Former bank President comes out of retirement to give back to the Merrill community
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
The Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed Clyde Nelson as their new Executive Director on Sept. 27, 2021. The Chamber Board of Directors selected Nelson for the position based on his extensive business experience and involvement in the Merrill community.
Born and raised in Green Bay, Clyde graduated from high school and then attended UW-River Falls, graduating with a degree in Agricultural Education. He took a job teaching agriculture in Lomira, Wis., a small town of about 500 residents located south of Fond du Lac.
In 1980, he began working in the banking industry for Farm Credit System where he was employed for 18 years, combining his aptitude for agriculture along with an aptitude for finance.
A series of job changes found Clyde taking on steadily increasing levels of responsibility in the industry: At M&I Bank in Shawano as a Senior Loan Officer and then a Senior Vice President in charge of Agricultural Lending and Commercial Lending; at Wells Fargo in Iron Mountain, Mich.; at the State Bank of Florence as Senior Lender in charge of the lending function and related marketing; and then as the President of Lincoln Community Bank here in Merrill beginning in 2014 until the bank was purchased by mBank in 2018. Clyde retired from Lincoln Community Bank on Dec. 1, 2018, and was promptly rehired on a temporary basis on Feb. 4, 2019, by mBank to help them with marketing to some clients in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, making the word retirement little more than a teaser in his vocabulary. He worked for mBank through the end of 2019.
Jan. 1, 2020, marked the official beginning of Clyde’s “real retirement.”
But that was relatively short-lived, as well. Nineteen months later he was back in an office behind a desk earning a paycheck.
Clyde’s love for and involvement in the Merrill community found him considering the urging of community members and business associates who suggested he would be a great fit to fill the Chamber’s need for an Executive Director, a position that has been vacant since late 2020. He considered it. He applied. He interviewed. And the rest, as they say, is history. He was hired.
“Lincoln Community Bank was an active member of the Chamber,” Clyde recalled. In that role, he very much recognized the importance of the Chamber of Commerce to the Merrill community. And he enjoys being a part of the community, he added, having been actively involved in many aspects of the Merrill community since moving here in 2014.
He and his wife, Wendy, have always enjoyed living in small (10,000 to 15,000 or smaller) communities, he said. Living and working in a small community allowed him to get involved at a more personal level. He cited his involvement in various community organizations, church councils, and coaching ball with the kids when they were younger, over the years.
Now the kids are grown, and the Nelsons consider Merrill their home. Clyde and his wife, Wendy, have three grown children – a married daughter who lives in Skandia, Mich., a married son in Kingsford, Mich.; and an unmarried son in The Plains, Ohio – as well as eight beautiful grandchildren.
Since moving to Merrill, Clyde has become active in his church – he and Wendy are members of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Merrill – serving on the Finance Council, as a member of the Knights of Columbus, and this year Clyde is the Grand Knight for the Knights of Columbus. He is a former member of the Rotary Club, currently serves on the United Way Board and Habitat for Humanity Board, and volunteers at the Merrill Community Food Pantry. He is also Chairman of the Redevelopment Authority Committee for the City of Merrill.
At the urging of friends and associates, Clyde considered coming out of retirement to apply for the position of Executive Director because he and those associates recognized the need for someone to be in that position to coordinate things, to help represent the business community, and to “steer the ship,” so to speak, to ensure everyone is headed in the same direction. The Chamber wasn’t floundering, Clyde said. “It just needed somebody … so that the Executive Board isn’t the one managing the ship.”
“God has blessed me with many talents,” he said. Clyde described the three facets of being a good steward: “Time, talent, and treasures.”
“I’m not the richest person in the world, so if I can give of my time and my talent, then I feel I’m giving back to the community,” he said. “And that’s one of the reasons for doing this, too.”
“Yes, they are paying me to do this – it’s not a volunteer thing – but it’s just … [the community needs someone] to go out and be an advocate here for the businesses within the community,” he said. “Somebody needs to speak up for them at times.”
Businesses interested in joining the Chamber or individuals who wish to speak with Clyde can reach him at the Merrill Chamber office at 715.536.9474.