news.cuna.org/articles/118686-matthew-whalen
Matthew Whalen

Matthew Whalen

Director project management, CAP COM Federal Credit Union

November 6, 2020

Aviation operations was my primary military occupational specialty. As is true for many military professions, it entailed so many skills that translate well to the civilian sector, including logistics, or how we get what we need when we need it; and operations, or how we all make it work in a repeatable, quality, understandable way.

Many of these activities also build traits leveraged in the credit union world, such as attention to detail, leadership, coordination, communication, and problem solving.

One of the most common responses I hear from folks when talking about my service is surprise that I worked primarily in an office environment in the military. So many people are hearing for the first time about the amount of knowledge work that takes place in the military. It’s a key component in the modern armed services.

As the director of project management at CAP COM Federal Credit Union, I leverage many of these skills to help transform ideas into reality through projects here at the credit union. I'm most proud of being able to help shine light on what diversity means from a veteran’s perspective and how meaningful a veteran’s impact can be in many civilian roles and sectors.

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