When did you take over as Branch Manager at the Godwin office?
I began my new adventure on March 1, 2024.

What is your vision for your new role?
As Branch Manager I will lead the Godwin team as we serve Suffolk and the surrounding areas. When the position became available, I was excited to apply for the challenge. My goal was to become a leader for Bronco, leading and guiding my coworkers where everyone wins—not just Bronco, but the members, too.

Why were you interested in applying for the position?
I wanted to see the smiles of the Bronco members. In my previous role, I worked behind the scenes of making dreams come true. I missed hearing the members’ stories and goals firsthand. I went through the interview process and was hoping I had what Bronco was looking for to fill the role. I would be joining a great team and was very excited when Bronco made the choice of bringing my past Bronco experiences alive at Godwin.

What do you think made you qualified to be the Branch Manager?
I have been employed at Bronco Federal Credit Union since August of 2000. I started as a Teller, then quickly moved into the Vault Teller role until 2005 when I started working in the Call Center and crossed trained as a Member Service Representative in our Franklin locations. In 2010, I continued working in the Call Center doing loans by phone and internet loans while being cross trained with our Indirect Department and as a backup Loan Officer. In 2020, I moved into the Loan Officer role until now, where I am growing in my career as Branch Manager.

What is different about the Godwin office?
The Godwin office is unique in many ways. One unique feature is it offers Shared Branching. Shared Branching allows credit union members to get service at other credit unions, giving credit union members more than 5,000 locations across the United States to make deposits, withdrawals and even loan payments. Our members can find the nearest Shared Branch at co-opcreditunions.org.

What else is unique?
We also have virtual teller stations in our lobby, which may seem different at first, but they’re very easy to use, and it keeps our members’ information more secure and transactions confidential. The tellers do a fantastic job running the drive thru and lobby stations effectively and quickly. Monica Clarke and I are in the lobby to welcome people with a hometown feel when our members and shared branch affiliates visit.

Tell us more about yourself. What do you like to do with your spare time?
There is no spare time…LOL! My alone time is my commute to work and home, where the music is loud, my singing is louder and I’m most likely making my own words up. If my windows are up and you hear me singing, I apologize in advance.

We understand you’re also very active in the community.
I do try to be involved in the community in my spare time, as much as possible, in hopes to make better tomorrows. I’m currently on the Board at the James L. Camp Jr. Family YMCA in Franklin, serving as the Board Chair. I have served on the YMCA Board going on three years. Serving on the Board at the YMCA has been very rewarding—being involved with such a strong provider to the Franklin community.

And you still have time for family?
Since 2016, the Hopko Family has been participating in the Adopt-A-Highway Program. We try to get together as a family to clean our adopted road at least two times a year. I also host, with my sister and sister-in-law, blood drives with the Red Cross twice a year. We have hosted drives since 2016 in honor of our dad, Brian Spivey. We have helped collect a total of 481 units of blood, potentially impacting 1,443 lives.

Other than that, I am trying to be the best role model for my kids. My son is a senior in high school this year, graduating in a few short months and doing a lot of “last time for” this and that. And my daughter is keeping her dad and I busy with sports. Her dad volunteers as coach for her softball team, and I am a loud and proud softball and baseball mom.

What should members know about indirect lending?
Indirect Lending is where you can go to one of our dealership partners and do everything there—from joining Bronco to financing your auto loan through Bronco by signing all the paperwork conveniently at the dealership. This way of lending has been very helpful to our members who work full time, like myself, and can only do things when they get off work after we have closed. All of our dealerships have been given an “after hours guideline” on making approvals, and they have all the paperwork needed to open up a membership account. My main job is to look over all the loan packages sent in from the dealerships and make sure that everything is right before actually opening up the membership account for the applicant who applied at the dealership. I also disburse the loan into our core system and fund the loan to the dealership. I have to make sure that every signature is where it should be and that the salesperson followed our after-hours guidelines for the approval.

How long have you been with Bronco?
I was hired March 18, 2005—18 years.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
I’ve enjoyed developing relationships with our members over the years—watching their kids or grandkids grow up from where I used to give them suckers in the drive-thru to now helping them apply for an auto loan or their first credit card. I also do phone and internet loans if needed (I play a lot of roles in our Lending Department). It’s definitely been an experience that I will always treasure. I also have the impression that our members feel more comfortable seeing a familiar face or hearing a familiar voice when it comes to their finances.

