Member Calendar - November 2020
Welcome to Autumn – officially – although the weather of late still feels a bit like the previous season. So what! The fall fun is underway in many of our communities, and looking at the November Calendar, it is time to start planning for your Thanksgiving meal. It’s been a year to truly give thanks for what is most important in our lives: our families, our freedoms, our health, and our traditions.
Whatever November holds for you, we are here to provide you with the guidance you need to plan for the coming holidays, to express our gratitude to our members, and to enjoy the first fall of snow together. Happy Birthday North Dakota, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!
We Thank Our Board of Directors
At any Dakota West branch you may visit with your loan officer, complete a transaction with one of our Member Service Representatives, or even speak by phone with a member of our Loan Processing team, yet the names and faces who are the guiding force behind Dakota West Credit Union are not the people with whom you meet or speak – they are our Board of Directors and their voices develop the long-term direction of our organization.
With five voting members, three of whom serve as Board officers, the Board of Directors’ leadership responsibilities comprise an important part of Dakota West’s governance. As members, they have a vested interest in the success of the organization, yet they lead with an absence of self-dealing and with open-mindedness for the success and strength of the credit union on behalf of the entire membership.
Joy Brew, our current Chairperson joined the board in 2009, but we are also proud to count her as one of our members for nearly thirty years. Jim Svihovec, who likewise has belonged to Dakota West for several decades joined the Board of Directors in 2005 – our longest serving board member – and is currently serving as our Vice Chairman. Lynn Oberg currently serves as our Secretary, beginning as a member more than a decade and a half ago, having joined our Board in 2018.
Erin Forbes, who joined as a Director in 2019, having also served our members as an employee, and Karla Quale, a member for more than a dozen years, recently completed the full Board as a voting member. We are thankful for both the insight and the oversight these outstanding individuals offer to our leadership team, but also we value their membership, as we do all our members.
To understand more about the contributions and commitment of these five Board members, we encourage you to review the Board Philosophy and Expectations, as well as the Committees on which they serve. If you would like to offer your voice and be a part of the strategic direction of Dakota West, please reach out to us at dwcu@dakotawestcu.org and become an Associate Board Member.
If you’ve been a member of Dakota West for a spell, you’ve probably spoken with Sandy Bakke, the voice of our Card Services department. She’s been a fixture in our Watford City branch for more than a quarter of a century joining us at just the right time in her life.
“I was babysitting for someone who knew I was ready to not be babysitting anymore,” she recalls when she began at McKenzie County Credit Union. She started in the lobby of the former location across the street, which her current office now overlooks. Today she monitors the activity of all Dakota West debit and credit cards, tackles fraudulent alerts like a ninja, and shares her knowledge about the ways in which the credit union has grown into a modern financial institution.
Most of her time away from the branch is spent with family, whether close by, or across the state. When asked what she might be doing if she were not spending her days at Dakota West, she admits that not something she’s thought about for years. “Although, retirement is an option.”
Often she protects our members in ways they do not even recognize, such as identifying online transactions a member is attempting are actually originating abroad, which is automatically declined for the member’s protection. “They usually thank me for having that feature, because websites don’t always reveal when they operate overseas.” She values any time she receives words of gratitude.
For the experience and expertise she shares with our staff, and the effort she focuses every day on every card for every member, we thank you, Sandy!
Gratitude: A “PROM”ise To Our Communities
Sponsorship represents a big part of how Dakota West Credit Union remains active in our communities. We appreciate our members in our communities being a part of our organization, not just as customers, but as the owners of our credit union. One way we show our gratitude is by supporting school sports and organizations, community fundraisers, and special events throughout western North Dakota.
We recently received a reminder of how much our communities mean to us thanks to the students in Grenora and Westby. Proms offer our students a chance to celebrate the experiences of their high school years with one another, and every parent, teacher, administrator, and community leader want to insure students stay safe during the hours after the dancing ends. Dakota West Credit Union is proud to help sponsor after-prom parties throughout our neighborhoods and regions, including the recent Grenora and Westby Prom.
The students, in the midst of their fun and festivities, took the time to autograph their appreciation to all the sponsors who helped make their night memorable. We express our gratitude to each and every student in Grenora, Westby, and throughout all the regions we serve, for reminding us of how grateful we are to the schools and programs we sponsor. Thank YOU!
Learn more about Dakota West Credit Union sponsorships in your community at www.dakotawestcu.com/members/member-services.
