Dear Friends,
A sincere thank you to the Credit Union Board for placing my name for nomination and to all the members for allowing me the opportunity to serve as President of the Lufthansa Federal Employee Credit Union. This position opened up with the untimely passing of Frank Ortner, a man I respected; his presence will be missed.
I was hired as a baggage handler at Kennedy Airport right out of high school. At the interview, Harold Deklau said "strong like bull start Friday”, that was - Good Friday, April 8, 1977.
I transferred to the mail room at East Meadow in 1981 to further what would become a lifelong career with Lufthansa. While there I often worked the switchboard and got to know a lot of people. I was asked to interview for reservations and spent the remainder of my career there, working at Miles & More and finally with our top clients and Lufthansa Private Jet. My duties varied but my most memorable ones were the times I was given the opportunity to work on team training personnel at various call centers around the world including, South Africa, Ireland, Germany and Canada.
I joined the credit Union in 1983. It was probably the best decision I ever made, and I have been a board member for over 35 years. Our credit union has since consistently grown. A significant percentage of US employees are members, and our members see that we consistently outperform our competition. We have never posted a loss and are always rated as one of best credit union's nationwide by an independent organization.
With the support of the Credit Union Board, we will continue to be a "not for profit organization" that strives to exceed the expectations of our members. I will do my utmost best to achieve that goal.