Each year I have led our Vistage Chief Executive Roundtable in Madison, WI I ask members to identify their Member of the Year, and tell me why they selected the member they did. This year the members selected Paul Hoffman, President and CEO of Monona Bank. I love the fact that members identify who they feel is the cream of the crop and tell me why in their own words.
I will share that while Paul is recognized as a highly accomplished CEO in our community, he is also busy working outside his comfort zone over the past few years. There is tremendous pressure for banks to perform with industry consolidation, Paul led associates through a very successful merger in 2019, and then the ____ hit the fan with everyone in 2020. While this is great context, let me share our members perspective:
- Paul always provides us thoughtful feedback while projecting a high level of confidence and support for other members;
- Paul’s advice to others is well thought out, and often based on past experiences of his;
- With the impact of Covid on the bank and their customers, Paul quickly moved to a virtual service model for customers while supporting his teams;
- Paul always supports his staff, and especially recently, when high workloads came through greater demands through mortgages and business bankers processing PPP requests – all with a personal level of service;
- He is actively involved in our Vistage group meetings: supporting members, asking great questions; sharing wisdom and observations, not to mention helping to lead the design and implementation of our latest retreat.
I wholeheartedly agree with the members. Paul is a very visible and supportive member of the business community throughout the great Capitol Region. Like many others, his bank not only supports their customers, but non-profit and community organizations throughout the area. Of course, not to be missed is the fact that every one of the Monona Bank branches serves Root Beer every day!
Congratulations Paul. We are proud to recognize your contributions and the value it has delivered to you and the bank!
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Dan Loichinger is the Chair of a Vistage Chief Executive Roundtable in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition, he facilitates a CFO Roundtable in partnership with Financial Executives International – Madison (FEI), and provides 1:1 executive coaching to C-level executives and business owners. In each case, his desire is to provide his clients Proven Leadership Growth. You can learn more at www.loichingeradvantage.com.