Employee Stories: Miranda Coomber
August 24, 2022
Miranda's Perspective – Continuous Learning and Initiative
Miranda Coomber is a Retail Operations Quality Control and File Maintenance Manager at Heartland Bank and Trust Company. Miranda’s story with Heartland Bank started in 2004 when she joined as a Teller. Since her start, Miranda has experienced many areas of the bank including commercial lending support and wealth management. In 2012, she became a Retail Manager for our Chenoa and Lexington offices. In 2016, she moved to Retail Support where she learned how to create and write procedures and started her journey to become an IRA expert. In 2019, Miranda took on her current role to support quality control & file maintenance and continues to support the bank with IRA training.
About Miranda
Miranda is one in a million. Those that have the opportunity to work with Miranda know that she will never let you down. She’s not afraid to jump right into a problem and help you solve it. She is honest, hardworking, and intelligent. Miranda is always looking for ways to help Heartland Bank become more efficient. Miranda truly is a gem.
Miranda's Story
My husband and I moved back to the Chenoa area from our time out in Washington DC. Heartland Bank has a large presence in our small town and a great reputation. I applied and my career took off from there! While learning about the basics of banking, I was fortunate to have Tom Kahle show me the ropes as well as other key areas of the bank. Over the past 17 years, I found myself really enjoying the problem-solving aspects of the job and it was a natural progression into my current role.
Supporting Growth and Development
I have had some incredible managers and mentors since starting at the bank. Tom Kahle was my first manager, and he set a great example for how to work with customers, create meaningful relationships, and how to manage the paperwork side of things to ensure we were always compliant with regulations and procedures. Not only did he teach me these valuable skills, but he supported me in advancing my career. Any opportunity that he found that would be good for me, he always encouraged it. Debbie Cunningham was also an incredible mentor that taught me so much about coaching others, business writing, and how to advocate for your team.
My current manager, Brenda Wrobelski has consistently helped me learn my role and involves me in large projects at the bank. These valuable experiences have allowed me to work with departments across the bank and build wonderful relationships with many. She too knows the importance of being an advocate and it makes all the difference in managing a great team.
Valuable Resources
In 2011, I finished by Business Administration degree with a focus on Business Management. The classes I took introduced me to a wide range of business areas, which has been very helpful in understanding how the different areas work alone and how they interact with each other. I use LinkedIn Learning to learn more about how to strengthen my management and customer services skills. I enjoy participating in the internal training that the bank offers, such as DiSC Management Training.
Meaningful Work
I enjoy solving problems. If we notice something that is a potential problem, I love working with my team to find solutions that will work for all other departments involved. I enjoy seeing my employees' success, especially when they grow and advance their careers with the bank. One of my favorite “proud manager moments” is when my team helps to work on a project. Just seeing their looks of pride and joy when they learn something new makes me so proud and happy for them.
Advice from Miranda
Learn all the things! Even if something doesn’t necessarily pertain to your job at that moment, it may help you understand how everything works together as a whole. The more you know, the better you will be able to make educated judgment calls within your department. Also, if you are wanting to move up within your department, don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the first opportunity for a promotion. Find out what skills you need to enhance and learn from that. Work with your manager to create a learning development plan, be proactive in looking for online courses that will help you and keep working hard!