COEUR d’ALENE — As an 18-year-old transplant to Coeur d’Alene, Diane Reed wasn’t expecting to blaze a new trail for women in the local banking industry. But over the course of more than 40 years, Reed did just that. She told The Press she moved to the area shortly after her husband graduated from Michigan Tech with a degree in forestry. “It’s still the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen in my life,” Reed said. “The water, the mountains and then I was with my husband — who I really love — so it was really easy.” Reed added she had to find a job when she moved to the Lake City, and got that job running the proof machine at Idaho First National Bank. She worked at one more bank before being offered a job creating the real estate department at the newly established Mountain West Bank. During her job interview, Reed said she was asked if she could bring in $1 million a month to the department. Although she recognized her lack of formal education could be a detriment, she jumped at the opportunity. “I told them I could do it and it was an opportunity to build my own department,” Reed said. “We did $24 million my first year.” Under Reed’s leadership, the department has expanded throughout the Northwest and cemented itself as the No. 1 real estate lender in Coeur d’Alene. Reed is about to retire and enter the next chapter of her life.

What is a proof machine? In the old days, when you wrote a check, the check had to go back to a data center. On the bottom of the check you had a great big adding machine that you’d run the check through and scan the amount so you could pull the money out of the accounts at night.

It was a manual thing and it’s something that’s not even done anymore.

I worked afternoons because I needed to start after people had finished banking for the day.

Was it a pretty quiet job? It was a big 10-key adding machine and I was working solo. Basically you just had to do it with speed to get the checks to go through. We ran the tapes to balance in the middle of the night while people were asleep at home so we could ensure that the money was taken out of their accounts before the next day.

That bank was located on Sherman Avenue when you started there in the 1970s. What are some of your memories about downtown Coeur d’Alene from that time period? It was a small, quaint town. The timber industry was huge. My husband graduated in forestry so we came here because this is where the timber industry was. Even though I was an outsider, people were very friendly and it wasn’t the North Idaho, “are you from California,” mentality. It was a small town so it was easy to get to know people and navigate things.

You stuck around in banking for the entirety of your career; what hooked you on it? I was a girl from the Midwest with no education and I started in banking when women weren’t executives. I knew I didn’t want to work afternoons the rest of my life because my husband worked during the day. So I moved up to the tele-line and then I was a commercial loan secretary — I just kind of applied for jobs. But even to be a commercial secretary back in those days, I came to work and cleaned ashtrays and got my boss coffee. That time was totally different; it was up to the women to make sure the men were taken care of. However, banking back then, and still today, is a good-paying position. I don’t think people realize the growth of a bank. I ended up going to work at Northern State Bank, which was a small community bank. I was able to learn a lot of different jobs there. But I continued to work for many men. I told a manager there, who ended up being a wonderful mentor, that I wanted to move up in the bank and I didn’t want to do the man’s job for them to go in and get credit for it — I wanted to get the credit and be paid for it.

How did you not let the ‘Boys’ Club’ mentality get to you and how did you tackle that challenge of moving up in such a male-dominated industry? At Northern State Bank, the residential lender had left and they didn’t have anyone to fill the position. Basically I went to my manager and said ‘If I learn this job can I have it? I will self teach myself and I will do this.’ I was able to read, go talk to people in the industry, and then read some more. Fortunately it was small enough back then where you could go to lunch with your competitor and talk about the job. People shared information willingly back then. I took off and ran with it. I became pretty darn successful in Coeur d’Alene. Over the years I’ve interviewed many, many people at the bank and I tell them ‘The biggest thing that’s ever happened to me is I had a boss and a board that gave me the ability to build something.’

There must be a certain sense of pride associated with being able to grow so much and build what you did. I took the ball and ran with it. We were in a trailer house at Mountain West Bank when they started and we basically went from three employees to now being No. 1 in Coeur d’Alene for years in the residential lending area. I learned immediately that you always hire people that are smarter than you are, because by hiring smarter people they can build what you envision. You allow them to fail and you help them pick up the pieces and make it better because that’s what life is about. If you micromanage something, it’s not going to work. My goal for the last three years has been to get the younger generation to take over where I started so it can end up being bigger and better than where I left it.

Just from chatting with you it sounds like you’ve become an advocate for a strong work/life balance rather than having the thought that a balance would hinder a chance at success. Do you think it’s really important that you have that balance? I believe you have to work hard if you want to go somewhere. You have to do more than the average person but understand that there is a balance. At the end of the day, when I die, they’re not going to put “She worked hard” on my tombstone. I’m a huge advocate for balance and buying in together.

Are there any particular memories or triumphs that really stick out from your career? Probably the thing that sticks out the most is when Mountain West Bank bought some Wells Fargo banks in Boise, Ketchum and Park City. Going on the road and going into these banks to let them know they were being acquired and bring them into the family was really memorable.

What would you say to women who are currently trying to climb the ladder in male-dominated fields? Many times I’ll hear on TV that women are not paid as much as men. Since I started my career, that’s not been the case for me. I believe that if you’re a woman, a man, a different nationality, whatever — if you can prove that you can do something, if you can prove it, you will be rewarded. If you do the job, and you do it well, they will move you up. It is no longer the era of women getting the cup of coffee for the man. But you have to be good, you have to prove it. I don’t care what job you’re in, if you’re adding profit to the bottom line they don’t look at the balance sheet and ask if you’re a man or a woman. They just see the green. Fortunately Coeur d’Alene was laid back enough. In a big city I don’t know if I would have had the same opportunities.