Movers & Shakers: Lloyd Nelson

A look at the people behind the numbers in area business:

Title: Senior vice president/ private banking officer

Age: 54

Lloyd Nelson brings a longtime commitment to meeting client needs to his new role as senior vice president/private banking officer at Bell State Bank & Trust. His focus is on building client relationships and offering customized services to corporate executives, business owners and family offices. Those services may include investments and trusts as well as banking.

"It's all about having a servant's heart when it comes to taking care of clients," Nelson said.

That may mean going to a client's home to close a loan and typically involves meeting both spouses when working with a couple, Nelson said. With 28 years of experience in banking and finance in the Twin Cities market, he can find himself working with clients' children and grandchildren.

Nelson, who has an accounting degree from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, most recently worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he served as an executive director and senior vice president for private banking. He also has worked at U.S. Bancorp and Northern Trust Corp.

"We're a full-service bank in somewhat of a self-service world right now,'' he said. "By doing that, we're a cut above and our clients really appreciate that."

Bell State Bank & Trust is the largest independently owned bank in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, with more than $2.6 billion in assets and more than $3 billion in trust assets under management. Its Twin Cities location is in Golden Valley.

Q: What goes into a successful private banking service?

A: Meeting the needs of the clients is what makes us successful. You have to be responsive to clients; you don't want to not return phone calls or not give them responses to their requests. There are times our answers can differ from what they expect, so we try to do what's in the best interests of the client.

Q: What did you like about the Bell State opportunity?

Q: Are you seeing signs that the economy is picking up?

Rather than six months, now it only takes 30 days to sell a home. It seems like people are starting to pull out their wallets and spend, going up a level on buying homes or buying a new car and things like that. I'm not saying that people aren't still cautious, they are, but they tend to spend prudently now.