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2021 Gold Shield Awards Logo

Thursday, March 4, 2021

First Merchants held our 2021 Gold Shield Awards on Thursday, March 4, 2021 virtually.  Our Gold Shield Awards recognize our best and brightest employees in the areas of Sales Excellence, Service Excellence, Cornerstone Excellence and Community Excellence.
 
The Gold Shield Awards Celebration was created in 2007 to encourage top performance and recognize those who excel and serve as role models to all of us. As we strive for excellence, some among us stand out as exceptional professionals who combine this critical blend of performance and attitude.
 
The Gold Shield Awards honor employees based on performance in any of these three main categories:
 
  • Service Excellence:
    • Recognizes employees that have an unwavering focus on their customers – internal or external.
  • Cornerstone Excellence:
    •  Recognizes employees on our administrative support teams that demonstrate commitment to service and efficiency.
  • Community Excellence:
    •  Recognizes employees who demonstrate commitment to our community heritage through volunteer leadership service.
  • Sales Excellence
    • Awards are also given to honor employees.
    • For these, recipients are selected by the managers in each of the following lines of business:
      • Consumer Banking
      • Commercial Banking
      • Mortgage
      • Private Wealth Advisors

  • Fraud Buster of the Year

Our 2021 Award Winners

Service Excellence Award Winners

  • Ben Studebaker, Market Leader for Anderson and Muncie
  • Christine Alfery, Assistant Director, Sales Strategy & Performance
  • MaKayla Thurman, Treasury Management Officer
  • Shaunte Hill, Banking Center Customer Service Manager at Avondale Meadows
  • Melissa Flint, Banking Center Manager at the West Lafayette Banking Center
  • Angela Bomia, Treasury Management Officer
  • Sherry Boudoin, Community Home Lending Officer

Cornerstone Excellence Award Winners

  • Bonnie Lacey, Client Service Specialist in Private Wealth
  • Angie Weis, Director or Commercial Banking Admin & Reporting
  • Alex Weaver, Senior Associate in Commercial Loans
  • Kimberly Blankenship, Private Banking Administrator
  • Microsoft Teams team - The team consists of Alexandra Keehan, Bryan Kendall, Carly Bowmer, Chris Bomholt, Dan Flagler Jacob Davis, Jacqueline Jones, Jarett Chaiken, Joe Wolf, Kim Wright, Michael Butler, Nathan Maxfield, Nicole Weaver, Samantha Abbey, Steven D Hill, Taylor Brown, and Tyler Ozbun
  • COLO Migrators/Implementation Team - the members of this team are Bill Curtis, BreAnn New, Bryan Kendall, Christopher Green, Cornell Bower, Dan Flagler, Daniel Hamilton, Greg Link, Jacqueline Jones, Jarett Chaiken, Jason Hunt, John Powell, Jon Clough, Josh Tremaine, Kevin Kuhlman, Michael Butler, Shane Hines, and Tyler Ozbun
  • Bank Protection Team – Team members are:  Tammy Hal, Melissa Holtan, Eron Davis, and David Benjamin

Community Excellence Award Winners

  • Casey Spencer, Treasury Management Officer
  • Lisa Pacula, Community & Client Market Director
  • Paul Steffeck, Banking Center Manager at Crown Point
  • Carrie Ritchie, Banking Center Manager at Milan
  • Dave McDonald, Assistant Manager in Collections
  • Brian Clemons, Banking Center Manager at Decatur

Consumer Banking Sales Excellence Award Winners

  • 2020 Consumer Deposit Growth Gold Shield Award
    • Dustin Butterfield, Banking Center Manager at the Northwest Banking Center in Muncie
  • Top Consumer Lender for 2020
    • Melissa Flint, Banking Center Manager at the West Lafayette Banking Center
  • Banking Center of the Year Award
    • Anderson Downtown Banking Center; The team members include:  Brian Moore, Wendy Day, April Kemper, April Shaffer, Kelly Baker, and Maryle Fivecoat
  • Market of the Year Award
    • The Muncie Market; The Muncie Leadership Team consists of Ben Studebaker, Market Leader; Jill Engerer, Lending Leader; and Jane Sickels, Operations Manager

Commercial Sales Excellence Award Winners

  • Travis Severson , Relationship Manager in the Indianapolis Region
  • Mike Kramer , Relationship Manager in the Columbus Region
  • Ryan Mooney , Relationship Manager in the Indianapolis Region
  • Casey Spencer, Treasury Management Officer in Lafayette
  • Deb Spesard, Relationship Manager in Lafayette
  • Commercial Administrator Team; members of this team are:  April Pope, Bianca Mirisola, Jaclyn Wallace, Jennifer Niswender, Nicole Angelo, and Samantha Hubbard

Mortgage Sales Excellence Award Winners

  • Yen Nguyen, Mortgage Consultant in Ft. Wayne
  • David Cross, Mortgage Consultant in Indianapolis

Private Wealth Advisor Sales Excellence Award Winners

  • Jerry Wood, from the Ft. Wayne Market
  • Michael Daugherty, from the Indianapolis Market
  • Sherri Chaney, from the Ft Wayne Market
  • Matt Vincent, again from the Ft Wayne Market

Fraud Buster of the Year

  • Jennifer Kilgus
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