Business briefs: Three promoted at Bremer Bank, M State recognized as an inclusive employer, and more

Bremer Bank has announced the promotions of three experienced bankers as the newest leaders of its Detroit Lakes branch.

Monica Anderson is the location’s newest consumer banker, Mason Pender is the Detroit Lakes market manager and Sue Sweeney is the consumer banker team lead. Together, they will maintain branch excellence through managing quality customer relationships, performing daily operations and co-creating effective financial solutions with other bankers and Bremer partners.

Anderson will open customer accounts and work with consumer lending in her new role. She originally joined Bremer in 2007 as a client service associate and lead teller; she brings 13 years of banking and customer service experience to the team. She currently volunteers for the Trunk or Treat and United Way organizations.

Pender will directly manage the business banking department and coordinate operations in his new role. He originally joined Bremer in 2004 as a personal and business banker and brings 16 years of business banking, personal banking and relationship management experience. He will continue working with customers to meet their commercial lending and business deposit needs while managing the business banking team. He currently serves as the deputy fire chief of the Detroit Lakes Fire Department, is involved with Dollars for Scholars as its treasurer, and is a board member at the First Lutheran Church Foundation.

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Sweeney will facilitate consumer banker team development and new hires in her promoted role. She originally joined Bremer in 2007 and has served in various roles as a teller, customer service provider, deposit account originator, and loan officer. She brings 14 years of banking experience to the branch and is heavily involved with the community, volunteering with United Way, the Parade of Lights, Truck or Treat, and the Lion’s Club’s “Battle of the Businesses” bowling tournament.

The Regional Workforce Alliance of Northwest Minnesota has announced new recipients of the Inclusive Workforce Employer designation, and Minnesota State Community and Technical College is among them. The college was designated for its commitment to and development of an inclusive and equitable culture within M State and the region.

The designation was created to recognize and promote inclusive employers, reduce regional disparities and bring awareness to the value and methods of increasing workforce diversity. In order to receive the designation, M State had to:

• Express a commitment to an inclusive workplace in its stated values, mission or policies.

• Assess how diversity, equity and inclusion influence its work and culture.

• Provide diversity, equity and inclusion education for staff and leadership.

• Allocate resources to support and sustain an inclusive and equitable workplace.

The Inclusive Workforce Employer designation was created in partnership with the Community Workforce Inclusion Council of the Fargo-Moorhead area. The alliance that awards the designation is made up of business leaders, nonprofit agencies and government representatives from a 26-county region in Northwest Minnesota. For more information, visit rwa-nw.org/inclusive-workforce-employer.

Jenna Ray, of Morris, Minn., has joined West Central Initiative as a development associate.

Jenny Ray

Jenny Ray

Ray will help to create new outreach and community engagement efforts, increase interactions among donors, and strengthen the organization’s donor database.

Prior to joining West Central Initiative, Ray worked as an editor/writer and, more recently, as a senior communications specialist for the University of Minnesota-Morris, where she also earned her bachelor of arts degree in English. She has volunteered or worked with numerous community and university organizations including GiveMN, Prairie Renaissance Cultural Alliance, Morris Area Business Advisory Council, and Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. She also is a member of the University of Minnesota President’s Club Heritage Society

For more information about West Central Initiative, visit wcif.org.