Although banking has evolved over the years, our mission and values have not and will not change.
Our FIRST Values are not just words; they are truly felt by our employees, customers, shareholders, and communities. They tell us who we are as a business and guide our behaviors and decisions as we move forward and build successful relationships.
As we prepare to celebrate 135 years of serving the Sioux Falls area, we’re reflecting on each of our FIRST Values through a series of commercials.
First up is F, for Family.
People will say their coworkers are like family. FNB’s credit analyst team leader Annette Brandt truly means it, both literally and figuratively.
Annette made working at the Bank a family affair in 1999 when she joined her brother, Tony Goettsch, in working at FNB. At the time, the value of Family took on a pretty literal meaning. Now, though, Annette considers many of the people at FNB a part of her family, because that’s exactly what they’ve become over the last 20 years.
“The value of family has always been pretty important here,” Annette said. “The people I’ve worked with have become like family to me. Being here for forever, you just get to know people on a personal level, and they become family because you spend so much time with them.”
When it came time to have a family of her own, Annette and her husband, Matt, started on the path of adopting a baby after being unable to have children of their own.
“We learned that it would take three or more years to get a child in South Dakota,” Annette said. “So, we started working with a consultant.”
Part of the adoption process required a letter of support for Annette and Matt as parents. Annette thought about who in her life understood the value of Family, and even more importantly, the notion that family means more than just a biological relationship.
The decision of who would write a letter of support was an easy one. She would ask Bob Baker, a fourth-generation member of the Baker family, one of the two families that own The First National Bank in Sioux Falls.
“I actually babysat Bob’s kids, and their whole family was in my wedding,” Annette said. “So, he knew how I interacted with kids.”
Once Annette and Matt were matched with a baby, parenthood became real very quickly. They were matched November 2, 2018, and their son Isaiah was born February 2, 2019, in San Antonio, Texas. He had some health complications and spent 13 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
When the time came for them to finally come home, Annette was excited to finally have the family she’d always wanted. Little did she know, she had a family of FNB employees waiting for her back home, too.
“When they threw the baby shower for me, we were completely spoiled,” she said. “It was actually overwhelming how much support was shown to us through the adoption. When we came to the Bank for the first time with Isaiah, we were here for four hours and had to come back.”
For Annette, the value of Family is evident in more than just the relationships between employees. She believes the people of FNB treat each other, their customers, and their communities like family, which makes all the difference.
“I realized through this process that my work family has been by my side the whole time,” Annette says. “Just like they are for the community, customers, and entrepreneurs that they serve every day.”
Learn more about Annette’s story in the video below and watch for the commercial on TV.