Salt of the Earth Consulting

Celebrating Women’s History Month (Part 2 of 2)

By Madeline Dick

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; The rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart.

Welcome to part two of our Women’s History Month interview with Kathryn Dick, the Founder and CEO of Salt of the Earth Consulting! If this interview finds you as an introduction to Kathy, then you’ve likely missed part one HERE with Gretchen Bruinsma.

Like the pioneering Ms. Earhart, Kathy Dick is an entrepreneurial woman helping to break boundaries in a traditionally male dominated industry. With a tenacity proven from leadership roles at multiple entities within financial services, her decision to create an independent consulting firm is an act of participation in, inspiration for and giving back to her community.

Kathy is supported on this venture by her two daughters, Madeline Dick (author) and Gretchen Bruinsma, and as a team we are humbled to announce the launch of SOTE! Please join me in a brief conversation with Kathy to celebrate and discuss some of her insights.

The below interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Madeline Dick: Where do you see the greatest opportunity for SOTE to benefit your financial services clients?

Kathryn Dick: My goal for SOTE includes but also goes deeper than just benefiting our financial services clients. By advising financial services clients on the management of risks, compliance and regulatory requirements, and people development, I am hoping our firm will benefit communities. I started my career in the mid-1980s, as a field examiner for the OCC in Minnesota. From 1984 to 1988, the percent of problem banks to total banks increased from just slightly higher than 4% to almost 12%. A significant catalyst here was the number of agricultural banks in the US breadbasket who found themselves undercapitalized because of the decrease in agricultural land values that weakened the financial condition of their borrowers. I saw the devastation that comes to communities and families when these economic downturns occur. Great advances in risk management occurred in the 1990s as bankers and regulators learned how to better measure, and therefore manage, risks. Additional downturns have occurred in the economy and financial industry since the 1980s and with each such experience, we hope to learn and reduce the impact that such downturns have on communities.

Today, with FinTech and digital banking, we have an opportunity to broaden the members of society who can access the financial system to save for their future and borrow when opportunities such as home ownership arise. Such expansion requires measures to protect the larger economy and participants thereof. Banks undertaking new Fintech relationships must have in place a strong risk and compliance framework, appropriate technology, and properly trained people. Given my deep background as a national bank regulator with the OCC and firsthand experience as the SVP of Risk Governance and Regulatory Strategy at USAA, my team at SOTE is in a strong position serve as a trusted advisor to companies, teams, and individuals interested in exploring diversification into non-traditional business lines.

Madeline: You’ve had an impactful career mentoring young professionals in consulting and the financial services industry, do you have any reservations about starting this business with your daughters?

Kathryn: Absolutely not. In fact, I am thrilled to be able to start SOTE with my two daughters at my side. I have spent the better part of my career training and mentoring others. I take great joy in sharing my technical knowledge with others, as well as my advice on career and life strategy. I served in a variety of roles at the OCC, including training younger examiners. It was particularly hard for me to leave the agency because of the pleasure that I took in seeing the pipeline of new examiners developing their technical acumen. This rewarding experience inspired me to look for analysts and associates to mentor at Promontory, many of whom are now in leadership positions at various financial industry institutions. I also place a great deal of reliance on building strong teams. In my position at USAA, I was empowered to build a strong regulatory relations team to complement the existing infrastructure and I am proud of the team and their contribution to USAA’s success. My daughters have different, but complimentary experiences, which results in a SOTE team armed for success at the outset. You (Madeline) have strong foundational business analyst skills and Gretchen has made this business a reality. I don’t know where the future will take us, but I am confident we will enjoy this privilege of working together and learning from one another.

Madeline: We have always been an amazing team! Do you have any tips and tricks for establishing a work-life balance?

Kathryn: I won’t make any claims to have gotten this consistently right throughout my career, but I welcome this opportunity to share a few thoughts on what I have learned along the way. It’s important to recognize that this can be a trial-and-error process and your balance may look different from your friends and colleagues’. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and each person needs to find a balance that works for them, so don’t give up on the first try. I deliberately say, “needs to find,” because time is our most precious commodity and engaging in a work-life balance should be a conscious effort. During my final years at the OCC, we were operating under a significantly stressful environment, now often referred to as “The Great Recession.” I was working long hours but telling my team members to leave at a decent time. I received the following feedback in my 360 review, “Kathy professes the importance of strong work-life balance, but she is often the last person in the office.” Wow, that served as a real wake-up call for me and motivated me to set boundaries and make active choices in line with my priorities. Regardless of corporate culture, take the time and effort to design, implement and operate a work-life balance that allows you to enjoy work and life outside of work.