Talking with Linda Lagoy is like talking to a good neighbor.
Attending what was then Fitchburg State College, she originally thought she’d become a teacher on Long Island. In her college years, she lived with her grandmother in Fitchburg, developing a strong attachment to the city – and stayed. She began as a part-time teller at Cleghorn Credit Union (before Workers Credit Union took it over in the early 1980s), after receiving a job offer from a credit union official she met during a hospital visit for a godchild of her grandmother’s.
“I fell in love with the business and with the credit union philosophy,” she said. Becoming self-supporting after a divorce propelled her into what would become a career of achievement and mutual rewards, she said. In 1992, she became a branch manager and nine years ago became regional manager. She now oversees, through direct and indirect reports, all 15 branches of the Workers’ Credit Union. “I love this company,” she said, noting that her loyalty has resulted in rewards both personal and financial.
Lagoy is keenly aware that this is not the case for many other Fitchburg residents, who have their share of economic difficulties – for example, 70 percent of the city’s school children qualify for free or assisted lunch program. She sits on the North Central Mass. Workforce Investment board and notes the high dropout rate. Community conditions like these inspire a desire to give back, including rewarding credit union members for their loyalty. The newly-instituted Giveback Program bestows awards to members for their deposit and loan business and other relationships, proportionate to the type of account and the balance. Since the program began in February, the credit union gave back more than $2 million to members under the Giveback Program.
Lagoy’s nominator, James Doolin, senior vice president of human resources at WCU, commended both her ability to help others in the management team to further their careers, and her effectiveness in improving branch sales results. She coordinates sales strategy with the call center, mortgage originators, the marketing department and the investment and insurance center, he said. Doolin noted Lagoy’s talent for respecting both sides of an issue and coming to a resolution that doesn’t cause hard feelings on either side.
In addition to sitting on the North Central Mass. Workforce Investment board, Lagoy also participates as a member of the Workers’ Credit Union team for the annual in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and is a participant in the local CU4 Reality fair, a credit union-sponsored event directed at high school students. n
