The focus of all credit unions is “people helping people,” so it’s no surprise that Kraig Blahoski has spent his career helping people. As Dakota West’s Chief Operations Officer, he guides the services that our members see and experience every day.
From his first job providing originating and second mortgages at People’s Community Credit Union in Hopkins, Minnesota, his goal of helping others was right there in the name. He grew in experience and accepted opportunities to grow and mentor others when he began supervising tellers. From the beginning, he recalls, “I liked it because I was able to help people.”
His guidance and leadership skills brought him to Dakota West, and over time, his family has followed. He finally hosted the majority of his family under one roof here in North Dakota this Thanksgiving. Now Watford City feels even more like home.
In addition to providing development and growth for Dakota West employees, including Khadero Taylor, with whom he partnered to develop a close-knit team at our New Town branch, he enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for Dakota West products, such as shared branching and rewards checking, with new employees encouraging them to, “be extraordinary.” It’s the perfect way to describe Kraig: extraordinary.
Meet Cindy Domagala Wald
Down in our southernmost branch, one of the faces you see when you walk in the door is Cindy Wald. Cindy recently celebrated her seventh anniversary with Dakota West, a change that gave her the opportunity to stay in one place.
“I was working out of town when I applied. When I was hired, I was so glad to have no more travelling for work.” Her previous work in the financial industry gave her a quick start that helped make her a valuable part of the Member Services team in Bowman.
While this year has been topsy-turvy for many folks, it has brought Cindy a special excitement that she’s enjoyed thinking ahead and planning: she recently got married! During their engagement, she and her fiancé focused on spending time camping and fishing on Lake Oahe rather than fretting over the details. We couldn’t be happier for her!
For our members who live in the Bowman County area, you might also recognize Cindy as the BINGO caller at Windy’s. She’s been enjoying her opportunity to meet people throughout the community in this way for almost as long as she has worked at Dakota West.
Even if you don’t visit our Bowman branch, you might hear her voice as she helps all of our members by phone, regardless of their location. She often shares with our members bits of information they may not have known, such as the advantage of shared branching outside of the Dakota West region and the fact that our mobile app provides all the same features as many big banks.
Next time you are in the Bowman region, stop by and say, “Hello,” to Cindy, or maybe you can holler, “BINGO!”
It’s A Whole Big World Out There
Kim Eriksmoen is preparing for her son to start college and offers her thoughts on how she prepares to send him out into the world.
Classes start on August 27th at Bismarck State College. Charlie’s very excited, but I’m trying to think of everything I need to tell him before he is living on his own. He wrote the check for the deposit on his apartment – he’s moving in with another classmate – and I explained to him how to use his register to track his spending.
I know he’ll be responsible. He’ll start his first year away as a sophomore. He completed most of his general education classes and even made the Dean’s List at Bottineau State College while also attending high school, so he knows what to expect in his classes. He’ll have much more hands-on classwork once he begins studying Farm and Ranch Management.
We’ve been walking him through how to use the mobile app to upload checks, transfer funds, and monitor the use of his debit card. For the debit card, I printed off the Shared Branch ATM locations in the area. We’re also offering him more high-level financial tips, like how to watch his spending, limiting the transfers from his savings account, and paying his bills first. Budgeting is a big part of his college experience. He has scholarships, but he still has to know how to watch his account.
I’m spending our last couple months together trying to offer him practical suggestions, as well as life advice. My biggest advice to him: think before you do something. I’m not nervous, though, as we have extended family in the Bismarck area, so he will have plenty of friends around, and eyes to keep watch on him. I suggest he hang out for a month and get his routine down.
He hopes to get a job once he gets settled. During high school he worked caring for livestock and he now has half a dozen calves of his own. He’s going to be studying what he already knows he loves.
I don’t know what to expect when Charles comes home after his first semester or his first year. Maybe he’ll be a little more responsible in caring for his room and his apartment and appreciate the efforts necessary in having your own space. I stress upon him the importance of smart decisions. Think before you do something. It’s a whole big world out there.
