the challenge: Creating a Holistic-Values Banking CultureKelly Krusoe, Management Associate
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Above: Kelly with with Winter Park Branch Manager Nancy Little and colleague Lauren Duerr at the Orlando Pet Alliance Fundraiser. Below: Kelly at her thesis presentation at the Association for Environmental Studies Conference in San Diego.
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Kelly Krusoe, who joined First Green Bank as a Management Associate in August, was born and raised near Cleveland, OH on the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. She attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where she was a member of the Women’s Golf Team and an Environmental Studies Major. As a student in the Honors Program she was required to do a senior thesis in her field. She found her subject on the bottom of a six-pack of Cleveland-based Great Lakes Brewery beer: “Great Lakes Brewing Company is a principle-centered, environmentally respectful and socially conscious company …”
She was not then familiar with the concept of “the triple bottom line,” but this mission statement piqued her interest. “I did more research into the philosophy of the company,” she reports, “and my thesis centered on measuring sustainability with a focus on microbreweries. I looked at things such as scale, transportation, buildings, operating procedures, what type of water they used, ingredients and sourcing, and packaging.” After graduating in 2013, she enrolled in the Rollins Crummer Graduate School of Business MBA program to focus more closely on the logistics and transportation side of brewing, and graduated with a concentration in Operations and Technology Management. She also participated as an MBA student in the Nespresso Sustainability Challenge, helping the company come up with ideas for its “Creating Shared Value Strategy.” She found herself drawn to marketing and finance as well. After being awarded her MBA, she visited First Green Bank for an informational interview and was immediately struck by the green focus—the solar panels on the Mt. Dora branch, the recycling program, and the visible effort that was being made to communicate to the greater community what it means to be a values-driven bank. She is now being groomed for a management role and is rotating through a variety of departments. Although Kelly is not yet sure what her ultimate role will be, she hopes to be involved in some way in communicating the bank's mission, both internally and externally. She is also working to become a First Green Bank Mission Specialist, and recently presented on the Brac Bank, a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, at a staff Lunch ‘n Learn. Her experience studying the sustainability metrics of the brewery industry has also inclined her to think about how she can make a contribution to the bank by helping clients move along the “regenerative practice” curve. “When I graduated a lot of people said, ‘you are so entrepreneurial, why don't you start your own consulting firm and help businesses to be green?’” she reports. “I think businesses sometimes just don't know where to start, it can be very daunting to all of a sudden ‘turn’ green. But it is really about starting with small gradual changes, recycling and changing light bulbs. It isn’t just all of a sudden you are sustainable and green, it is a transition process.” At the moment, Kelly is enjoying the exposure to the various functional areas of the bank, and taking the advantage of the bank’s “green commuter incentive” by biking to work.. But working around people who share her values is what she finds most gratifying. “We are all trying to make a difference in the community, to be focused on sustainability,” she notes, “and not just on making money.” |
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