What makes you good at what you do?
The experiences—but not just in finances. I’m talking about everyday life. I was a newlywed when I was first employed, so that was a life adjustment with financing a mortgage. I’ve also had my two biggest blessings (my children) since being employed at Bronco, and that definitely teaches you how to budget. With my oldest being a teenager, I’m already looking into education loans or grants for college. I feel like I can offer the best products or services to my members (face to face or over the phone) because I put myself in their shoes or in whatever situation they are going through and relate with them.

What do you think makes Bronco special to members?
There are so many things that make Bronco special, but I’ll only name a few. We offer a wide range of products and services to accommodate our membership—from our Shared Branching services and Mobile Banking, which is my favorite. Our mobile app gives you the ability to not only check balances and make remote deposits but you have actual control over your debit and credit cards at any time. If you leave it behind somewhere, you can shut it down temporarily so it will not be used by anyone else. You can also set limits on your card. Of course, this is all outside of how Bronco makes you feel when you walk through our doors. We will greet you by name and welcome you into our Bronco family, sit down and actually listen to your needs or concerns.

Bronco’s tagline is “Welcome Home.” Describe what that means to you.
We were all given a card to memorize when I first came to work here, and it’s always stuck with me because it’s so true on how to give excellent member service. It was actually an acronym: W=Welcome the member; E=Express yourself in a positive way; L= Let them see you smile; C=Call them by name; O=Open the door of communication; M=Make them look forward to coming back; and E=End by saying Thank You. It’s an acronym for the word WELCOME, and I believe that each of our employees does their very best at delivering this excellent member service to every person who walks through our doors at Bronco, whether you’re a member or not. The one thing that will always stick with a person is how they were made to feel when interacting with a Bronco representative, and we strive to make sure that it’s a welcoming, warm, hometown feeling.

What do you like to do outside of work?
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my husband and two kids. We love to go camping at Lake Gaston (where both my kids learned how to swim). If not at the lake, we love the beach at the Outer Banks. My kids are like fish; they love the water. My son has learned how to skimboard pretty well and picks the best shells, while my daughter loves to walk around and hang out with her friends on the beach. I personally wish I could sit back and enjoy a good book at the beach, but my youngest keeps me on my toes. He’s seven, but I know one day I’m going to miss running around after him like I do with my daughter, who is now a teenager, so I treasure these moments.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Fun Fact—I was the very first person to do a transaction on the teller line at our Suffolk Office on Godwin Boulevard in Suffolk. We did a soft opening at that branch to make sure all of our equipment and technology worked properly so we could service our members with no problems on our Grand Opening Day. I’ll never forget that day—talking to our members I already knew from our Franklin office and welcoming them to our new branch in Suffolk.

Do you enjoy being a Quality Assurance Specialist?
I really do. I went to college and received my degree in Exercise Science with a Coaching minor, so this is completely different than what I was used to. I was in the fitness industry for a few years, working at different gyms, and I wanted to do something that was different, something out of my comfort zone. I knew nothing about the financial services industry when I started with Bronco, so it was a very interesting change for me.

Was it difficult to make the transition?
I was originally a Members Service Representative. That was my first position at Bronco, so honestly, for me it didn’t take that long. Because of where I came from before—working at a commercial gym previously where your main focus was getting memberships, so I knew the customer service aspect of showcasing multiple services and products that we have to offer our members—that helped me better understand how to assist each individual member that walked into the credit union.

How did you move into being a Quality Assurance Specialist?
While working as an MSR, I was able to train in different areas within the credit union, including the Greeter’s Desk where you assist each member as they walk in the door, and also the Call Center where you assist members with their day-to-day questions and concerns. I then had the opportunity to take on the role of the “Title Clerk” here at Bronco, where I was in charge of all the vehicle titles, DMV paperwork and insurance for all of the vehicle loans. It was then that my supervisor saw something in me that I didn’t see, and she thought I would be a great fit for the QAS position. So, here I am today.

Since most of what you do is behind the scenes now, do you miss the member interaction?
Even though I’m more of an introvert by nature, I do miss being able to interact with members on a daily basis. Right now, I mostly just talk to myself [laughs].

