Credit union CEO mulls post-pandemic plans — while avoiding stress-eating

Achieva Credit Union CEO Gary Regoli also resists the temptation to micro-manage teams.

By Mark Gordon
| 10:14 a.m. April 8, 2020
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

File. Achieva Credit Union President and CEO Gary Regoli has been working from home and the office during the crisis.

Leadership

Company: Achieva Credit Union, Dunedin

Assets: $1.7 billion

Employees: 400

Executive: Gary Regoli

Title: President, CEO

Work situation: Both working from home and at the office. Office is mostly empty. Working from home reminds me of going to graduate school — isolated and very focused at my stand-up desk.

Biggest challenge with the current working setup: Stress-eating.

Most important lesson you've learned so far during this time: Keep the team focused on objectives, and then get out of the way. Our leaders are quite capable of leading their teams. Support and encourage everyone.

Books, articles, TV shows, podcasts and/or audiobooks you've focused on: I always find comfort in my faith. Read and pray/meditate first thing in the morning. Acknowledge that God is in control. Try to ignore the media. Listen some to business networks, and view some websites to gain insights on current events.

How far out into the future are you looking? Months into the future. It would be a shame to go through this challenge without learning from it. An exciting future lies ahead.

How do you maintain your spirit/morale? How do you keep the team motivated? Believing what I say and saying what I believe. Sending weekly videos to the entire employee team. Regular virtual meetings with the leadership team. Keep the board updated. Recurring message: We will emerge as stronger people, stronger businessmen and businesswomen in a stronger homeland. Also, take the extra few seconds you normally wouldn’t take and give in to the temptation to send a very short humorous or sarcastic retort via email or text.

Last trip to out of the house: Post office and to buy some gasoline. Didn’t really need the gasoline, but it’s so cheap right now.

Click the links below to hear how more regional executives are handling the shutdowns.