Wragge settles in as Houghton VP

Houghton State Bank’s new Vice President and commercial lender Cody Wragge, who started in the position Jun. 25, is settling in nicely.
Wragge, who was born in Norfolk, Neb., said he spent his childhood living in the rural Nebraska community of Laurel.
“It’s a small town 15 miles north of Wayne, up in Cedar County. It’s honestly just like this area. It’s an agricultural and farming community, and my uncles farmed,” Wragge said.
Wragge said he expected that he would stick around in the area, but there wasn’t a lot of work up in that area. Also during that time he met his wife, who was a Bellevue native. Wragge felt it was time to move.
“When we graduated college, she was able to get a job with the Bellevue School District. I had a business degree, and I followed her up to Omaha, Neb. I wasn’t a huge fan of living in the Omaha area since I grew up in a small town, so we ended up settling in the outskirts of Papillion, Neb., on Platteview Road,” stated Wragge
Before starting his career in banking, Wragge started with Mutual of Omaha in the insurance field after securing his licenses while in college. He left the position when his wife got her teaching job in Bellevue.
“I was 22, and I didn’t know anyone out here in the Omaha area. Everybody sells insurance out this way, and wasn’t going to be a lucrative career for me to stay in, so I put together a resume and put it out there when I knew I was moving down this way. That led to my first opportunity to move into the banking field,” advised Wragge.
Wragge said he was able to land a job at large nationwide bank, which ended up being a good opportunity for him.
“I went from growing up in a small town to working for this massive company. They threw me straight in as a banker, and I learned a lot on the job and I learned a lot from them, I worked with business customers, which I discovered I really enjoyed doing,” Wragge explained.
Still, Wragge said it wasn’t quite the perfect fit, as he worked with business customers, but had little control in the approval.
“I would take the application, and the information needed, and scan it in, and it would go to an underwriting processor. I didn’t like the fact that if the loan wasn’t approved, I would have to go back to the customer, after working with them and building a relationship with them, and have to hand them a denial. Also, since I wasn’t involved in the process, I couldn’t even share with them the exact reasons for the denial. I just wasn’t a fan of that process,” Wragge said.
Wragge said he shifted gears, and received an offer from a local credit union, which he thought was a better fit.
“They were looking for a commercial credit analyst. I thought that would give me a good chance to learn the whole back side of things, and learn the analytical work. I was their analyst for six months, and they knew I was a person who likes to get out in the community, work with customers face-to-face, and network,” commented Wragge. “After six months, they asked me to take on a lender role, and bounce back and handle the analytical work until another analyst could take my place. That got me in front of a lot of business customers in the Omaha metro area and participating in community events.”
Prior to coming to Houghton, Wragge assisted his hometown bank in setting up an Omaha location. It was during that time that Wragge said he knew a small community bank was the fit for him.
“Small community banks are more my pace. I found I liked working with banks that focused on giving back to the community, rather than the major banks or credit unions.”
Wragge said he was on the hunt for a community bank that had good backing, and was eager to grow. He found that in Houghton State Bank in Red Oak.
“They’re willing to look at anything. They’re excited to bring in new relationships but also the main focus is maintaining the relationships that are here locally. Everyone I’ve met in town has been really nice, and it’s fun to be in a new area that feels like the home where I grew up,” Wragge stated. “It’s been a lot more comfortable going back to a rural area than the hustle and bustle of driving around to different meetings in Omaha, and it’s been a great transition so far.”
Wragge said interviewing with Houghton State Bank President Brittni Bergren, who previously held the position, was quite beneficial.
“She could answer all of my questions, not only the questions I had about coming over, but the questions about what I needed to have under my belt to fill the role properly. I also interviewed with prior President Karl Bormann. I sat down with him and Brittni about two weeks before he retired, and then I started his last week on the job. They both had a good working relationship, and I feel like some of the shoes that Karl used to fill I’ll be able to fill, personality-wise.”
Wragge said he’s going to maintain the style Bergren brought to the position while implementing new ideas of his own.
“She’s going to maintain some of her customers and I’ll take some of them on. For a little while we’re both going to work on them, and then determine which customers will be better served fully-merging over to me. Also, I haven’t had as much agricultural background, but in the Omaha market it primarily was all commercial, so I’m going to be able to bring to the table my experience that I’ve had over there, really dealing with some of these larger commercial deals, commercial construction, commercial equipment financing, all of that, and then also I get the benefit of learning more on the ag side,” commented Wragge. “With renewals coming up, they’re gonna really kind of push some of those deals underneath me, so I kind of get those under my belt and get them understood. Whatever I can take and help her out with is kind of what I’m here for, and then in the meantime I’d love to bring some new relationships over, and help grow the bank, and bring a new experience.”
While there are some similarities with regular home and auto loans and commercial and agricultural loans, the biggest difference is the time.
“For a commercial deal, we give them the heads up that it’s usually about a 30 to 45 day closing period, versus, the quick turnaround for a mortgage, or say a same day auto loan. If we get done two weeks, we will, but there’s usually more that goes into it. Working with title companies and having other people review it, appraisals are usually done, those can take up to four weeks. I think that’s something that can surprise some people when they come in, sometimes they want to get a loan, and they kind of expect to get it that day. We’ll do whatever we can to do  as quick as we can, but some things are just kind of out of our hands.”
Since moving to Houghton, Wragge said the transition from the Nebraska to rural Iowa area has been very natural.
“Everybody’s been really good to work with, everybody’s been nice here. There’s definitely a family vibe here, which I liked. That first week I was here, that following weekend was the annual Junction Days celebration, so I ended up walking in the parade with my son, and so that was kind of fun,” explained Wragge “They’ve made me feel part of the team. I think that was the best way to do it, just get me in it, get thrown into it and get me right in front of everybody.”
Wragge feels that the move to Red Oak was something that was simply meant to be.
“My wife and I got married in Glenwood, and that’s when we really discovered how pretty this side of the river is. It didn’t really dawn on me that I could get a lot of that smaller community feeling vibe that I had back home, so close to the market I usually was working in. I was looking at some of these smaller towns on the Nebraska side, and just nothing felt right,” Wragge said. “And then coming over here was  just right away, so for a few years now, I’ve been looking. When this opportunity came up, it just, it was really exciting because I just felt like that was what I needed. Now it’s time to make the decision on where to live. Maybe it’ll be here in town, or if it’ll be outside town, if it might be in one of the smaller communities around here.”
Wragge said he’s also excited to be able to enroll his children in a smaller school, where they have more one-on-one time to work with teachers and more opportunities for extra curriculars, as opposed to a big city school with four kindergarten classes. He said he’s looking forward to continuing to meet people in the area.
“Come in and ask me any kind of questions. I love to sit and talk with people, and I love working with business owners and finding out their needs and seeing ways that we can help them grow. Hopefully, I can bring some experiences and knowledge of different commercial projects I’ve done up in the metro area. I also have experience with development loans, commercial construction loans, equipment financing, retail development and housing development, commented Wragge. “Smaller towns are trying to develop affordable housing and building apartments and new homes. If anyone has questions on those, they can come in and I can answer their questions and get them started.”
Stop into Houghton State Bank to see Wragge, or give him a call at 623-4823.