For many years, we have made community involvement a hallmark of our culture at Trust Point. Volunteering with local charities, nonprofits and other community organizations isn’t just encouraged, it’s something our employees genuinely enjoy. In many cases, our community-focused identity has been a key attraction for new hires, as well as a reason we enjoy such low turnover. And in a business built around strong relationships, we believe that being better stewards of the places in which we live and work helps us to better understand and serve our clients.
“Our community focus, really, has made Trust Point a great place to work for our staff,” says Chairman of the Trust Point Board of Directors Kent Handel. “And what we automatically find is that if people are happy working here, they take really good care of our clients.”
Most of our employees are civically engaged in one way or another outside of Trust Point, volunteering their time to more than 90 nonprofit organizations. All of them have a story to tell, but we chose to spotlight three employees who truly exemplify our community culture and how that translates into better service for you.
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Julie Westbrock
JD, Vice President, Development
It was clear to Julie when she joined Trust Point six years ago that community service was a priority for the staff. That made it a good fit for her, as she was already volunteering time for numerous causes, and believed in the connection between her job and civic efforts.
“The nature of our business is that we talk with clients on a very personal and intimate level,” she says. “And it’s important to a lot of our clients to know that we care deeply about them, about their community and just making a positive difference overall.”
Much of Julie’s time outside of Trust Point is committed to the Parkinson’s Foundation for Minnesota and the Dakotas, for which she is a past president. She is also on the development committee for the national Parkinson’s Foundation.
Julie’s mother has lived with Parkinson’s disease for 17 years, and Julie has been dedicated during that time to helping improve care and advancing research toward a cure for people with the disease. She even has her own fundraising team that walks in an event called “Moving Day” each year.
Working with individuals and families impacted by health conditions — and the financial consequences they create — is a natural part of Julie’s work at Trust Point. Her efforts through the Parkinson’s Foundation have helped her relate to others challenged by health conditions.
Beyond the Parkinson’s Foundation, Julie is involved in the Positive Coaching Alliance, an organization aimed at creating a positive youth sports environment. She was a three-sport athlete in high school and was the first softball player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at Cornell University. The Positive Coaching Alliance lets her give back to youth sports programs, which were a big part of her life.
“We work with parents, coaches and players to emphasize that it’s not just about winning, but gaining life skills that we can take beyond sports,” she says. Julie also serves on the grants committee of the local Rotary.
Regina Siegel
Vice President of Organizational Development
Regina says that when she and her husband, a captain in the local sheriff ’s department, decided to have children, they were going to raise a family where giving and service were at the heart of everything they did.
She comes from a long line of dairy farmers and her parents both worked as public educators. She credits her family for her strong work ethic and service leadership mentality. Trust Point’s emphasis on giving back to the community was a primary reason she joined the company. “Gratitude is a key piece of my upbringing and everything I believe in,” Regina says.
Regina spent more than two decades working in the field of education before joining Trust Point four years ago. Her experience there made her an excellent fit for the work she does today with nonprofit organizations, private foundations and endowments. She’s also a natural in her role of finding ways to enhance and build our company culture, and in coordinating the Trust Point Young Professionals group, aimed at cultivating future leaders.
“Trust Point sees its great success as a great responsibility,” Regina says. Part of that is improving the lives of others, a
task she takes seriously and encourages internally. Community volunteering makes up about 25 percent of the activities of the Young Professionals group. Those activities range from participating in a landscaping project for a local nonprofit to mentoring area students to creating snack boxes for local organizations, such as the Boys & Girls Club. Regina also routinely leads community involvement efforts company-wide.
Regina is a Rotary member, serves on the La Crosse Community Foundation’s Impact Committee, and participates in activities focused on empowering underrepresented groups and individuals. She also serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee for Gundersen Health Systems in La Crosse.
