Bell Bank

Bell Bank was founded as State Bank of Fargo in 1966[3] as a single location in the Northport Shopping Center in Fargo.[4] Thomas "Buck" Snortland was one of the company's founders.[5]

In 2003, the bank bought Northern Capital Trust, a trust company and flex spending adjudication business.[6] Richard Solberg, who was then the bank's president and CEO, had served on the board of directors for Northern Capital Trust since the company was established—16 years before the merger.[7]

Not long after the merger, Bell created a spin-off company called Discovery Benefits, which administers flexible benefits, COBRA and health savings accounts.[8] It is now one of the largest privately-owned third-party administrators in the country, and has been ranked among the fastest-growing health savings account administrators.[9] Bell also started Healthcare Bank, one of the largest health care savings account banks and a client of Discovery Benefits.[10] In January 2019, State Bankshares announced plans to sell Discovery Benefits for $425 million to Wex Inc., a South Portland, Maine-based payment processing and business solutions provider.[11]

In 2011, the company acquired Minneapolis-based Bell Mortgage, expanding its reach into the Twin Cities and Phoenix, Ariz.[12] The company changed its name from State Bank & Trust to Bell State Bank & Trust in 2012[13] and to Bell Bank in August, 2016.[14] In 2013, Bell acquired Minneapolis-based The Business Bank and its Prime Mortgage Division.[15] Bell Bank Mortgage expanded its offices into Wisconsin and New Mexico in 2018,[16][17] Florida, Missouri and Tennessee in 2019,[18][19] and Kansas in 2020.[20]

Bell launched an equipment finance division in Minneapolis in 2018, to serve the manufacturing, transportation, construction and agriculture industries.[21]

In January 2019, Bell signed a purchase agreement to buy Warner and Company Insurance in Fargo, Schiller Insurance in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and Thompson-Schaefer Insurance Agency in Grand Forks, North Dakota[22]

Bell Bank opened its Chandler, Ariz., branch in January, 2019.

Bell opened its first full-service bank branch in Arizona—in the city of Chandler, Arizona—in January 2019.[23]

In 2020, Bell expanded into Forest Lake, Minn.,[24] and Duluth, Minn., renovating and occupying the downtown Temple Opera Building.[25]

Bell has a 5-star rating from Bauer Financial, an independent bank research firm. Based on financial data from federal regulators, a 5-star rating, the highest rating the firm awards, means a bank is financially sound and is operating well above its capital requirements.[26]

The company plans to remain privately owned.[27]

Bell Bank President and CEO Michael Solberg speaks to employees.

Michael Solberg is Bell Bank's president, and the third CEO in the company's 50-year history.[28] He was named CEO in 2014, succeeding his father, Richard Solberg, who had been CEO since 1982.[29]

Michael Solberg was named chief operating officer in 2004[30] and president in 2009.[31] He started with the company in 1998 after graduating from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[32] He grew up in Finley, North Dakota, and Fargo.[33]

Richard Solberg is the board chairman and a company shareholder.[34] The bank is owned by about 70 shareholders, with a majority stake held by the families of Richard Solberg, Michael Solberg, Julie Snortland and Laura Snortland Fairfield.[35] Other major shareholders have included Thomas "Buck" Snortland[36] and his son, Thomas "Mickey" Snortland, both farmers from Sharon, North Dakota.[37]

Thomas "Mickey" Snortland, who was also a longtime director of the bank, died in 2013 of an apparent heart attack.[38]

Before working for what was then State Bank of Fargo, Richard Solberg was president of Citizens State Bank in Finley, where he grew up. He also graduated from Concordia College.[39] Under Richard Solberg's leadership, the bank grew from a single location with $28 million in assets to 20 branches in North Dakota and Minnesota with more than $3 billion in assets.[40]

NorthWestern Financial Review named Richard and Michael Solberg Bankers of the Year in 2012.[41]

Additional executive leadership includes: Blake Nelson, EVP/chief financial officer,[42] Julie Peterson Klein, EVP/chief culture officer,[43] Patrick Chaffee, EVP/banking and wealth management,[44] Todd Lee, EVP/banking and commercial lending administration,[45] Tony Weick, EVP/Bell Bank Mortgage president,[46] and Jesse Schwab, EVP/chief risk officer.[47]

Several media outlets, including USA Today, People magazine and the BBC have written stories about Bell Bank's culture.[48] Bell Bank's mission statement is Happy Employees! Happy Customers![49] Michael Solberg says the bank's growth and profits are due to the way the company treats its employees.[50] In November 2016, Bell Bank announced that it would make an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) part of its employees' retirement benefits.[51] A portion of each employee's retirement funds will be invested in State Bankshares stock.[52]