Senior Credit Officer, Senior Vice President

BANKWEST is a family-owned community bank serving the western edge of the Minneapolis metro area with branches in Rockford, Buffalo, and Hanover, Minnesota. Rooted in Wright County, BANKWEST is committed to meeting the needs of customers, communities, and employees while building a legacy of caring. With a strong emphasis on personalized service, BANKWEST strives to foster long-term relationships and make meaningful contributions to the communities it serves.

Position Summary

The Senior Credit Office (SCO) is the senior manager responsible for establishing credit risk policy, facilitating significant credit decisions, and ensuring disciplined credit administration. Key objectives include protecting asset quality while supporting prudent loan growth in alignment with Board-approved risk appetite.

Responsible for directing the credit culture and credit practices of the Bank while working with the Senior Management Team, Board of Directors, regulators and various individuals across the organization.

This position will support a risk management philosophy toward credit and will ensure that appropriate policies, procedures and systems are developed, implemented, and maintained to identify, measure, monitor and control credit risks in accordance with Bank policies, standards and applicable regulatory guidelines.

The SCO is responsible for developing and maintaining a commercial loan portfolio and managing customer relationships (portfolio size based upon other responsibilities).

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and implement loan policy and underwriting guidelines, subject to Board final approval, and communicate policy to all personnel involved in loan origination and portfolio monitoring and management. Develop overall rate structure. Develop and implement departmental operating policies, procedures and agreements to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Ensure adequacy of loan documentation, credit and collateral documentation, regulatory compliance, loan policy conformance, the disbursement of loan proceeds and the collection of loan payments and prepare regular comprehensive analysis and recommendations to the Board of Directors.
• Exercise oversight of the bank's risk management to control risk in the Bank's credit portfolio, maintain quality control over all parts of the risk management process, monitor the credit portfolio through periodic reviews of all underlying data and minimize potential loan losses. Resolve credit policy issues identified internally or by the Bank's auditors. Review collection reports to ascertain status of collections and balances outstanding and to evaluate effectiveness of current collection policies and procedures.Work closely with lending staff to identify downtrends and areas of weakness in the portfolio; provide guidance on remediation. Exercise oversight of the internal credit risk review process for adequacy of risk ratings, regulatory compliance, loan policy conformance, and recovery of problem loans and the disposition of foreclosed assets.
• Oversee and initiate interest rate structures most beneficial to the bank.
• Maintain and enhance information based on local and national economics, as well as other concerns that would impact the financial institution's lending activities. Monitor competition, detect unfilled borrower needs, and identify new products and lending opportunities.
• Participate in the loan budgeting process, using financial metrics and other analytical tools to create the Bank's short-term and long-term goals. Participate, with Senior Management, in the evaluation of projected company cash flow through the maintenance of loan pipeline reports and loan payoff reports.
• Establish and analyze financial metrics of the Bank's loan portfolio for adherence to regulatory guidelines and analyze credit portfolios to pinpoint potential areas of weakness or concentrations that produce more than acceptable risk. Assist the management team in establishing financial metrics for the Bank's loan portfolio for revenue enhancement, cost controls, and loan pricing to guide bank management in improving earnings and in making strategic business decisions.
• Responsible for providing Leadership, Management, and Accountability (LMA) to their team and, where appropriate, others in the organization. Leadership includes providing vision, inspiration, and clear direction. Management includes oversight of systems/processes, employee experience, and customer experience. Accountability includes performance and ICP management, goal and activity measurement, and ensuring commitments are upheld.
• Produce and maintain a commercial loan portfolio of a realistic size based upon other identified areas of responsibility.
• Represents the bank by cultivating a positive image and exhibiting the core values of the company. Establish and develop strong community relations in all market areas of the bank by being involved in civic, charitable and community affairs to enhance the bank's presence, image and reputation in the community.
• Other duties as may be assigned by the President.

This job description does not state or imply the only duties and responsibilities assigned to this job. Employees holding this job are required to perform any other job-related duties requested by management. All job requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with a disability.

Team/Committee Assignments

• Senior Management
• Executive Loan Committee-Chair
• Officer Loan Committee
• Officer Management Team
• Pricing Committee
• Asset Liability Committee

Role Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in a business-related area or equivalent combination education and experience
• Completion of graduate level banking school (preferred)

Experience

• Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible leadership roles in Financial Services with proven management and leadership skills.
• Minimum of 10 years combined experience in commercial loan production and analyzing commercial credit in a financial institution.
• Understanding credit analysis is required including: real property analysis and valuation, real estate lending, loan underwriting, financial and credit analysis, appraisal and environmental engagement and review, portfolio reporting. Experience with the management of problem loans is required.

Skills and Abilities

• Project a strategic visionary focus, keeping ethics and integrity at the forefront
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Supremely organized and strong attention to detail
• Ability to interact with customers, employees, and Bank management (at all levels) with tact, diplomacy and confidentiality.
• High degree of computer proficiency and technical aptitude with the demonstrated ability to use Microsoft products, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Demonstrated experience working in a fast-paced environment on multiple projects simultaneously. Ability to work independently and effectively collaborate with a team.
• Must be able to maintain highly confidential information and exercise discretion.
• Must be adept at problem-solving, including being able to identify issues and solve problems in a timely manner.
• Forward thinker, who actively seeks opportunities and proposes solutions.