Wisconsin's GSB delivers quality learning to classroom or boardroom

Northwestern Financial Review, Mar 1-Mar 14, 2004 by Hilgert, Jackie

Two years ago while enrolled in the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chad Frank submitted each of his intersession projects to his bank president for review. What the vice president of commercial lending didn't know at the time was that his boss at the Waukesha State Bank in Waukesha, Wis., was also checking up on the student in other ways. He contacted the young man's instructors at the school to ask: "How is he really doing?"

But then Marty Frank, the recently retired president of Waukesha State Bank, was a bit more invested in Chad's success than most employers. The elder Frank, himself a graduate of GSB, wanted his son, Chad, to reap every benefit of a graduate education he describes as "a wonderful opportunity to learn how to run a financial institution."

The Franks, who graduated 26 years apart, are just two of more than 19,000 professionals who've completed the GSB's program, which is now in its 60th year. "GSB has a very good reputation and in addition to attracting bankers from all over it attracts a lot of bankers from Wisconsin," said Chad Frank. The increased opportunity to network with bankers from his state was just one of the reasons Chad Frank was attracted to the program after joining the bank six years ago. The fact that his father had gone there helped too, he said.

"I wanted Chad to go to a banking school," said Marty Frank, "but I wanted him to step forward and say 'I want this.'" That was exactly how it played out, much to dad's delight.

But the philosophy of educating future bankers isn't only directed at relatives of Waukesha State Bank's management. "We've been sending employees to GSB for 30 years," Chad Frank said. "People who have been with our bank for many years or plan to be with our bank for many years all are candidates for the school." It's an excellent way to learn about other areas of the bank, he said, adding that the program helped him attain his goals of doing a good job at the bank, growing the bank, growing himself, and being an asset to his community.

Amy Angle, senior vice president of administration and technology at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines is relying on GSB to help her attain her career goals. "I talked with my president about my desire to make myself ready to be used in a different or higher capacity," Angle said. Pat Conway, president of the FHLB-Des Moines, was supportive of her goals and suggested a banking school would give her the exposure she needed. He and some of the bank's directors were familiar with GSB but left the choice of which school to attend completely up to Angle. "It came down to curriculum for me," said the second-year student. "I could see the progression through the program, how each topic built on top of the previous ones."

Keeping the curriculum dynamic and up-to-date is the job of GSB's President and CEO James Pappas. Through input from three separate governing bodies - a board of trustees, a banker advisory board, and a curriculum advisory committee - Pappas has kept topics fluid and the focus fixed on leadership and bank management. The board of trustees is comprised of 18 state bankers associations that operate as the Central States Conference of Banker Associations. The heads of those 18 associations keep Pappas clued to the hot issues and industry developments. With the input of industry leaders, Pappas develops curriculum, and curriculum delivery channels, that have kept the school's programs on the leading edge.

Terry Saber, president of Minnesota-based consulting firm Saber & Associates, Inc., started her association with GSB in 1986 as an instructor of an elective class on strategic planning. Saber presently serves on the curriculum advisory committee and was involved in the school's development of its online seminars. In the late 1990s, she facilitated a series of focus groups with industry leaders to learn where they thought banker education was heading. "Out of those focus groups came a fairly strong recommendation that GSB needed to find a way to 'bottle' what they do in Madison and get that out to banks regionally," Saber said. The challenge then became to find a way to utilize the curriculum and the faculty, and link it to technology. The solution: GSB online seminars.

"In 2000, we offered two online seminars," said Kirby Davidson, vice president of marketing and banker relations for GSB. "The online sessions have seen the greatest growth," Davidson added. "This year, we offer 21 different programs in the online format with the most popular being asset/liability management, sales training and lending programs."

"The online stuff is something else!" remarked Saber, who completed an online session on strategic planning moments earlier. "Yesterday I was doing a course on human resources and I had 35 banks from 16 states participate. Why would a bank send people halfway across the country for training when they can put their whole board around one table?"

To enhance learning, GSB creates a resource link for each online seminar where participants can go to download handouts, assignments or suggested reading.