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Dustin Westling | OneWest Event Design:
Meet Dustin. He's a managing partner with OneWest Event Design — the behind-the-scenes dream team specializing in event planning, creation and execution.As the global pandemic hit in 2020, the event industry was brought to a standstill. Dustin's team needed to fill the gap that the lack of human interaction created for their business, and decided to partner with connectFirst to help make their dreams a reality.
Some skills to help you
master your business.
Meet the business banking
team at connectFirst.

Alejandro Benavides
AVP Commercial Real Estate

Craig Zaychkowsky
AVP Commercial Markets

Dave Bell
AVP Commercial Real Estate

Gianfelice Calabrese
AVP Commercial Markets

Ibraheem Ogunrinola
AVP Commercial Real Estate

Jim Bladon
AVP Commercial Markets

Yoni Naidich
AVP Commercial Real Estate

Alia Amershi
Relationship Manager, Commercial Real Estate

Domenic Maucieri
Senior Relationship Manager, Commercial Markets

Kaushik Banerjee
Senior Relationship Manager, Commercial Real Estate

Mayowa Ademoroti
Relationship Manager, Commercial Real Estate

Nahr Gill
Relationship Manager, Commercial Markets

Sourav Neogi
Relationship Manager, Commercial Markets

TJ Jeyandran
Relationship Manager, Business Solutions

Anika Khan
Independent Business Advisor I

Anzela Aleksejev
Senior Independent Business Advisor

Andrea Salkeld
Independent Business Advisor

Barry Patriquin
Senior Independent Business Advisor

Darrell White
Independent Business Advisor

Deanna Chambers
Independent Business Advisor
Independent Business Advisor

Edward Ademoroti
Independent Business Advisor II

Ferdinand Flinsch
Independent Business Advisor

Jennifer Duncan
Independent Business Advisor

Kris Mathers
Senior Independent Business Advisor

Krystal Green
Independent Business Advisor

Matthew Chakaza
Senior Independent Business Advisor

Randy Coutts
Senior Independent Business Advisor

Sheila Lalonde
Senior Independent Business Advisor

Victoria Lodon
Senior Independent Business Advisor
“As a credit union, we're part of the community, we live here. We breathe here. We know what’s happening, and we are also part of the economy. If our businesses thrive, we, as an economy, thrive. That’s an advantage of banking with a credit union.”
Anika’s 20-year career in finance has taken her across the globe, but Alberta is home.
Born in Pakistan, Anika lived in Zambia, the Caribbean, and South Africa growing up. Her dad worked for the UN as a statistician to help end poverty, and his job took the family around the world. Anika returned to Pakistan for her bachelors and masters degree, before moving to Alberta with her husband. “This is where home is,” she says. “We really like living in Alberta.”
Anika is one of our Independent Business Advisors and been with connectFirst for five years. “As a business banking advisor, we help businesses grow. We try and fulfill their needs and provide them with the best possible advice. If we're not able to do something for a business, we provide them with creative solutions and options after digging deeper into what their need is,” she explains.
She’s passionate about making a difference in our communities through her work. “at connectFirst, we make sincere effort trying to make a difference. We know our members and we live in these communities, and we care,” she says.
“As a credit union, we're part of the community, we live here. We breathe here. We know what’s happening, and we are also part of the economy. If our businesses thrive, we, as an economy, thrive. That’s an advantage of banking with a credit union.”
When Anika’s not helping Alberta businesses, she enjoys working out and restoring furniture. “During COVID, I think everybody picked up hobbies, just to get your mind off of things” she laughs. “I really enjoy getting old furniture from Marketplace and painting it and refurbishing it. I did that with my dining table and chairs.”
Anika and her husband have three kids – a 14 year-old, 13 yea-old and nin year-old. Nothing makes her happier than being surrounded by her friends, family and community. You know it's it's home for us, yeah? “I’m a very social person. having people around me is where I get all my energy from, so working from home takes a toll sometimes, but being around friends, and family and like-minded people makes me really happy.”
It makes us happy that Anika is on our team!
Anzela has a zest for life and building relationships.
“Anytime you look within your life - anything you do in your life, it's based on relationships,” she says.
Trust and respect are the foundation of the relationships Anzela builds with her members.
“The way you build every relationship is trust,” she says.
“Building trust brings you to a point where members can be open about their problems and you can work together to be proactive and help them.”
“That’s when I go to bed happy,” she laughs.
Anzela has been helping members in the credit union system for 15 years. But she wasn’t always in the financial industry. She earned degrees in robotics, computer science and business before entering the world of finances.
“Why finances? I could provide service and help people. I could solve problems,” she says.
“I love the people element, the human element, and I am wicked was numbers,” she adds.