What do you enjoy most about your job?
I get to be an investigator. It’s really what I should have gone to college for (criminal justice). I love being able to find out answers to the Who? What? When? and Why? questions and find solutions.

Do you think you’ll ever go into criminal justice?
I like looking for issues and mistakes—mainly financial crimes and scams. So, I think that would be an interesting job later in life.

What do you think makes Bronco special to members?
We are extremely member oriented. We’re very personable. There aren’t a lot of financial institutions—or anywhere, for that matter—where you can walk in and someone will greet you when you walk in the door. They don’t know you at other places, not one bit. When you walk into Bronco, you’ll be greeted by your first or last name and we’ll ask, “How can I help you today?” You can’t get that anywhere else. I think we’re very personable and more like a family than other places.

What do you like to do outside of work?
My husband Jayson and I have two kids, ages 3 and 1. They keep us pretty busy! We enjoy being outdoors and kayaking on the river, which is a short distance from where we live, so we go all the time. Other than that, I just enjoy being around my family.

Do you take the kids with you?
Sometimes. The little one is too small, but I have taken the three-year-old on the kayak. And I’m starting to finally be able to get the three-year-old into sports, so we’re trying out different things to see what she likes. The one-year-old is still working on trying to walk, so there isn’t a lot he can do right now, but we still have plenty of fun around the house together.

Any big plans, now that you’re retired?
My last official day with the credit union was June 6th, and now I’m just trying to enjoy the summer a bit, spend some time with my family, then tackle some projects around the house. My husband and I hope to visit our two daughters and their families a lot more. Our oldest daughter lives about an hour or so away and has a four-year-old daughter, so we’re excited to be able to help out a little more with her. Our youngest daughter and her husband just moved into their new home, which is three or four hours away, and we hope to be able to visit them and help them in any way we can.

How long were you with Bronco?
I started with Bronco in November of 2003 as the first official “greeter.” That was a new position for Bronco at the time, and I enjoyed doing it for several years before moving into real estate in October of 2005.

What did you do in your final position with Bronco?
I was the Real Estate Services Administrator. I oversaw the real estate department and was responsible for processing packages for home equity loans, lot loans and in-house first mortgages. I was also responsible for lien releases for all paid-off real estate loans, as well as a variety of reporting requirements—including Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting, which is required by the government. Those were a few of the highlights of the duties that generally took up my time.

What did you love most about being part of the Bronco team?
I have worked with some great people over the years and made some wonderful memories. I have enjoyed being part of a financial institution that is very invested in its community, whether it be through the food drives, the reality fairs at schools (a personal favorite), roadside trash pick-ups or our annual fundraiser for CHKD, just to name a few.

Do you think you’ll miss being there?
Yes, I do. I have worked since I was 15 years old at some type of work or the other. I will definitely have to find a new purpose for these “after Bronco FCU years.” It will be like going on summer break from school and not having to go back!

What made you good at what you did for Bronco?
I always thought I was best at behind-the-scenes stuff. I think I have some pretty strong organization skills—some might say OCD—but it helped me to do the job and make sure, to the best of my ability, that Bronco was in compliance with the many regulations for real estate transactions. And those regulations are ever-changing, which can be exceptionally challenging.

Why do you think people choose Bronco?
I think they choose Bronco because they know they can come through those doors and get what they need done. In many instances, our members feel comfortable coming here because they personally know someone here. And if they don’t, they will likely feel that they have a new friend by the time they leave. It’s so hard today to actually talk to a real estate person if you are trying to resolve a problem. That’s not the case with Bronco—call into our Member Service Center and you get a real person to help you. Walk into our offices and there are folks there to help you—from the tellers to the Members Service Representatives to our Mortgage Originators. Our back-office staff is great, as well. They are very responsive to members’ requests for help.

Before you retired, what did you like to do outside of work?
I enjoyed time with family, of course. I have sung in the choir at my church for 30 years and consider them like family, too. The beach and the mountains are my favorite places to go. I enjoy reading and doing jigsaw puzzles. I also like helping with things like packing backpacks with food (a Food Bank program), so I will need to find a hobby or something to take up some of this new-found time.