Marie White, Virtual Center Manager at Core Bank. Photo taken by Elizabeth Gatewood Photography.
Employee Work Anniversary Spotlight: Marie White
By Marie White, Virtual Center Manager at Core Bank.
Core Bank is pleased to spotlight Marie White, Virtual Center Manager, who is celebrating her 5-year work anniversary with Core Bank in June. Marie leads the company’s Virtual Center team at Core Bank, with responsibilities for providing virtual customer experience through phone, email, and Core Bank’s newest Interactive Teller Machines (ITM). For the past four years, Marie’s team has been supporting the bank’s virtual banking environment capabilities for digital solutions that Core Bank provides to its customers.
She was born in Krefeld, Germany and began her career in banking with an apprenticeship at one of the largest cooperative banks in Germany. After completing her apprenticeship, she eventually moved from Germany to the United States in 2015 and found her way back into banking after getting adjusted to her new surroundings. Here in Omaha, she came across Core Bank, its passion, culture, and most of all the collaboration. Marie sat down with us to share about her role and her experiences at Core Bank.
How have you grown in your role at Core Bank over the last five years:
I started in June of 2018 and was hired as a Universal banker at our old 180th & Center location. I was still new to Omaha and at that time had only been in the United States for 3 years. I quickly adapted to my new role and enjoyed the customer interactions as well as the culture here at Core Bank. I eventually moved over to our 120th & Center location as a banker until I was offered a supervisor position within our Virtual Center in my second year here.
Since I gained experience in this environment at a large institution back in Germany, I was able to transition very smoothly. Eventually, my old manager switched to a different location, and I was promoted to the first manager within this team in my third year. I have grown a lot in the years since I have been on this team, and I am thankful to be part of such an amazing organization.
Do you have a favorite memory or way you made an impact on a customer?
I am going back to the difficult time of the early beginnings of the pandemic. Nobody knew what was going to happen and especially in the banking world changes happened quickly with locations getting closed or only operated drive-thru only. Those changes greatly affected my team as we suddenly handled three times our usual call and email volume and worked on various situations we normally wouldn’t have.
The biggest impact for this team was the rollout of the Paycheck Protection Plan program which gained interest overnight to a lot of business owners. My team ended up taking applications over the phone and gathering all the necessary information for the clients to be processed quickly to offer a fast turnaround time for the distribution of the funds. The amazing teamwork and how thankful our clients were during that time is something that has had the biggest impact on me since I have been here.
How do you see yourself as a leader and what do you think are the most important qualities of a leader?
I see myself as a team player and that great success comes from people coming together and building on the ideas of others. I like to integrate others’ input in determining the direction of what’s happening. I am always supportive of my colleagues and peers and motivate everyone to step out of their comfort zone by holding each other accountable for what we do. The most important qualities to me are being able to empathize with the people you lead, to understand, and to listen to them.
Are there any female leaders or mentors that have inspired you the most?
I have always admired my grandmother as a great role model. She was a strong and independent woman who never gave up and fought hard through difficulties to be recognized in her life.
How would you like to make an impact at Core Bank in the future?
I would like to be able to continue to push for digital solutions within my department and outside of it. Our technology has been changing a lot over the years and I see it rising more and more. Core Bank has put a focus on creating digital solutions for our customers and I would like to see that trend continue.
I am also passionate about our community involvement and our newest DEI&A council that I am part of and would like to see grow more and have a big impact on the culture we are living in at Core Bank. I look forward to continuing to be part of the Core Bank family and I am excited to see what big things are happening in the future for Core Bank and myself.
Marie enjoys helping people in her professional career and outside. She believes great success requires a great team. She is enthusiastic about seeing her team succeed and likes to volunteer in the community.
She currently is located at Core Bank’s headquarters where her Virtual Center team is available to customers from 7:30 am – 7:00 pm Monday through Friday and Saturdays from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm to manage any of our customers’ banking needs.
Aside from loving her job, Marie enjoys spending time outdoors, loves to travel inside and outside of the country and cooking good German food. In her spare time, she also spends time to be active in the gym or doing yoga. As a native German, she is part of a couple of German clubs in Omaha, one of them the German American Society where she also likes to volunteer. She currently lives in Bellevue with her 6-year-old daughter who keeps her just as busy as her role at Core Bank can be.
Watch Marie White’s Interview below.