I am very pleased to announce the addition of two more team members: Rodney Hathaway and Steve Foegen.

 

Rodney joins us as our new Chief Investment Officer. Previously, he was a senior portfolio manager and fund manager at 1492 Capital Management, LLC and Heartland Advisors. He brings more than 25 years of experience in portfolio management, client communications, financial analysis, strategic consulting and business development. As our Chief Investment Officer, Rodney is charged with overseeing our investment strategies and managing our portfolio management team. His role is key in providing investment services to Waukesha State Bank customers and as part of our open architecture trust services, where we are willing to act as directed trustee, delegated trustee or full service trustee. 

Rodney holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from The Ohio State University and a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. In addition, he has earned the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is active in the community serving on the outreach committee for BizStarts, a Milwaukee non-profit organization that coaches start-up businesses. Rodney lives in Brookfield and he and his family are long-time residents of Waukesha County.

 

Our estate settlement business continues to grow, as does the number of accounts we manage with real estate. To assist us in supporting this growth, we’ve hired Stephen Foegen. Steve joins us with over 12 years of estate administration and estate field work experience. He most recently administered estate settlement accounts for U.S. Bank Private Client Group. In his new role with Prairie Trust, Steve will be working with our personal trust administration team to handle outstanding client issues related to real estate, special assets and estate/post-death settlement matters. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, and he and his family reside in Delafield.

I also want to provide a quick update on the status of our office relocation. While the approval process took much longer than expected, office remodeling is now rapidly progressing at our new location in Waukesha, near I-94 and Hwy F. We are expecting to move in first quarter 2022. We are also nearing the end of lease negotiations for a second location on the east side of Madison. We expect to finalize this lease before the end of the year. Through the end of 2021, we will continue to service our clients from our offices in Oconomowoc.