Yah, sure, you betcha: Ann Hengel knows her way around banking & RMA

RMA Journal, The, March, 2004 by Carol McGinn

Minnesotans area hardy bunch, as A Prairie Home Companion has been telling us for more than 30 years. They're smart, too, and St. Paul has more to boast than being home base to Garrison Keillor's show. For instance, it has Ann Hengel, president of RMA's Minnesota chapter and EVP of Bremer Financial Corporation.

Hengel has worked in many areas of banking, from credit review to commercial lending to risk management, and also spent several years as a bank examiner. Those years of experience as a banker and regulator contribute to the perspective and skills she brings to her current job as executive vice president, Risk Management, Bremer Financial Services, Inc. Hengel's duties include manager of credit portfolio management and administration, internal audit and credit examination, and compliance. She reports directly to the holding company board of directors and audit committee.

She also serves as a member of the executive management team and a board member of Bremer Financial Services, a service company of Bremer Financial Corporation, a $5.5 billion bank holding company that owns community banks in more than 100 locations.

Hengel says one of the most challenging aspects of her job is "dealing with the volume of regulatory changes, especially with the recent enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. For the past two years, there have been astounding changes in corporate governance, and I expect further changes in governance as the rule-making progresses to implement Sarbanes-Oxley and enforcement is better understood."

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, notes Hengel, was passed in reaction to corporate wrongdoings that were widely publicized, such as those at Enron, and covers such topics as board and audit committee composition, independence, and expertise, preapproval for all audit and nonaudit services, quarterly certifications of financial statements that are filed with the SEC, and management assessment of internal controls.

The changes in banking have and will continue to shape the banker, Hengel adds. "I've noticed more specialization of bankers as the profession becomes more complicated. For instance, many banks have gone to the model of hunter-and-skinner specialties for commercial bankers. My field of risk management is a new concept where resources are dedicated to risk oversight in banks."

Her Role as RMA President

Hengel has been an RMA member for most of the past 25 years, and the Minnesota Chapter consists of approximately 300 Associates. In the three years before becoming president of the chapter, she rotated from treasurer to secretary to vice president. Hengel says she is proud to be part of such a vibrant, successful chapter.

"As long as I can remember, I have volunteered my time for professional, religious, and community causes," she adds. "I have no doubt that it has been useful to my banking career. First, I have met some wonderful people who have taught me leadership skills and time management. When I started in banking, I was awestruck at how bankers could find time for work, family, recreation, and volunteering, too. From them, I learned techniques such as better time management and how to enlist the help of others to get the job done. I observed that these leaders were often more effective in their jobs because of their outside community involvement, and that was motivating to me."

[c] 2004 by RMA. McGinn is Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania-based freelance writer and desktop publisher specializing in financial and business topics.