Bremer Bank hosted an open house to celebrate the retirement of Tom Skjei on Thursday afternoon. Skjei spent 41 years at Bremer Bank including two stints in Crookston he said. “I really enjoyed working with the people here in Crookston, my customers in Crookston,” said Skjei. “I did work here for 17 years, then in Grand Forks for 20 years, and came back here for my last 4 years. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of great people, work with a lot of great people. It’s the relationships that I’m going to miss, the people. The corporate stuff– the paper, the policies, that kind of stuff – no I’m not going to miss that as much. It’s the people. That’s what it’s all about.”
Skjei said Bremer Bank was a great place to work and described some of the ways things have changed since he started. “It’s been a great company to work for,” said Skjei. “They are so giving, all about philanthropic ventures and giving back to the community. I’ve seen a number of changes in my 41 years here. Back when we first moved into this building, we had roughly 75 employees on all three levels. Now we’re down to about 20 employees. It’s amazing what technology has done over the years with mobile banking, online, computers, you just don’t see the need to have as many people. Things have changed. How you go about opening accounts and getting loans has gotten streamlined and much easier too.”
Skjei plans to do a little traveling with his wife over the next couple of months and then see what comes his way. “My wife and I have a couple of trips planned over the next two months to break up the winter,” said Skjei. “Not really going to venture into any work at this point. I want to keep my options open and not be on a set schedule for the next three or months. Just take it as it comes.”
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