Kelly Skalicky

Kelly Skalicky is the President & CEO of Stearns Bank, a majority women-owned and governed financial services institution committed to empowering people, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and local communities to reach their full financial potential.

As a privately held, employee-owned entity, Stearns Bank offers an array of national products and services including consumer and small business banking, affordable housing financing, USDA and SBA lending, and equipment and small business financing. Headquartered in Minnesota, the well-capitalized institution has branch locations in Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona, and customers nationwide 

Since being named President & CEO in 2019, Kelly has overseen the launch of many new Stearns Bank divisions and products including its Nonprofit Banking Solutions and Salaam Banking Division, while diversifying the bank’s portfolio through key mergers and acquisitions. Under her strategic leadership, more women have risen to leadership roles and today, nearly 70 percent of Stearns Bank’s total employee base is female with over 68 percent of its officer and senior management positions held by women. Guided by a personal passion for building and fostering a diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce, 100 percent of Stearns Bank’s Board of Directors are women and/or represent racially diverse backgrounds – a rarity within the financial services sector in the United States. 

Under Kelly’s leadership, Stearns Bank proudly earned the Office of Comptroller of Currency’s (“OCC”) designation as the second largest women-owned Minority Deposit Institution in the United States. Moreover, Stearns Bank has also been regularly recognized as one of the nation’s highest performing banks, receiving accolades including American Banker’s ‘Best Banks to Work For,’ Fortune Magazine’s ‘Great Places to Work’ and the Latino Corporate Directors Association’s Corporate Visionary Award. 

Since 2021, Kelly has served on the OCC’s Minority Deposit Institution Advisory Committee, which is empaneled by the OCC to advise on what is needed to support and sustain the more than 50 minority deposit institutions supervised by the OCC across the U.S.  

Kelly earned her juris doctorate from the William Mitchell College of Law, where she worked full time as a law clerk at the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office. During law school, she had the distinct honor of serving as a law clerk to The Honorable Michael J. Davis, the first African American appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota and first African American Chief Judge of the United States District Court from 2008 to 2015. Prior to that, Kelly served as legal counsel to tribes and tribal entities while practicing law with Gover, Stetson, & Williams, which today, is one of the largest and renowned Indian-owned law firms in the country. She earned her B.S. in Education from the University of Minnesota.