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Hello! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how long you’ve been at FCCU?

My name is Finley Wiese and I’ve been at FCCU for four years. I started off as a teller, floating between Whitewater and Southside, and then slowly began “MSRing” (MSR = Member Service Representative) at Southside, and eventually Main.

I ended up here as our Care Center Lead when we opened it about two years ago. It’s been two years already?! Yes, two years in mid-June. I’ve since been promoted to Care Center Manager.

What does an average day at FCCU look like for you?

An average day for me involves keeping myself available for team questions and member requests that require management or escalated attention.

Additionally, between phone calls, I review online member submissions (i.e. online member and loan applications, etc.) and mobile check deposits. I also work on various projects like investigating fraud and other management-related tasks.

The FCCU Care Center (Rico, Angie, Shawn, and Finley) 2017 Halloween costumes

What is your favorite part about your job?

Honestly, the best parts of any day are when you’re working with a member on something—it could be that you just saved them from falling victim to fraud or you helped them login to the online branch—and you get a genuine “thank you” from the member. You realize that they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what they were trying to do without your help, and that you put them in a better position.

Sounds like our mission statement! Yup! We try “to help every member be in a better financial position than when we met them.” It’s hard not to quote it because it really is something we live by every day. If you [team member] don’t have it memorized, you still understand the fundamentals of it and live by it.

Outside of work, what are some of your favorite things to do?

Outside of work, I am awfully solitary and sedentary. I game and play table-top role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. What game are you playing right now? I’m cycling between Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Fallout 4, Stardew Valley, and Minecraft.

I don’t do a whole lot else. I could pretend that I do things like garden and ride my bike a lot, but both are lies. I don’t garden, and my bike hasn’t come out of the garage this year yet, so…

What is your favorite volunteering opportunity you’ve done with FCCU and why?

The Special Olympics Basketball Tournament is always one of my favorites. It’s such a joy to be able to participate and cheer on the athletes.

I also enjoy events where I get to... hang out with Buzz. Not dress as him. Because Buzz is a real giant bee and not a costume.

What’s your favorite 80s or 90s jam?

I’ll tell you a few because I can’t pick just one. First, I like anything on Rush’s 1984 album “Grace Under Pressure.” It’s a great album.

While I don’t often go out of my way to listen to 80s jams, there’s a comedy band (NSP) that I listen to that’s recently dipped into covers, and they cover mostly 80s songs like Toto’s “Africa” and Asia’s “Heat of the Moment.” They recorded that last one live at the Aragon in Chicago, and I was there for that concert! It was fantastic.

If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be and why?

I like being sentient and having intelligence. That’s my problem. I would need to be an animal like a great ape or a dolphin, or just stick to being a human like Jeffery—but that feels like cheating. You’re right! He cheated.

This is a two-for-one FCCU baby photo! Pictured are Riley (ITM Coordinator) hugging his big brother, Finley!

What is one FCCU service that you wish more people knew about?

I feel like having Jeffery’s blog post up in front of me is going to affect my answer. I’m looking at his answer, and boy is Change-Up Savings a great program.

Otherwise, anyone who has internet access and doesn’t have online branch access…WHY?! Get it! It’s so easy and convenient.

Why waste paper on statements when you could just check everything online? I haven’t viewed an eStatement in years because I check my account periodically with the online branch. But, if I did need my statement, I could just view it online and print it if I wanted.

If you won the lottery, what would you do?

The first problem is that I wouldn’t enter the lottery in the first place.

Just imagine you won and have an infinite amount of money.

I don’t want to crash the economy!

Okay, you have a large amount of money that does not affect anybody or pretend it’s an inheritance.

Then I would be sad because somebody has to die first.

Let’s say that you didn’t know them.

Why did they give me money?!

Because you are a cool guy.

Okay… let’s say I have a lot of money—regardless of the source, hypothetically lottery—I would first buy myself a functioning car. If we’re talking lottery money, I’d get in line to get the newest Tesla because I want to go full electric as soon as possible.

I would also move and pay off any student loans that I have left. Honestly, I don’t want to change my life too much. There are things that I would impulse buy, a new computer or home, and I would invest the money and find a way to give back.

Are there any charities to which you’d like to donate?

Any local charity that you can find is probably a good idea. I like animals, so I’d give money to the local humane societies. I’m also a globalist and a humanist, so I’d like to give to larger organizations—Water.org, Kiva, The Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck. We need more world awesome, we don’t need any more worldsuck.

[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="667"] Finley was our Potions Master at our Harry Potter Festival Buzz Kids Club party in 2017![/caption]

What does the credit union difference mean to you?

I’ve only ever banked with a credit union. My parents set me up with a custodial account when I was young, so until I really started looking into it—which was probably a year or so before applying to work here—I didn’t know the difference [between credit unions and banks] and the impact that credit unions have on the community.

I’m on our Charitable Contributions Committee (C3), which allows me to help choose to who we sponsor and what amount of our budget goes towards each charitable contribution. I get to see the local impact firsthand, and it’s fantastic.

The volunteering opportunities also make you feel good. Sometimes people will come up and say, “This was a wonderful event and it wouldn’t have worked without you.” Like helping members, comments like that really make your day. Being a part of that is really exciting to me.