Employee profile: Sherri Dehn

Sherri Dehn is Vice President of Minnesota Lakes Bank’s loan production office in Buffalo.  By her own estimation, she has a wonderful job: she helps customers finance the homes of their dreams!  When asked what she considers the best part of her job, she replies without hesitation: “The customers.”

“I love working at Minnesota Lakes Bank,” said Sherri.  “It’s a family. Everybody is very nice and caring, and my customers are a part of that family.”

A loan production office is the area of a bank’s operations that accepts applications for loans and arranges for financing, but does not take deposits.  Sherri manages the three-person Buffalo office, and she, Aaron Schnitzler (loan processing manager) and one other loan processor are the faces that customers see when they walk in the door.

“One of the things we do here that differentiates us from our competitors, or so I’ve been told, is to explain—line by line and fee by fee—the application process,” explained Sherri.  “The mortgage application process can be confusing, but we take the mystery out of it and answer any questions people have.  It may take an hour to walk through the documents, but by the end of that time, people trust that I’m truly there to help them.  It seems to work.”

Sherri has worked in banking for 28 years.  She and a friend took a vocational education banking class in her senior year at Eden Prairie vocational school, and she aced the class.  “It was fun, I was good at it and I got an A,” said Sherri, “so naturally when I graduated I thought I should work in banking.  Who wouldn’t?”

Her first job was as a drive-through teller at Ridgedale State Bank in Minnetonka.  She moved into jobs in bookkeeping, lobby receptionist and as loan secretary, where she began processing all types of loans, including home loans.

After eight years she was enticed away with a job at Rockford State Bank which later became BANKWEST.  While working in the loan office there she took initiative to study the FDIC compliance manual, work that put her in line to become a compliance officer.  When an investor suggested they could provide secondary loan services for Rockford’s mortgage customers, Sherri studied the secondary loan market regulations and became Rockford’s sole contact for secondary mortgages.

Sherri’s ten-year reputation at BANKWEST earned her a job at KleinBank, and seven years later she was hired at Crow River State Bank (now Minnesota Lakes Bank).  Her 15 years’ experience in secondary lending has been so solid that a recent attempt to apply for a different job a few years ago was rejected: “You are too valuable doing what you’re doing,” was the response.  All of her banking employers have had one thing in common: they are all community-based, and it fits Sherri’s style.

Sherri and her husband, Kevin, have four children: Tyler, Kelsey, Irina and Alayna.  The two youngest, Irina and Alayna, were adopted from an orphanage in Russia when they were 11 and 10 years old.  The girls are now living at home while they attend college.

“My family lives in the area (Sherri’s home is Annandale), and it is such a joy to have them nearby,” Sherri commented.  “We get together to hike, bike, and boat, or just go to the health club for a workout.”

Sherri’s long-term plans include hopes to someday become a grandmother (after her daughters are married, she adds hastily).   In the meantime, she loves working at Minnesota Lakes Bank and takes pride and satisfaction in making her customers happy by helping them enjoy their homes.