, called deposit services to verify the direct deposit amount and manually credited his account so he would have access to the funds immediately, and even ordered an instant issue VISA debit card, came downtown to pick it up, and then delivered it to our Marion branch for the client to pick up before 12:00 noon. 

 Maddy demonstrated a core CRBT belief of “Trust – Healthy relationships are built when all parties are committed to the best interests of each other” and our 1^st client service commandment “The client is our 1^st priority; they are why we are here.” She listened to the clients concerns and needs, made a promise to deliver and then followed through with that promise +1% (Raving Fans Shoutout!). Thank you Maddy for being a trusted retail team member and a valued asset to the CRBT Retail Team! 

Nominator: James Klein |  January 2024

A great one for Toni!  She has also helped me personally and has been great!

I messed up with my password for my checking account. I called in and Toni got me and didn't know me from Adam....

She was the nicest, most pleasant and helpful young lady that I have ever talked to.

 It was a pleasure to work with her... she is a keeper!

Nominator: Ron Maxa |  January 2024

Please see below, had someone contact me about their experience today.  Kudos to Toni. 

I wanted to contact you to let you know that I had a great customer service experience today. I spoke with Toni on the phone regarding a new debit card that was sent to me with my maiden name on it. She was incredibly helpful and very easy to talk to an explain my situation. Please pass along my gratitude for how efficiently she dealt with my issue. She also helped me order some checks that I have continued to forget to do.

Nominator: Ron Oltmann  |  February 2024

I would like to nominate Pablo Estrada for going above and beyond to help a customer. Last week a lady in her 70’s came in and was so upset because she needed a different car. Pablo asked her what her budget was and then got online and found several different cars in her price range. Of course, Pablo took it a step further and called two different car dealerships and set up appointments for her to test drive some cars. Monday, she came in to show Pablo the car she had selected, and it was one that Pablo had found for her. She was so happy and gave him a huge hug. Way to take a bad situation and turn it into something positive!!

Nominator: James Klein  |  March 2024

Wow.  A great nomination (from client) below for Sally and Hether!

Good Morning James,

I hope this email finds you doing well.

I thought you should know about two of your CRBT employees who truly went above-and-beyond to help me get released from an SBA lien on my family home after our paying off the SBA Disaster Loan from the 2008 Cedar Rapids flood. The loan was paid off well over a year ago and, true to form, the SBA ignored my numerous requests for proper documentation showing the loan being paid and my home released. Nothing worked.

Both Hether Stauffacher and Sally Terukina became involved and began using their own sources to determine what options I had – I truly thought this, too, would probably hit a dead-end, however they continuously communicated both the roadblocks they encountered and their progress. After some time, I was informed they succeeded, and I now have all the necessary documentation for the SBA in my hands. Not sure how they did it!

I really feel they both stepped forward, not because they had to, but because they cared (just another reason why I continuously have been so happy with the CRBT culture, and how you treat customers and CRBT employees).

Congratulations on the bank’s continued success and I look forward to working with CRBT well into the future.

Best wishes,
Jeff

Nominator: Maegan Slaymaker  |  April 2024

I would like to nominate Russ for giving me an example of not just making sure our customers are satisfied, but making sure they receive Raving Fan service. Recently we had a client request loan billing statements, which I was unsure how to do. Russ pulled up a chair without being asked and walked me through pulling the report, plus other ones I may encounter, and even suggested I send another item the client may be looking for. The loan officer then praised me on my service, and as much as I would have loved to take credit, I must give credit to Russ. Our clients can rely on him to get what they need, and more.

Nominator: Stacie Wallingford  |  April 2024

I would like to nominate Russ Vong for Raving Fans for exceeding my expectations and helping on a loan deal, the applicant had multiple business lines with several things going on in their tax returns.  I am not an expert on extracting the cash flow from the tax returns when there are multiple K1’s and gains and such, so I asked Russ to help me, and he got the cash flow done for me in a timely manner so I could keep moving forward on the deal for the lender.  I appreciated his help and that he followed up to make sure I was able to understand the form.  Thank you, Russ, for helping me out so we could help the client.   

Nominator: Dave Stoltenberg  |  May 2024

I’d like to nominate Seth Pettit for a Raving Fan Award. Seth helped us successfully close and fund a very busy month of new loan activity. These loans (7 different borrowers) totaled over $10 million dollars and included added complexities with multiple interest rate swaps, adjustable-rate loan structures, and pledges of closely held stock which all require additional documentation and communication with the Borrower.

 I’ve received multiple comments from the Borrowers (two of which are current and former CRBT Board Directors) of how easy we made the process for them.

 He also proactively contacted the Loan Operations Group ahead of the loan closings to let them know we had several loans with unconventional pricing and structures coming their way so questions could be addressed ahead of loan boarding.

Seth’s service promoted our client service commandments of:

• Client is our 1^st priority.
• Friendly and professional atmosphere.
• Communicate effectively and consistently.
• Meet or exceed the clients’ expectations.
• No excuses.

