Marney Gellner never expected to have a beer branded with her picture. But through her partnership with Bell Bank, that’s exactly what happened.

A longtime Minnesota pro sports broadcaster and announcer, Marney is one of several Bell Champions, local ambassadors who represent Bell’s name and services and work with us to pay it forward to people, places and causes in our communities. In late 2024, Marney and two other Champions were featured with special beers that helped support several local charities. Marney’s beer, from Drekker Brewing in Fargo, was called Play-by-Play IPA. A portion of the beer’s sales was donated to vraniCURE, a local breast cancer charity.

Marney – who is a Bell Bank Wealth Management client – is also featured in a new Bell video series called Champions Take. Hosted by Bell board member Lea B. Olsen, the Champions Take series dives into the personal and professional stories of Bell Champions.

Ahead of the release of her Champions Take video, we caught up with Marney to hear about her experience as a Bell Champion and learn how she has benefited from being a Bell Bank Wealth Management client.

What does it mean to you to be a Bell Champion?

It was a tremendous honor for me to be chosen as a Bell Champion! The program’s emphasis on including people who share certain values – like showing compassion, making the community a better place and just plain treating people well – align so strongly with my own guiding principles.

What has been the most rewarding part of being a Bell Champion?

Being able to partner with Bell through the Pay it Forward initiative has been particularly rewarding. After participating in the program the first time, I found myself seeking out opportunities to make a difference and searching for other avenues to create positive change. It was a ripple effect of the program that I had not anticipated, but one that I fully embraced.

As a Bell Champion, I’ve had the opportunity to make an impact in ways that I had never imagined. Brewing a beer to help benefit a deserving nonprofit last year was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed up!

Can you share your experience as a Bell Bank Wealth Management client?

When my family and I started with Bell Bank Wealth Management, we were asked to provide as much information as we could. Checking, savings, stocks, debt, HSAs, etc. – the team took all of that detailed documentation and streamlined our accounts into one comprehensive report that was easy to digest. Having that all-encompassing information helped guide the team as they made the right recommendations for our financial future. Now, we have regular meetings with our advisor, who keeps us informed and in lockstep about our plan.

What are some of the ways that the Bell Bank Wealth Management team has helped you and your family?

We had investments with other brokerages before moving to Bell, and there was never any pressure to reassign those investments for personal gain. Our advisor always prioritized our needs and had our best interests in mind, targeting that ahead of his own personal bottom dollar. He’s been great at helping us roll some of our investments into a Roth IRA, and he’s also helped us create a long-term plan for debt reduction, kids’ college funds and our eventual retirement.

What is especially great about being a Bell client is that we have so many other services under one roof. We’ve ordered check blanks and utilized the loose coin counter. We’ve worked with folks in mortgage when we were looking at buying a house, and we took out a home equity line of credit for a home improvement project. We also opened additional savings accounts for our kids and renewed a certificate of deposit, all at Bell! It truly is a full-service, comprehensive provider for our diverse range of financial needs. We are thoroughly satisfied, grateful and appreciative Bell clients!

This article was published in the Q3 2025 issue of the Bell Wealth newsletter.