Hortonville, WI (February 10, 2021): Wolf River Community Bank announces a promotion, a new hire and a new board member to its financial team.
Jeff Van Ekeren joins the organization as Vice President of Commercial Lending. He brings 30 years of commercial and retail banking expertise from financial institutions, most recently Associated Bank. Van Ekeren is a graduate of Central College in Iowa and holds an MBA from Iowa State University. He is on the Board of Directors for the Habitat for Humanity in Oshkosh and currently serves as Treasurer. He also is Past President of Appleton Little League and served on church missions, Boys & Girls Club of the Fox Valley board and the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce, among others. Van Ekeren will enhance Wolf River Community Bank’s commercial department and will help businesses with lending solutions, such as acquiring lines of credit and securing business loans for construction or new equipment.
Jenni Badtke has been promoted to Assistant Vice President. Badtke now monitors the mortgage loan department’s daily operations and manages a growing loan portfolio of over $40 million. She has 15 years of industry experience, over a decade of which has been at Wolf River Community Bank in loan processing, banking, and lending. Previously, Badtke was a Consumer/Mortgage Lender at the bank’s Hortonville branch. Badtke is a member of the Home Builders Association of Fox Cities and the Wisconsin Bankers Association’s Building Our Leaders of Tomorrow group. For the past five years, she has taught financial literacy programs in 2nd and 5th-grade classrooms at area schools as a volunteer teacher through the nonprofit organization Junior Achievement.
Amanda Otis, CPA, was recently appointed to Wolf River Community Bank’s Board of Directors. She is the President and former CFO of Eillien’s Candies, headquartered in Green Bay, a family-owned company that packages various candies and baking and snack nuts for both private label customers and their own branded Eillien’s products. Prior to Eillien’s, she was the Controller for GLK Foods and an Auditor for Grant Thornton. Otis holds a CPA license from the State of Wisconsin. She received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with majors in accounting and operations and supply chain management from Marquette University. Otis is a New London resident and is a member of the March of Dimes Executive Leadership team; a long-time committee member, team captain and supporter of the Fox Cities March for Babies Planning Committee; and the current Treasurer for Parkview Elementary Parent Teacher Organization. She also is past Treasurer for the Friends of Mosquito Hill.
“We are excited to announce the growth of our team to enhance the financial service we’re able to provide our customers,” said Joe Peikert, President/CEO of Wolf River Community Bank. “As we mark our 25th year of growing in our communities, we also are advancing our talented group at Wolf River Community Bank. We look forward to their contributions as we continue to deliver superior, community-driven service to the greater Fox West area.”
About Wolf River Community Bank
Wolf River Community Bank serves customers and the communities in the greater Fox West area by offering a robust suite of personal, business and lending solutions. Wolf River Community Bank’s mission is to help their customers pursue their financial dreams through independence, trust, flexibility and remarkable customer experiences. As a community institution, they continue to be a strong supporter of local schools, cities, villages, towns, and charitable organizations. The bank is celebrating its 25th anniversary of business in 2021 and currently operates four locations in Wisconsin: Greenville, Hortonville, New London and Shiocton. For more information, visit wolfriverbank.com or visit them on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. Member FDIC.