Nominator: Tyler Kuehl  |  June 2024

I would like to nominate Erin Morris for Raving Fans. We have been onboarding a lot of new retail employees and interns this last month. Erin has been helping at multiple branches on top of her own. The past week or so, we have had some scanning issues and latency with Fiserv.  The Council St scanner was not working properly at the end of the day and Erin ended up staying downtown and waiting until 6pm for the work to be brought downtown to be scanned so our clients would not be impacted. Erin went above and beyond helping multiple branches and teams to ensure this was taken care of.

Nominator: Pablo Estrada  |  July 2024

I would like to nominate Kathy Stow. Kathy is a rock star when it comes to the DT teller line. She especially does a great job with our Foreign Currency, which isn’t always an easy task. It is great to see other people appreciating all her hard work as well!

Email from Pablo to Kathy:

Hi Kathy,

Thank you so much for your assistance with the foreign transactions. Your help made the process incredibly smooth. Thank you for going the extra mile doing the exchange break down on all three orders! I apologize for the numerous transactions. Again, I appreciate your support!

Nominator: Ashley Rodemeyer |  August 2024

I received a client call today to let me know that Liz Loney at the Council Street branch provided excellent client service to her and her nephew. She had brought her nephew in (he was from out of town and is her POA). Liz helped them fill out some paperwork, made a few phone calls for them and even looked up some addresses for them! This client really wanted to give Liz this recognition as she was blown away that Liz took the time to do all of this for them! Great job on exceeding this client’s expectations!

Nominator: Melissa Robinson   |  September 2024

I would like to nominate Maria Katsiris for raving fans! Maria is a great asset to the Downtown teller line. Recently, she has stepped up and took on new duties and has helped new/float tellers in such a way that really makes a difference. She is kind, patient, and there with a warm smile, greeting most clients by name. Keep up the great work, Maria!

Nominator: Lisa Walton   |  September 2024

I'd like to nominate Kouessiba Anato for Raving Fans. I'm not sure if everyone nows what a referral queen Kouessiba is! I asked her to help me check that my referrals had met their requirements this month. I've had a little trouble getting adjusted to the process. I needed to help a client get into their safe deposit box and when I cam back to Kouessiba, she had already verified most of my referrals. It's a process she is skilled at and I am grateful for. 

Also, we have many French speaking clients. She is graciously (and patiently) helping me improve my French. Merci, mon amie. She's a blessing to me.

Nominator: Hether Stauffacher   |   Quarter 3 2023

I would like to nominate Debby Roth for the Unsung Hero.

 There is so much to say and I’m not sure how to word it all, but her incredible dedications to help anyone in any department at the bank!!!

 99% of her help is in the RRE department where she has 40+ years of experience and loves it and wants to share knowledge and help others learn the complicated and highly compliance ruled transactions. Debby may be helping a Processor with a file and then takes a call to help a Lender with a client question and then next steps over to help a Closer with loan documentation. Then an hour later she might be talking to an Underwriter about a challenging condition and what is best for the bank file and the client.

 She has helped with SOP’s and processes and checklists for out of state loans, escrows, title issues and management of our Loan Operating System, etc. Debby’s been on calls to help other charters, audit and compliance. She is always willing to discuss and help where she can. Debby is an exemplary employee with a great attitude and values. Her hard-working energy is often the push that keeps those around her going when times are tough.

 I could never give her enough kudos in this email of how much assistance and guidance she provides to all of us or express how much love I know she has for the entire CRBT Family.

 Debby definitely deserves an Unsung Hero award!!!

 PS. As much as she wants to help us here at CRBT, she does care about the client and wants every client to walk away with an amazing experience at CRBT see the joy of the client as they walk away from closing heading to the new home, they have worked so hard for.

Nominator: Dave Stoltenberg & Josh Moore   |   Quarter 4 2023

I want to nominate Lu Anne Reifschneider for assisting our commercial department with several “unsung hero” tasks that we needed help with to support our clients.

Lu Anne has taken on the large important task of our 2^nd Floor cookie management, which has made our daily cookie deliveries to Bank clients and prospects very easy and accommodating for all of us on 2^nd Floor.

Lu Anne also championed a much-needed organization of our commercial client swag items which included organizing, inventorying, and tracking many items that found their way into a closet repository. We now know exactly what is in there and are better able to track and manage the swag.

Nominator: Hether Stauffacher   |   Quarter 1 2024
 
I’m nominating Doug for the Unsung Hero. The client did not know that Doug was our primary contact (behind the scenes connection) and keeping Sally informed where were in the process.  About 3 weeks of working with Doug and the SBA, the release showed up from the mail on Doug’s desk. What had taken the client 2 years in and still working on, Doug had the connection and helped resolve in 3 weeks. You see in the email below how happy the client is and without Doug making the client a 1^st priority and communicating effectively with Sally we would not have meet the client’s expectation. CRBT totally meet the client’s expectation in this situation.

Nominator:  Lyndsay Hobbs   |   Quarter 2 2024

I would like to nominate Madison Ebel for the Unsung Hero Award. She is always very quick, helpful, and knowledgeable with loan requests/questions. I had a client who was at the dealership and did an application with us as well. He wanted to go with us, and she dropped everything to work on my docs so he could leave with his car from there. I am so grateful for her!