Bell Bank is a privately owned bank headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota,^[1] with assets of $13 billion.^[2] Bell Bank, which employs more than 1,900 people,^[3] has 27 full-service banking locations in North Dakota, Minnesota and Arizona,^[4] and mortgage locations in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.^[5] State Bankshares is Bell Bank's parent company.^[6]

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Bell Bank

Bell Bank headquarters in Fargo, North Dakota
Company type	Private
Industry	Banking, Financial services, Mortgage, Insurance
Founded	1966; 58 years ago (1966)
Headquarters	Fargo, North Dakota , U.S.
Key people	Richard Solberg (Board Chairman) Michael Solberg (President & CEO)
Number of employees	1,800
Website	bell.bank

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Bell Bank was founded as State Bank of Fargo in 1966^[7] as a single location in the Northport Shopping Center in Fargo.^[8] Thomas "Buck" Snortland was one of the company's founders.^[9]

In 2003, the bank bought Northern Capital Trust, a trust company and flex spending adjudication business.^[10] Richard Solberg, who was then the bank's president and CEO, had served on the board of directors for Northern Capital Trust since the company was established—16 years before the merger.^[11]

Not long after the merger, Bell created a spin-off company called Discovery Benefits, which administers flexible benefits, COBRA and health savings accounts.^[12] Bell also started HealthcareBank, one of the largest health care savings account banks and a client of Discovery Benefits.^[13] In 2019, State Bankshares announced plans to sell Discovery Benefits for $425 million to Wex Inc., a South Portland, Maine-based payment processing and business solutions provider. In 2021, Bell and WEX agreed to WEX's acquisition of certain HSA assets of HealthcareBank.^[14]

In 2011, the company acquired Minneapolis-based Bell Mortgage, expanding its reach into the Twin Cities and Phoenix, Ariz.^[15] The company changed its name from State Bank & Trust to Bell State Bank & Trust in 2012^[16] and to Bell Bank in Aug., 2016.^[17] In 2013, Bell acquired Minneapolis-based The Business Bank and its Prime Mortgage Division.^[18] Bell Bank Mortgage expanded its offices into Wisconsin and New Mexico in 2018,^[19][20] Florida, Missouri and Tennessee in 2019,^[21][22] and Kansas in 2020.^[23]

Bell launched an equipment finance division in Minneapolis in 2018, to serve the manufacturing, transportation, construction and agriculture industries.^[24]

In 2019, Bell signed a purchase agreement to buy Warner and Company Insurance in Fargo, Schiller Insurance in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and Thompson-Schaefer Insurance Agency in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and rebranded them as Bell Insurance.^[25]

Bell opened its first full-service bank branch in Arizona—in the city of Chandler, Arizona—in 2019,^[26] and its second in Phoenix – Biltmore in 2020.^[27]

In 2020, Bell expanded into Forest Lake, Minn.,^[28] and Duluth, Minn., renovating and occupying the downtown Temple Opera Building.^[29]

In 2021, Bell opened a branch in downtown Minneapolis' City Center^[30] and announced its entrance into the Denver market.^[31] Bell also purchased a 12-story building at 520 Main Ave. in downtown Fargo, which will reopen in 2024 after a full remodeling as Bell’s new headquarters.^[32]

In 2022, Bell finalized its building lease for a new mortgage servicing center in Owensboro, Ky.^[33] Bell also launched Bell Business Credit, a specialty lending team providing asset-based lending and factoring services for working capital intensive companies.^[34]

Bell has a 5-star rating from Bauer Financial, an independent bank research firm. Based on financial data from federal regulators, a 5-star rating, the highest rating the firm awards, means a bank is financially sound and is operating well above its capital requirements.^[35]

The company plans to remain privately owned.^[36]

Michael Solberg is Bell Bank's president, and the third CEO in the company's history.^[37] He was named CEO in 2014, succeeding his father, Richard Solberg, who had been CEO since 1982.^[38]

