50 Years of Building Great Relationships
By: Emily Gardiner, Marketing Manager | email
In honor of our 50th year in business, GT would like to reflect on the past and the client relationships we have been fortunate to have created. In this article we would like to place a spotlight on two of the longest standing managers we have had the pleasure of working with; Brad Davis of Gold-Eagle Cooperative in Goldfield, Iowa and Michael Whittie of Federal Employees Credit Union in Des Moines, Iowa. We asked them both questions about their company, how they landed in this field and to maybe share a story of working with Gardiner Thomsen… these are their profiles! __________________________________________
Brad Davis, General Manager, Gold-Eagle Cooperative
“I actually became acquainted with the earlier Gardiner organization in June of 1974 in Manly, Iowa. From 1974 to 1980 (I’m sure long before 1974) you guys (GT) did our audit at Manly and when I moved on to Vinton, Iowa we continued the tradition. In fact, Dave Thomsen actually did our audit several years at Vinton when I was there. When we moved on to Gold-Eagle there was another firm doing the audit but I was able to get the auditors changed to Gardiner & Company for my check-in audit. As you probably know, Gardiner Thomsen will be doing its 30th audit at Gold-Eagle this coming fall, 31st if you count the manager check-in audit. I grew up on a farm near Greene, Iowa and graduated from North Iowa Area Community College with an Ag Business Degree. During that time I did my on-the-job training at Farmers Cooperative Company in Manly, Iowa. After graduation an opportunity opened at Manly about the same time I discovered most of my NIACC credits would not transfer to Iowa State University, so I decided to begin my career. After six years in Manly I believed I was ready to manage and moved to Vinton Cooperative to become their General Manager. I managed Vinton for five years and then we moved to Eagle Grove and I have been the CEO/General Manager of Gold-Eagle Cooperative since January of 1985. I joined Gold-Eagle during mid-year of their second fiscal year of a newly merged company. Once year-end arrived we celebrated $15 million in sales, a total 24 month local loss of $839,690, retained savings of ($59,622) and the loss of our financial institution. Oh boy!!” A couple of stories working with Gardiner Thomsen… “First – I remember Dan Gardiner coming up to help with inventory on my check-in audit in January of 1985. I was with Dan and we entered a partially emptied soybean flat in Eagle Grove. Dan was carrying a clipboard and suddenly slipped on the beans and he ended up flat on his back nearly hitting his head on the concrete. I remembered thinking the poor guy (because of his age), but he jumped right up and continued with the inventory task. It is fun to remember this because “the older Dan” was younger at that time then I am now! Second- Obviously we were very weak financially, so the Gardiner team thought the Gold-Eagle board and Brad should do a retreat. In fact, the Gardiner team offered their new office and audit staff and since the Sheraton was so close, it would be a perfect place for our group and our wives to stay. I still giggle about this, but one evening we had dinner at the hotel and the servers were Playboy Bunnies! My goodness, I will never forget the Bunny coming over to get the order from our table – my conservative President, his wife, my wife, and me!! After surviving that ordeal, I should have known I would be at Gold-Eagle for many years! Outside of work, Renee (my wife) and I have always spent our weekend time around water. We currently live at Clear Lake and host our kids (Shawn and Lindsay) and grandkids nearly every weekend and our focus is all about making special memories.”
Michael Whittie,
President,
Federal Employees Credit Union
Michael was born in Baltimore, Maryland and lived there until he graduated from high school. After that he moved to New Jersey and lived there for one year. He was drafted into the Army in 1971 and served a total of three years. He then moved to Independence, Iowa in 1976 and attended University of Northern Iowa and graduated in December 1979. His first job out of college was as a loan officer at Metco Credit Union in Cedar Rapids. Michael is married to Debbie who is the CEO of Village Credit Union and between the two of them, they have five children and nine grandchildren.
Federal Employees Credit Union was formed in 1951 by employees of the IRS. There has been an office in the Des Moines Federal Building ever since it was founded. FECU merged with the VA Credit Union in 1986 and with the Federal Employees Credit Union in Iowa City in 2008. FECU is currently about $19 million in assets and serves almost 3,800 members. Michael was hired in April of 1984 to replace the current Manager/President of the Credit Union.
Michael began working with Gardiner Thomsen in 1986 and we have been working together ever since! We asked him what one of his favorite memories has been working with us and his reply was: “being responsible for the operations of a small business, you always have so much on your plate, that I always had a tendency to not remember things. Staff from Gardiner Thomsen were always calling me looking for my signature on various documents, especially the engagement letters. I’m sure I was a real pain when it came to that stuff!”
When Michael is outside of the office he can be found with the Des Moines Celtic FC; which he helped organize in 1987 and has been general manager ever since. This is the oldest adult soccer club in Iowa and currently fields three teams in the Central Iowa Coed Soccer League.
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Gardiner Thomsen is proud to put a spotlight on these two managers as they have been great business partners of ours.
We have thoroughly enjoyed creating this feature and learning more about people that have worked with us for almost 30 years. Being in this business for 50 years we have had the honor of meeting so many amazing people and developing great relationships. We look forward to doing more features similar to this one in our upcoming articles. We would like to thank Brad and Michael for sharing their stories with us!