Stearns Bank Continues Tradition of Excellence

Minnesota-based Stearns Bank N.A. is wrapping 2023 up with a variety of accolades.

“Our team is honored to have earned our place on these listings and rankings and we continue to take pride in serving our customers across the nation with small business loans, equipment financing, and our always-evolving banking services,” said Stearns Bank President & CEO Kelly Skalicky. “Our employee owners are driven to deliver the very best, and these honors are so humbly appreciated!”

Recognition highlights for 2023 include:

The Nation’s Fourth Highest Performer

Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) ranked Stearns Bank as the fourth highest-performing bank in 2023, in its peer group of community banks with more than $1 billion in assets. This ‘Best of the Best’ ranking was released in the May issue of Independent Banker.

As noted by Independent Banker, this year’s list “…illustrates how critical it is for community banks to lean into their strengths while seeking out innovation to better serve Main Street America.”

Top Equipment Finance Lender

The Monitor – the leading independent trade publication for the equipment finance industry – released its 2023 list of the largest equipment finance and leasing companies in the U.S. The Monitor 100 ranks the top finance companies based on assets and volume over the previous year and this year ranked Stearns Bank #62 in assets and #54 in new business volume.

Multi-Year Best Bank, Best Ag Lender
For the third year in a row, readers of the Star Tribune, Minnesota’s largest newspaper, selected Stearns Bank as a gold winner in the Best Bank and Best Ag Lender categories of the Minnesota’s Best Reader’s Choice Awards.

Great Place to Work Certification

Stearns Bank’s employee owners are some of the happiest in the nation. To earn the Great Place to Work™ certification, employees took part in an in-depth, anonymous survey conducted by Great Place To Work – the global authority on workplace culture and employee experience. The distinction highlights Stearns Bank’s successful workplace culture efforts and adds to the financial institution’s growing list of accolades.

Most notably, survey results showed that 95% of participating employees say Stearns Bank is a great place to work, compared to 57% of employees at a typical U.S.-based company. Further, 95% of participants said they are proud to tell people where they work. Meanwhile, an incredible 98% of participants said Stearns Bank has unique benefits.

Additionally, Fortune ranked Stearns Bank #27 on its 50 Best Small and Medium Workplaces in Financial Services and Insurance.

American Banker Best Banks to Work For

Employee satisfaction soared further in 2023 as Stearns Bank was ranked at No. 5 in the American Banker’s annual Best Banks to Work For program, which honors banks with the best cultures for helping employees thrive. American Banker partnered with Best Companies Group to recognize a total of 90 banks across the U.S. with the most positive and supportive workplaces.

“The banks recognized on this list are trying hard to create workplaces that employees want to join,” said Chana R. Schoenberger, Editor-in-Chief of American Banker. “Especially during this moment when companies are experiencing a shift in how, where, and how much employees work, banks are paying attention to how they can best retain their people.”

About Stearns Bank N.A.

Minnesota-based Stearns Bank National Association is a $2.2 billion, independently owned financial institution with locations in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona, and over 35,000 small business customers nationwide. Recognized as having a bulletproof balance sheet with 24% capital and earning top rankings as one of the nation’s highest-performing banks by American Banker, and most recently ranked fourth in the U.S. among banks having more than $1 billion in assets by Independent Banker’s 2023 Best of the Best ranking of banks with the highest 3-year average Return on Assets, Stearns Bank specializes in nationwide affordable housing, workforce and multifamily housing, commercial construction lending, build-to-suit and CRE-repositioning lending, family office and lender financing, USDA and SBA lending, and small business and equipment financing. As a national leader for nonprofits, Stearns Bank offers its customized suite of Nonprofit Banking Solutions specially designed to empower nonprofit organizations across the country. Driven by a passion to help others achieve their greatest ambitions, Stearns Bank’s mission is to Get the Job Done! For more information, visit StearnsBank.com.