MINNEAPOLIS – For Lake Linden native Josh Limanen, getting from Lake Linden-Hubbell High School to a position as a person overseeing banks and other financial institutions really wasn’t such a big leap.

Limanen recently was commissioned as a national bank examiner in the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

It’s been a while since he lived in the Keweenaw, Limanen said.

“I left when I graduated in 1997,” he said.

Since leaving, Limanen said he spent eight years in the military, with two tours of duty in Iraq in 2003-04 and 2004-05. He also was stationed in Panama and Egypt.

“I traveled around the world,” he said.

In the army, Limanen said he started out in light infantry, then switched to the military police.

Limanen said he graduated from St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, with a bachelor of arts degree in economics.

He attended a job fair in Minneapolis, where he learned about the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and what a bank examiner does. That knowledge interested him.

“It looked like a good fit,” he said.

After applying for the job as bank examiner, Limanen said he got some on-the-job training in Chicago.

The purpose of federal bank examiners is to ensure banks are operating optimally, Limanen said.

“We manage the safety and soundness of the banks,” he said.

Limanen said examiners go into an institution in teams of five to 10 examiners, depending on the size of the business.

The banks and other institutions aren’t surprised by the examiners’ visits, however, Limanen said.

“We have exam cycles for banks,” he said.

Limanen said he lives in Dassel, Minnesota, with his wife, Holly, and four children, ranging in age from 6 months to 7 years old.

His office is in Minneapolis, Limanen said, from where he covers North Dakota, Minnesota and some of Wisconsin. He doesn’t work in the Upper Peninsula but occasionally visits the Iron Mountain field office.

Although he didn’t participate in athletics at Lake Linden-Hubbell, Limanen said he spent a lot of time outdoors, particularly stream fishing. He also spent time on his grandfather’s commercial fishing boat on Lake Superior. He occasionally comes back to the Keweenaw.

“I still have a lot of friends in the area,” he said.

His father, Wilbert Limanen, lives in Little Traverse. His mother, Phyllis, passed away in 2007.

Limanen said he’s enjoying his job as a bank examiner, and he encourages college students and even people currently working in banking to consider it as a career.

“I definitely recommend it as a place to work,” he said.