Brian Cooper

Background

About Brian Cooper

I am a seasoned leader of people. I had the great opportunity to begin my career journey at Farmers Alliance Companies, working in the claims department for 22 years. Over the course of that endeavor, my career journey took me from being a front-line worker, focusing on the technical side of the role (customer service skills), eventually to the managerial side of the business, leading a claims team for about 15 years and then finally, recruiting, needs/competency analysis and training of new claims personnel to our business unit. I am very grateful for the career journey that Farmers Alliance gave me. They taught me how to care about my team that I was in charge of, how to engage with them and allowed me to see many parts of the United States, as part of our operating territory, that I would never been able to experience had it not been for my career journey. Through my faith and much counsel from mentors, I was led to pivot in my career journey. I had dabbled in many HR functions at Farmers Alliance and circumstances didn't prevail, to allow me to grow in that space internally. That led me to my current opportunity at The Citizens State Bank. I am very thankful for them taking a chance on me and allowing me to grow in the HR profession. I am thankful for all that The Citizens State Bank taught me in regard to many of the key HR functions. The "people" in the organization, are one of a kind. I had the privilege to learn about how to engage employees, do payroll, compliance, audits, recruiting/hiring, manager training, coaching, etc. I am an HR leader gaining knowledge in being a full HR generalist. I love the strategic side of HR, get stoked about recruiting, engaging with the "people portfolio" and am passionate about mentoring others to help them be successful. Now, I embark in a new opportunity along my career journey with The Cedars. This is a strategic role on the executive team that I look forward to growing in. In addition to my professional responsibilities, I get to serve on our worship arts team at church. I also sing in the choir and do a little teaching. In my spare time, I love getting to watch my children (3) carry out their passions, which mostly consists of sports. Somewhere in there, I try to find time to 'hit the links'. I am driven to succeed but insist on having plenty of time to have fun (Fundamism)! Specialties: employee relations, conflict resolution, mediation