Loyalty: You Can Take That to the Credit Union

Sept. 1 is my 15th anniversary with CU Times. I’ve stayed with CU Times through thick and thin – referring to, of course, both the business and myself. Honestly, I can be loyal to a fault. There have been dark times when I was asked why I’d stuck around. I wondered myself. It’s because CU Times gave me the chance to be a reporter on a critical beat when I had a very sparse resume and no one wanted a writer with very little experience. But Mike Welch hired me, and he treated his employees, readers and clients well.

And I have been rewarded. I have met so many interesting people in credit unions and had opportunities I had never even thought to dream about. Paul Gentile was teasing me about not being old enough to rent a car when I flew to Florida for my first company Christmas party, and at the same time I was interviewing members of Congress and CEOs of large companies wanted to meet me. That shouldn’t happen at 24.