Large Business of the Year

Published 9:17 am Monday, October 27, 2008

One of Freeborn County’s locally owned community banks is dedicated to making a difference with its customers.

And when it was recognized last Thursday as the 2008 Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce Large Business of the Year, Farmers State Bank’s dedication and community involvement paid off.

Nancy Skophammer, president and CEO of the bank, said she was overwhelmed when she heard the award announced at the Chamber of Commerce Banquet. She didn’t even know the bank had been nominated.

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“I feel very honored and flattered that the people who work here were recognized,” Skophammer said.

Chamber Executive Director Randy Kehr said Farmers State Bank is “an extremely active, good member of the chamber.” The business has several employees who are involved with chamber committees and other activities in Albert Lea, and it is very customer-service oriented.

To be in the large business category, a business had to have 10 or more employees. The Small Business of the Year Award — for a company with less than 10 employees — went to Hill Larson Walth & Benda.

“We’re very proud of all the nominees and really all of our members,” Kehr said. “It just happens this year they rose just a cut above the rest.”

Farmers State Bank has been a business in Freeborn County since 1912, when it was started in Hartland by a group of farmers and businessmen.

In 1929, Skophammer said, there were two banks in operation in Hartland, but when the stock market crashed, Farmers State Bank was the only one to make it through.

Her father, Joe Skophammer, started there in 1929 and stayed with the bank until 2000.

The bank now has three branches: Albert Lea, Hartland and Freeborn.

The Freeborn bank was purchased in 1999. In 2004 Farmers State Bank of Hartland opened a branch in Albert Lea and a year later moved into the Prairie Center Office Building on the west side of Albert Lea.

In 2006, Farmers State Bank of Hartland received the Albert Lea Tribune’s Reader’s Choice Award as best bank.

“For us it’s been a lot, but for bigger banks, it’s peanuts,” Skophammer said of the progress in the bank over the years.

Recently, the bank has started an e-checking program, which has been “tremendously successful,” she said.

“We’ve seen our numbers go up and up and up,” she said. “We’ve grown 30 percent in online banking from January through the end of September.”

Everyone is so overwhelmed with paper, and the company is trying to promote living more earth-friendly.

While the bank’s niche is in agriculture, she said, it also has a positive relationship with businesses and other individuals.

The bank wants to be one that grows with people as they go on to different phases of their lives and that makes it a priority to take care of its customers, she said.

“The important thing is to acquire new customers, but more importantly to service those who have been with us for two or three generations,” Skophammer said.

The business also prides itself in having little employee turnover, which allows the employees to get to know customers better.

“This doesn’t happen much in any store we go to anymore,” she said.

She also wanted to remind people that in difficult economic times, Farmers State Bank is a local, independent community bank. When people invest their money in a community bank, they aren’t going to lose money.

“We are strong, and we’re here doing our regular banking business,” Skophammer.

Mark Heinemann, chief information officer for the bank, said winning Large Business of the Year was validation of all the hard work the company’s employees put into their work.

“It’s heartening to know that our hard work is recognized,” Heinemann said.

Heinemann, along with Chief Financial Officer David Courey and Loan Officer Travis Wasmoen, said they enjoy working for Farmers State Bank because its a place of employment where everyone gets along well.

“I think that’s what the customers see,” Wasmoen said.

“When you walk into a place where people enjoy what they do it makes them want to do business,” Heinemann added.

Farmers State Bank in Albert Lea is at 1452 W. Main St. and can be reached at 373-1945.

Look to the Tribune next Monday for a story on Hill Larson Walth & Benda.