Jack Livingston, Royal Credit Union
Jack Livingston, 27, of Circle Pines has been a business banking officer at Royal Credit Union’ s Little Canada office since June 2022. He works with small to mid-size businesses in a role that really highlights his skills.
“ I help my customers with their lending needs, and also serve as a point person for their deposit needs and treasury management,” he said.
Livingston has been working in the banking industry since before starting college. Prior to coming to Royal Credit Union, he worked in a similar role at Old National Bank.
Of being named a Rising Star, Livingston calls the experience a true honor.“ I see all the things the other young leaders in the community are doing and am so impressed. I see it in myself too, but sometimes it’ s easier to see in other people. So to be named alongside some of those people I truly respect is an honor,” said Livingston.
Rising Stars are all individuals who consistently show up and support not just their colleagues in the cohort, but the community at large.
Livingston, for example, represents both the Twin Cities North and Saint Paul Area Chambers of Commerce as an Ambassador, holds a position on the board for the North End Community Foundation and is on the Emerging Hope Advisory Team for Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities. That’ s not all. He is also involved in credit union advocacy as part of the GrassRoots Education Action Team through Minnesota Credit Union Network and currently serves as Royal’ s Minnesota Young Professional Credit Union Activist..
Plus, he actively participates in St. Paul Area Young Professionals, VHEDC Young Professionals, and is the Minnesota liaison for Royal’ s internal young professionals’ group. Livingston is also a Groups Director at Eagle Brook Church, where he helps to oversee the small group ministry and leads small groups with his wife.
Kaylin Clement, City of Vadnais Heights
Kaylin Clement, 38, has been Vadnais Heights’ Assistant City Administrator since Summer 2022. In that role, she oversees the administration, Vandais Heights Commons, Human Resources, recycling and waste contracts, union contracts and a whole lot more.
City government is a second career for the St. Cloud State graduate. After college, Clement spent several years working as a journalist, then made the transition to municipal government communications in 2014 because she was seeking a better work / life balance.
“ This( her position as an assistant city manager) was a new endeavor for me. When I started in Vadnais Heights, I immediately started going to as many of the VHEDC HR Connections networking events as I could, just trying to kind of immerse myself in the community,” she said.
“ I wanted to know the business leaders, and the different groups that help the city function,” said Clement.
Her effort to learn as much as she could about the community she now serves was definitely noticed. Clement learned she had been named a Rising Star after receiving an email from VHEDC’ s Executive Director Liz Moscatelli.
“ I am honored to have been recognized for what I have been able to take in over the last three years. Without VHEDC and the programs associated with learning about the community, the businesses, the stakeholder groups, it would have been far more difficult to be in the position I’ m in now three years later,” said Clement.
Megan Kysylyczyn, White Bear Area Food Shelf
Megan Kysylyczyn, 30, of Maplewood has been the White Bear Area Food Shelf’ s Food Systems Coordinator for two-and-a-half years. Her job is to keep track of all the food that comes into the nonprofit, keeping it organized, and making sure it gets out the door to those who visit the food shelf in a timely manner.
“ Whether it is a surprise donation from someone in the community organizing a food drive, coming from Second Harvest, food rescue coming from the nine local grocery stores we pick up food rescue from, the food we order from a couple of wholesalers, or our community garden, I manage it all at both of our locations,” she said.
It’ s a big job. More than one million pounds of food passes through the nonprofit every year.
Like her fellow Rising Star winners, Kysylyczyn has shown strong commitment to the position she’ s in. Before getting hired by the White Bear Area Food Shelf, she was an AmeriCorps VISTA for a year, working at the Northfield Community Action Center’ s food shelf.“ I did a lot of capacity growing work, including building out some of the processes, and getting a satellite location they decided to open up and running,” she said.
Kysylyczyn says being named a Rising Star is a true honor, and confirmation that her efforts to become a true leader in her profession have been noticed.“ It’ s really confirmation that I am on the right path. It’ s also really amazing to go to work every day and feel fulfilled by what you do,” she said.
Leah Schaefer, I. C. System
Leah Schaefer, 27, who lives in St. Louis Park, already has some extensive business experience. At I. C. System, a debt collection company based in the northeast metro, she started out as a collections representative, and received three promotions in five years, eventually reaching her position as an account manager.
“ My job was primarily to serve as a client liaison, working with our largest healthcare clients to make sure there was adequate servicing and clients were happy,” she said.
The goal was achieved by holding regular meetings with clients where they talked about results and strategy, preparing and providing relevant data and reports and assisting in day-to-day servicing needs. An important piece of the role was also staying up to date on healthcare collection regulations and laws in place so Schaefer and her team could inform clients of changes that would keep them compliant. Ensuring a strong partnership between IC System
44 Northeast Metro Business