Anick Trudeau, Senior Loans Officer, Falher

What was unique about growing up in Falher?

I was born and raised in Falher and I attended the French Heritage School. I grew up in a French-speaking home (and) when I went to school, from pre-school to grade 12, it was all French. And then from grade three to grade 12, we had an hour of English class per day. I just kind of learned English by being out in the community and doing sports as a kid.

What led you to start working at Vision?

When I graduated from high school, I moved to Grande Prairie and went to the college there. I took a two-year program in business administration. After I graduated, my husband and I moved back to the area and that's when I saw the ad for a Loans Administrator at the credit union in Peace River. I started there in August of 2009 and was there for about five years. When I saw there was an opening at the Falher branch, I took the transfer and came back home. It kind of all pieced together.

Was your career something you envisioned growing up?

As a kid, some people play in the garden or whatever. But, for me, it was always paperwork. I always loved doing paperwork and working with numbers. So it’s just kind of funny that, growing up, I used to play office with my friends and…here I am today!

What do you think makes you a successful Senior Loans Officer?

I’m very specific on how I like my files and my paperwork organized. Organization is key, especially working in a banking environment. I always have my files and everything labelled. We’re busy here at the Falher branch, so organization is number one for sure.

What do you find fulfilling about working at Vision?

I value the relationships that I've built over the years. I’ve been here coming up on 13 years. Because we’re a small town, people know who I am. They get comfortable with dealing with one person. From those relationships, people put their trust in me with all of their financials…Even just helping a member with a mortgage to purchase a brand-new home, they’re so excited…Our members appreciate when we accomplish things for them…It’s fun to be part of that process.

Are there any credit union values or initiatives that you connect with?

Vision is very supportive of the community. For our Falher branch, we always sponsor the local Smoky River minor hockey and the local honey festival that we have every year…If we volunteer at a senior hockey game…we all go and we wear our Vision coats and everybody's like “The Vision girls are here!” It's acknowledged. It's nice to see that we're involved in the community. Because it’s a small town, people recognize that.

When you’re not at the branch, what do you enjoy doing?

As an individual, I'm really involved with my kids’ school events. If they need a parent to volunteer to tie skates at the arena, go on a field trip or help with after school sports, I'm always involved. I volunteer with my daughter’s gymnastics club and I've been a treasurer on the board for my son’s hockey team for two years now. So just little things like that. I'm involved in the community. 

I'm also really an outdoor girl. I like camping, fishing, quadding, working in the garden—anything that has to do with outside. My husband's family are longtime farmers and we live about four miles from their farm, so for the last five years, we've been really involved in the family farm. Plus, I'm working full time and our kids are in school. Life is very busy; there’s never a dull moment!