The Bank

I just started this blog today to let folks know a little about my life.  The last three years has been an adventure to say the least.  One day, I am the VP of Network Services for a $45 billion dollar company and the next day I am unemployed.

I had mixed emotions at that time.  We had just finished a year and a half merger with BBVA, Spain's 2nd largest bank.  All of us were elated that the merger finally was completed, lot's of extended hours working on nights and weekends and traveling to some of our branches to insure that the network conversions were going along as planned.  To say we were all tired was an understatement.

Anyway, we finished the merger in November of 2008 and within two weeks some of the most senior members of the bank were either let go or were retiring.  We also started some layoffs in November of 2008.   Also, there were changes in management during this time as expected and some not so expected.  One afternoon three of us were called into a meeting with the Director of Technology and told we would be reporting to someone we all knew.  He was a peer that most of us did not like for various reasons.  We were totally surprised.  The meeting didn't last long and after the meeting we talked about the repercussions that my happen as a result of this new management change.

I was sure that I would not be here for long based on my relationship with my new manager.  Needless to say within 3 months I was laid off the week of January 28th, 2009 along with 1200 other employees.  I have to say I was almost relieved that the pain was over.  My journey with the bank for 10 years was full of ups and downs, numerous management changes, some great projects and a chance to be part of a smaller bank in the beginning to becoming a pretty major player in the Southwest.

I was given a great severance package and received my performance bonus when I was let go.  I have no resentment other than I wish that it would have ended differently.  I will have a decent pension and I had some great experiences in those 10 years, meeting tons of people in numerous states and hopefully touching some lives along the way.  Not to mention, I had the opportunity to lead, supervise and mentor some of the finest technicians ever during my tenure with the bank.

I was able to take a few months off and readjust and then started looking for work.  Boy, was that an eyeopener.  Hard to believe that someone with the experience and credentials I had garnered over 30 years would have a problem finding comparable work in Alabama or the Southeast.  I looked for work for about a year before deciding with my wife that maybe we need to try something different for a while until the economy improved.   I will continue our story in the next post.