Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (BWB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders for Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. I will now turn the meeting over to Mary Jo -- Mary Jayne, I'm sorry, Crocker, Bridgewater's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mary Jayne?

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the 2021 Annual Meeting of the shareholders of Bridgewater Bancshares Inc. Before we move to the business at hand, I would like to take a moment to recognize the commitment productivity and resilience of the Bridgewater Bank team. This past year has delivered unprecedented challenges. Not surprisingly, even a global pandemic and civil unrest could not dampen Bridgewater's entrepreneurial spirit, a bank where obstacles become opportunities and challenges are met head on. Across the bank, people work through nights and weekends to meet the needs of our growing client base. Throughout this uncertain time, branches remained open to in-person traffic, paycheck protection program loans were processed for new and existing clients alike, new efficiencies were created with systems and software additions. We adapted, and productivity exceeded expectations. The client base grew and our reputation as the bank that just gets it done intensified. Upon the completion of our new corporate center in August, we welcomed a rotating workforce back into the office where we offer a safe, yet collaborative on-site work environment for our team. The team remains focused on taking advantage of the changing landscape in Minnesota, which continues to provide opportunities to onboard displaced clients and recruit talented team members to Bridgewater's network. Moving on, there are a few housekeeping items I will address related to today's virtual meeting. If you have not yet voted and wish to vote or if you wish to revoke a previously submitted proxy, you may do so by clicking the voting button on your screen. To vote your shares, you will need the control number provided on your proxy card. Logging in with your control number will also allow you to submit questions. We have reserved time at the end of the meeting to address your questions related to today's agenda. [Operator Instructions] We encourage you to submit any questions promptly to ensure your question is received prior to the completion of the business on the agenda. For any general business questions about the company, please contact our Investor Relations department at [email protected]. Shareholders who have already voted by Internet, phone or e-mail need not vote again online at this meeting. Your voting instructions will be carried out at this meeting by Ben Klocke and Nick Place, as your appointed proxies. I will now turn the meeting over to Jerry Baack, Bridgewater's Chairman, President and CEO. Jerry?

Thank you, Mary Jayne. Good afternoon, and welcome to Bridgewater's 2021 Annual Shareholder Meeting. On behalf of our directors, officers and employees, thank you for joining our meeting. At this time, I call the meeting to order. Bridgewater Bancshares' strategic leadership team and the directors of the company are in attendance at this meeting today. Also in attendance are Todd Sprang and David Heneke, as representatives of CliftonLarsonAllen, the company's independent auditing firm. As Mary Jayne already stated, we are proud of the members of our team and our Board of Directors, and we are grateful for their dedicated service. I have always touted that our people are our strength, and it is times like these that our focus on being locally responsive, dedicated and providing extraordinary services has never been more important. Thank you, all. Jeff Shellberg, Secretary of the company, will act as Secretary of this meeting. Mr. Shellberg has received an affidavit from Broadridge Financial Solutions, which states that mailing of the notice of the meeting and the related proxy materials commenced on March 17, 2021. And the notice was mailed to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on the record date of the annual meeting, March 2, 2021. The notice of the meeting and affidavit of the mailing of the notice will be inserted in the company's minute book. Mr. Shellberg has advised us that a quorum is present at this meeting so we can proceed with the business of the meeting. Ben Klocke and Joe Chybowski have been appointed as inspectors of the election. Ben and Joe have been duly sworn in and their oaths will be filed with the records of the meeting. That completes the necessary formalities. The first item of business today is the election of the directors of the company. As the proxy statement for this meeting indicated, 4 Class III directors Jerry Baack, Jeff Shellberg, Lisa Brezonik and Mohammed Lawal have been nominated to serve as directors of the company. The term of the Class III directors will expire on 2024. The Board of Directors recommends a vote for these directors. The only other item to be voted upon at this meeting is the ratification and appointment of CliftonLarsonAllen, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2021. This proposal was described in detail in the proxy statement for this meeting. The Board of Directors recommends a vote for the ratification of the appointment of CliftonLarsonAllen. We will now take shareholder questions related to today's agenda. If you haven't done so already, please submit any questions you may have now. We'll wait a few moments for these questions. We have not received any questions regarding the business before this meeting. So the question-and-answer session is now closed. If you have not already done so, we remind you to submit your vote on each matter by clicking the voting button on your screen. Voting is about to be closed. I now declare the polls are closed on all matters. That concludes the voting on the proposals to be considered at this meeting. I will ask inspectors of the election to present their report as the final results of the voting on these matters and include the minutes to this meeting. And now the results: First, each of the nominees for director has been elected as a Director of the company; second, the ratification of the appointment of CliftonLarsonAllen is hereby approved. The inspectors of election are hereby directed to submit a certificate of inspectors of election to be filed with the secretary for insertion in the company's minute book, together with the minutes of this meeting. That completes the items on today's agenda, and I declare this meeting as adjourned. Thank you very much for attending the Bridgewater Bancshares 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.