Small Street Journal: September 9, 2016

Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Citizens Community Federal N.A. (CCFBank), announced the appointment of Stephen Bianchi to serve as the company’s president and chief executive officer, as well as a member of the Board of Directors. Since 2011, Bianchi has served as president and chief executive officer of the HF Financial Corp. and Home Federal Bank, both based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As a 30 year banking veteran,  Bianchi also served in several senior management positions at Wells Fargo Bank and with Associated Bank. CCFBank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc., is a full-service national bank based in Altoona with more than $723 million in assets and serving more than 50,000 customers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

Chippewa Valley Technical College awarded Karen Lloyd, behavioral sciences instructor, and Al Spaeth, architectural structural design instructor, with the 2016 Roy and Jan Fuerstenberg Teaching Excellence Awards. CVTC’s top awards for teachers were presented Aug. 25 during in-service days to start the new school year. Faculty members are nominated for the prestigious award by their students, and those honored receive cash honorariums of $1,500. Also presented was the Domer New Faculty Teaching Award to Emergency Medical Services instructor Kasondra Mero.

Royal Credit Union (Royal) has expanded its field of membership in Wisconsin to include five additional counties. Financial services provided by Royal will now be available to residents who live, work or attend school in Sawyer, Price, Lincoln, Portage and Adams counties. Immediate family members of these residents are also eligible for Royal membership regardless of where they live. The expansion was approved by Wisconsin’s Department of Financial Institutions and Royal’s Board of Directors in late August. Royal now serves 23 counties in Wisconsin and 12 counties in Minnesota. 

Orthopedic surgeon Mark McCarthy, M.D., recently joined the Orthopedic Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. McCarthy earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He received his master’s degree in physician assistant studies at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. McCarthy completed his orthopedic residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He completed his sports medicine surgical fellowship at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush University in Chicago, Illinois, where he was team physician for the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox. McCarthy is a board-eligible orthopedic surgeon and member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Association of Northern America.
​
Royal Credit Union (Royal) has launched a new program designed specifically for the 18-to-25 year-old crowd. The Smart Connection, geared toward young adults, kicked off on September 1, 2016. The Smart Connection is designed to help students learn and grow during the years that follow their 18th birthday. Between the ages of 18 and 25, young adults are budgeting for higher education, a first apartment, first checking account, first car loan or first home purchase.