Our favorite Company Blog stories of 2024

As the year comes to a close, we look back at five of our favorite stories of 2024

If you read every story that was posted to the Company Blog this year, maybe you should be the person writing this one. But because you didn’t read every story (don’t worry, we’re not offended), we’re rounding up our five favorites of 2024 so you can be sure you didn’t miss one.

We promise to keep the good stories coming in 2025. It’s our New Year’s Resolution after all. Who knows, maybe we’ll have so many good ones that next year’s roundup will be our six favorites. But enough of the obligatory intro. Let’s get to the list of our five favorites, in no particular order.

A really tough rower. Jo Murray, a senior vice president in the U.S. Bank Corporate Trust group in London, has been training for more than a year to participate in The World’s Toughest Row, paddling some 3,000 miles across the open ocean from the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa to the West Indies in the Caribbean. You’ll enjoy reading about how she’s training and why she’s doing it.

A guy who turned his hobby into a side hustle, then a full-time gig. Darren Carter was working at a steel mill in Cleveland by day and grilling meats for his family and friends on the side. He started posting pics of his creations on Instagram, got a lot of encouragement from followers, and started selling barbecue at special events. With help from a Business Access Advisor at U.S. Bank, Carter has left the steel mill behind and now runs an award-winning food truck.

An old-school burger joint that started accepting new-school payments. If you’ve ever gone to a business, found out it only accepted cash, then went elsewhere because you didn’t have cash on you, Larry Comer knows how you feel. As the owner of the HiBoy Drive-In in Independence, Missouri, he watched scores of would-be patrons head to the fast-food chain across the street when they learned he only accepted cash. He talked with U.S. Bank subsidiary Elavon to start taking card payments, enabling customers to pay with their phone or watch if they choose. Oh, and it turned out Comer’s Elavon rep worked for him 40 years ago.

An entrepreneur who used a U.S. Bank program to grow his business. Kashif Kincaid, owner of IT service provider TechKnow 123 in Monticello, Arkansas, was frustrated by the fact he could get a loan for a boat or four-wheeler, but couldn’t get a loan to grow his business. A Business Access Advisor helped him get financing through the bank’s Business Diversity Lending Program and his business is now thriving, having gone from one employee to 10.

A banker who trains service dogs. Jolene Jackelen, a Wealth Management vice president based in Minneapolis, has been volunteering with Helping Paws MN for 15 years, helping to make the world more accessible for people with physical disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder. We enjoyed hearing about how she got involved, how she trains the dogs and how the dogs help people. And of course it helped that the dog she was training at the time, Koho, is adorable.