Casselton banker elected to Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — Bernie Sinner, president and senior lending officer for BankNorth in Casselton, N.D., has been elected to serve as a Class A director to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis board of directors, according to a statement released by the Minneapolis Fed.

Jeff Harmening, chairman and CEO of General Mills, has been appointed to serve as a Class C director of the Minneapolis Fed, the statement said.

According to the statement:

Sinner has worked at BankNorth since 1999 in positions of increasing responsibility.

Sinner has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saint John’s University in Minnesota and he attended the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Both Sinner and Harmening are to serve standard three-year terms.

Sinner and Harmening succeed outgoing directors Brenda Foster and Chris Hilger, respectively, whose terms expired at the end of 2025.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has designated current Class C Directors Paul Williams as chair and Jay Debertin as deputy chair of the Minneapolis Fed for 2026.

The Minneapolis Fed’s nine directors represent a cross section of the Ninth District, which encompasses the states of Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakota, as well as 26 counties in northwestern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Class A directors are elected to the board by member banks to represent member banks.

Class B and C directors represent the public and the many sectors of the economy. Class B directors are elected to the board by member banks, while Class C directors are appointed by the board of governors.

The Minneapolis Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, with the Board of Governors in Washington, make up the Federal Reserve System, the nation’s central bank.

The responsibilities of directors are broad, ranging from overseeing the general operations of the Minneapolis Fed to reporting on district economic conditions, with the information helping prepare the Minneapolis Fed president for participation in Federal Open Market Committee meetings, where decisions are made about monetary policy.

For more information, visit the

Board of Directors page

of the Minneapolis Fed.