Marilyn Bush, Senior Vice President, Senior Client Manager, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Spotlight on Southwestern Illinois: Banking and Finance
Marilyn Bush, Senior Vice President, Senior Client Manager, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
By KERRY L. SMITH
Leadership is an attitude, not a title, says Marilyn Bush, senior vice president and senior client manager for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Come prepared to contribute each day and create the organization you want to work for.
Bush is celebrating 30 years with the Bank of America organization in December. The Saint Louis University finance graduate began her career as a credit underwriter.
“An on-campus ‘practice’ interview landed me a position in the management training program of what was then Centerre Bank,” she said. For the first 17 years of her career, Bush served small- to mid-sized commercial clients who required bank financing to grow their companies. She transitioned to public sector banking when Bank of America began building its brand in serving state and large local government clientele.
Today, Bush is a market leader for public sector banking; Bush is responsible for coordinating the delivery of financial products and services and overseeing relationship management activities for a 10-state region. Public sector banking is comprised of state government and its related agencies, cities, counties, public higher education, K-12 districts, transportation and public power utilities.
Opportunities for women are plentiful in public sector banking, according to Bush.
“The face of Bank of America looks different today than when I began my career,” Bush said. “Bank of America currently serves one in two households in the U.S. (57 million households). I am proud of our company’s leading position and priority to transform our workforce to mirror the complexion of the communities we serve.”
The recent recession was difficult for all clients, both commercial and consumer, particularly homeowners, according to Bush. “However, since 2008, the bank has helped over 1.3 million customers with home loan modifications including 54,296 customers in Illinois,” she said.
Bush spent her formative years in Belleville and O’Fallon as an employee in her family’s business operating the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in the Metro East, which her brother spearheads today.
As is a priority for Bank of America, service to community is also a longstanding priority for Bush. In 2013, Bush was honored as a YWCA Metro St. Louis Leader of Distinction. In April, Ingram’s Magazine in Kansas City, Mo. honored her as one of 50 Missourians to Know and recognized in July by Ladue News in its Women in Action special section.
IMPACT Strategies begins next phase of Granite project
IMPACT Strategies has been hired by the Granite City Housing Authority to begin constructing the second phase for the federally-funded Granite City Green Community project, a nearly $4 million multifamily development located at Nameoki Road and Edwards Street.
The project began in August and is scheduled to be complete in May 2015.
IMPACT will construct 20 new units within six buildings, bringing the total number of units to 63.
Gamble joins HeplerBroom as an associate attorney
Pamela Gamble has joined HeplerBroom LLC in the Chicago office as an associate attorney. She focuses her practice on complex business litigation matters including toxic tort, personal injury, product liability, and commercial litigation.
Gamble obtained her J.D. from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 2004 and received her undergraduate degree from Illinois State University in 2001. She is a member of the Madison County Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. She is licensed to practice in Illinois and Missouri.
Allison Knapp & Siekmann joins Scheffel Boyle CPAs
The accounting firm of Scheffel Boyle has joined forces with the firm of Allison Knapp & Siekmann.
The combination will increase Scheffel Boyle’s geographical footprint in Southern Illinois and the St. Louis metropolitan area.
In business since 1950, Allison Knapp & Siekmann had office locations in Belleville and Bethalto, where their professionals will remain on staff as members of the Scheffel Boyle team.
Scheffel Boyle now has 10 offices and around 100 employees, CPA and Managing Partner Dennis Ulrich said.
Scheffel Boyle is recognized as the largest locally-owned accounting firm in Southwestern Illinois.
Mobile home safety measure is signed
SPRINGFIELD – Mobile home community residents gain new health and consumer safety protections under a recently signed law.
Previously, residents were sometimes exposed to unhealthy conditions, such as contaminated water, without being informed. Under the new law, management companies must now notify residents of health code violations, foreclosure or bankruptcy of the park’s owner, and the community’s sale.
The measure, House Bill 4123, also requires companies to provide tenants with contact information for a designated manager, and that security deposits be kept in a trust.
Fromme earns CTFA designation
EDWARDSVILLE – Tina Fromme, vice president/trust officer with The Investor Group at TheBANK of Edwardsville, recently earned the Certified Trust & Financial Advisor designation from the Institute of Certified Bankers, a subsidiary of the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C.
She has been with the company since 2008.