Michael Solberg was named chief operating officer in 2004 and president in 2009.^[39] He started with the company in 1998 after graduating from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota.^[40] He grew up in Finley, North Dakota, and Fargo.^[41]

Richard Solberg is the board chairman and a company shareholder.^[42] The bank is owned by about 70 shareholders, with a majority stake held by the families of Richard Solberg, Michael Solberg, Julie Snortland and Laura Snortland Fairfield.^[43] Other major shareholders have included Thomas "Buck" Snortland^[44] and his son, Thomas "Mickey" Snortland, both farmers from Sharon, North Dakota.^[45]

Thomas "Mickey" Snortland, who was also a longtime director of the bank, died in 2013 of an apparent heart attack.^[46]

Before working for what was then State Bank of Fargo, Richard Solberg was president of Citizens State Bank in Finley, where he grew up. He also graduated from Concordia College.^[47] Under Richard Solberg's leadership, the bank grew from a single location with $28 million in assets to 20 branches in North Dakota and Minnesota with more than $3 billion in assets.^[48] In 2022, Richard Solberg received the Legacy Leader Award from the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce ^[49]

NorthWestern Financial Review named Richard and Michael Solberg Bankers of the Year in 2012.^[50]

Additional executive leadership includes: Patrick Chaffee, EVP/banking, wealth management & insurance,^[51] Todd Lee, EVP/banking & commercial lending administration,^[52] Laine Brantner, EVP/chief operating officer, Julie Peterson Klein, EVP/chief of staff and chief culture officer,^[53] Tony Weick, EVP/Bell Bank Mortgage president,^[54] Lynn Johnson, EVP/retail banking,^[55] Jon Aarsvold, EVP/chief credit officer, ^[56] Jenny Senecal, EVP/deputy chief credit officer^[57] Jena Cogswell, EVP/chief marketing officer,^[58] Tim Gelinske, EVP/strategic initiatives and partnerships,^[59] Blake Nelson, EVP/chief financial officer,^[60] Gary Inman, EVP/information systems manager, and Jesse Schwab, EVP/chief risk officer.^[61]

Several media outlets, including USA Today, People magazine and the BBC have written stories about Bell Bank's culture.^[62] Bell's mission statement is Happy Employees! Happy Customers!^[63] Michael Solberg says the bank's growth and profits are due to the way the company treats its employees.^[64] In 2016, Bell announced it would make an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) part of employees' retirement benefits.^[65] A portion of each employee's retirement funds will be invested in State Bankshares stock.^[66]

Bell has formed partnerships with athletes and other celebrities with North Dakota and Minnesota ties. Some of them work with Bell on charitable causes.^[89] They include:

• Larry Fitzgerald Jr., philanthropist and former NFL player^[90]
• Josh Duhamel, American actor and former fashion model^[91]
• Ben Johnson (basketball), college basketball coach^[92]
• Marney Gellner, Minnesota sports broadcaster^[93]
• Matt Cullen, retired American NHL player^[94]
• Ben Leber, retired Minnesota Vikings linebacker and sports radio personality^[95]
• Gavin Kaysen, James Beard Award-winning chef, who owns three Minneapolis restaurants^[96]
• Mark Tarbell, chef, restaurateur, wine columnist, Iron Chef America winner and two-time inductee into the Arizona Hall of Culinary Fame^[97]
• Lindsay Whalen, University of Minnesota women's basketball coach and former Minnesota Lynx women's basketball player^[98]
• Tyus Jones, American professional basketball player^[99]
• Chris Hawkey, country music artist and sports radio personality^[100]
• Amy Olson, American professional golfer^[101]
• Tom Hoge, American professional golfer^[102]
• Branden Scheel, American triathlete^[103]
• Minnesota United FC, an American professional soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area^[104]
• Arizona Cardinals, an American professional football team based in the Phoenix area^[105]