This week we continue our special blog segment. In “Blog Meets the Board”, we will introduce you to a few of our volunteer Supervisory Committee and Board members. We have given them a list of questions to answer- interview style. The members featured have graciously taken the time to share with us. Here goes!
Blog Meets the Board- Marilyn Landoll
When did you first become involved with FAA Credit Union?
My father worked at FAA years and years ago. As a child my parents introduced me to the concept of saving. They set up an account for me at the FAA Credit Union. I still use that same account today!
Why were you interested in volunteering?
The Credit Union provides such a unique and personal service to the FAA employees and other members. It is more than a business for the Credit Union; members are family. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of this environment?
Your fondest memory of the credit union:
I think my fondest memory stems back to when I was in high school. I would take part of my earnings, put them in an envelope and give them to my father. He would take the envelope to work and during his lunch hour run over to the Credit Union and deposit them into my account for me. These are warm memories not only of the time my father took out of his lunch hour for me, but also of watching the account balance increase. These funds ultimately paid for a large part of my college education.
Tell us about your career:
My career has been in financial areas: auditing, cost analysis, and budgeting. Most folks’ eyes start glazing over when I try to answer their questions regarding my work and the pretentious alphabet soup of certifications. It can be a pretty dry subject. What has always been important to me is digging in and finding out the “why” behind financial transactions and then finding a better way of performing the work or a clearer method of presenting the results of operations. Also, I enjoy the opportunity to work with the terrific people in the federal service.
Top 3 things you would love to do but haven’t yet?
1. Spend 3 months living in London. Maybe then I will have time for everything I want to see.
2. Go on an archeological dig. I don’t care if all I do is carry buckets of mud. It would still be fascinating.
3. Become a Master Gardener. I love gardening, but have so much to learn!
If you could move anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I think it would be interesting to live on a canal boat and cruise around the rivers and canals of England and France. Imagine having a floating home just yards away from all that history! However, just how I would cross the English Channel in a canal boat, I’m not quite sure. Also, if there were a mechanical problem I think I would be sunk (pun intended!).
What would you consider your greatest accomplishment?
I admire Ralph Waldo Emerson’s take on accomplishments, paraphrased below:
“To laugh often; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child or a garden patch; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success.”
What is something a lot of people may not know about you?
I have a bizarre penchant for old maps, particularly from the 14th and 15th century. I am fascinated by the story these maps tell. When drawn, the placement of towns was based on distance by foot or horse, a far cry from our GPS standards today. Detail in the maps provides hints of the politics and culture of that time. Sometimes what are shown as significant settlements on the old maps are now just forks in the road, and the names of towns may have changed several times over history. Figuring out why these changes happened is like solving an intriguing mystery!