Platinum Bank announced last week president Nicole Sever would take over as CEO effective immediately—a leadership transition that has been planned for nearly two years.

Sever has led the organization’s day-to-day operations since she became president in January. Oakdale-based Platinum Bank hired Sever as chief sales officer in May 2025. She replaces the role previously held by David Faust, who will step down on Dec. 31 from his roles as vice chair and executive vice president but will remain involved on the holding company’s board of directors.

Platinum Bank provides many services but focuses on supporting expansion and construction costs, Sever says. “The other half of the equation is we are helping [companies] move money, protect themselves, and manage liquidity.”

The bank specializes in serving small and midsize businesses (generally with less than $50 million in revenue) primarily in the Twin Cities, although it also offers financial support to individuals and companies outside the metro and in western Wisconsin. Platinum Bank offers business loans, mortgages, construction loans, and more.

Sever, a Detroit Lakes native, has nearly two decades of commercial banking and leadership experience, including serving as managing director and market executive at BMO Commercial Bank, where she delivered double-digit revenue growth.

Platinum Bank hopes Sever’s leadership will lead to growth of its $739.1 million in assets.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

You have an undergraduate degree in fisheries and wildlife biology from the University of North Dakota. So why did you go to school for life sciences? That’s a long way from banking.

I would say I was one of those kids who went to college and I was like, ‘I’m going to do something, but I don’t really know what that is either.’ So, I searched around, and I have always loved the outdoors. Being in nature is like my happy place, my sanctuary. And I thought, ‘Oh, you can make a career out of this.’ I loved the program. I loved everything about what I learned. I had a few different, temporary gigs, we’ll call them, where I worked out in the field. But the pattern is they’re often temporary field jobs, making $7 an hour at the time. And getting into a permanent role at the DNR Fishery and Wildlife Service is very difficult.

So, how did you transition to the banking industry?

I ended up going through a temp agency who placed me in an admin role at Associated Bank. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just apply to all these environmental jobs I can find while I earn a living.’ After about a year of that, and really making no inroads in anything environmental in any way, shape, or form, I started to fall in love with this banking thing.

And after Associated Bank, you spent 12 years at BMO Commercial Bank as managing director. Why did you leave for Platinum Bank last year?

I got my start at Associated Bank through the Great Recession. And the last six years of my time at BMO, I was the market head. I had an awesome team. I just felt like I needed something that felt more entrepreneurial, to [guide] the direction of an organization. I get excited about that vision planning—like, where are we headed? What are we going to do in three years?

Wow, getting your start during the Great Recession. That must have been eye opening…

It’s like learning through a fire hose. Because all these things are happening and tipping at the same time and clients are struggling. I was very early in my career, and I could see that the best bankers that I was working with at the time, they were constantly communicating with their clients.

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You have been the president [of Platinum Bank] since January. Are there are recent accomplishments you are most proud of?

You don’t meet that many people, day to day, especially with two locations. So, it takes time to build those relationships, but I think that’s the cornerstone of having a strong culture and aligning your team to the direction we’re headed and building that trust.

Platinum Bank’s sweet spot has traditionally been serving small businesses, startups, and middle-market companies with up to $50 million in revenue. Do you see that target demographic shifting, or are you doubling down on it?

Our target client, as we talk about it, is exactly what it has been. We want to work with privately held, established businesses that are looking for that true banking partner.

What is your No. 1 priority in your new role?

We’re really establishing what our longer-term vision and strategy looks like with where we are today, being over $700 million in assets. That next milestone for us is reaching that $1 billion mark.

To achieve that growth, do you want to do that organically? Or do you want to do that through expanding business locations, or are you going to look into M&A?

We’re going to continue to grow organically. It’s the way we’ve gotten here, and I think it’s the way we’re going to get there.