When Anzela isn’t helping members bring their dreams to life, she enjoys vacationing in her hometown of Tallinn, Estonia. She also has an artistic side and enjoys painting, and working with metals and stained glass.
Anzela truly lives life to fullest, both in her role and outside of work.
“I think life always offers you something so interesting,” she says.
“I just want to take whatever life throws at me, and just grab it and run.”
Barry helps members bring their business dreams to life, and watching members take pride in their businesses is the most rewarding part of Barry’s job.
“The best thing about the role is being able to go out and see a member’s place of business, getting toured around, and seeing the pride and joy of what they've managed to build up, and just sharing that with the Member,” he reflects. “It’s definitely the best part.”
Barry has been in finances for an incredible 20 plus years. connectFirst’s member focus is what drew him here.
“We want to see these people succeed,” he says.
“That’s why we want to form great partnership. When our members succeed, that means we're succeeding at the same time, so it's a win-win scenario.”
When he meets with members, he want to make them feel heard.
“It's the opposite of the mentality of going to a fast food restaurant, where people just walk up and tell you what they want, and you say you sure, and then you give it to him.”
“Versus, what I like to do is say, ‘well, tell me about your story and then, together, we can understand what the best solution would be’.”
When Barry isn’t helping members succeed, you can find him on his deck with a glass of red wine.
“I have a fairly good cellar of red wine,” he says.
I build on it a little bit every month or so. I belong to a couple of wine clubs and I love California reds.”
While making members’ dreams come true makes Barry happy at work, quality time with friends (with some wine of course) brings Barry joy outside of the office.
“Sharing a good bottle of wine with friends and sitting with a glass wine out on a deck in the sunshine makes me very happy,” he smiles.
Darrell provides advice to our members and helps support their small business needs. He does everything - from advice around structuring loans, to tailoring entire banking packages to making a business member’s life easier.
Darrell has an incredible 27 years of banking experience.
“I’ve been in my banking all my life. I love numbers and I'm a people person - it just jives,” he says.
Not many people can say their job is what they wanted to do when they were a kid, but Darrell can.
“I knew all along I wanted to be a banker. In a grade three yearbook, where you wrote what you want to be in the future, I once said I wanted to be a banker,” he says.
Darrell has a genuine love for his job and finds helping members deeply rewarding.
“I just love to interact and to help members be successful,” he says.
He likes to make his members feel comfortable. He understands that it can be intimidating for members to meet with financial institutions and goes out of his way to make people feel at ease and help them out any way he can.
“I try to make people feel very comfortable, and there are no dumb questions. I mean it. Let's work together,” he says.
“We're trying to help them, not hinder. Just being a human being and listening to what their issues are and helping them with those.
Outside of connectFirst, Darrell is a small business owner himself. He built a start-up online streaming auction business in the early 2000’s and was the owner and operator of a Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award-winning dog kennel, daycare and grooming business. Running his own successful businesses gives him a true understanding and insight into the entrepreneurs and visionaries he helps out at connectFirst.
As a small business owner, supporting local is important to Darrell and it’s something he admires greatly about connectFirst.
“Many of the chartered banks are about that bottom line. And if Alberta is not sexy this month, they're okay to leave and not really be there for you,” he explains.
“Whereas here, our mandate is Alberta. We're here for the long haul, and we are going to make sure that we help people succeed in Alberta.”
Independent Business Advisor
Solutions, solutions, solutions! That’s what Edward brings to the businesses he advises at connectFirst.
Born in Nigeria, before moving to the United Kingdom and then Alberta, Edward has been with connectFirst for two years.
Edward helps Alberta businesses grow, and works with them to determine what their next steps are.
He sees the businesses he works with as partners. They work together and he advocates for them and is determined to provide them with the solutions they need, even if he need to get creative. “We want to help them, and sometimes the answer isn’t as simple as saying “okay, you have a lot of money, so we can help you,” he says.
“Sometimes you have to get creative and that's the part connectFirst is really good at - working with the members and saying “okay, this might not work, but here's what we can do.” Nine times out of 10, we'll find a way to help you, even if it's not exactly what you came to us with.”
Edward goes out of his way to build relationships with members and make them feel comfortable. Not only to build trust, but to provide him with a full picture of who his members are and to identify their needs. “I don’t want it to feel like you’re talking to a bank,” he says of meeting with his members.
“I want them to feel very comfortable. I prefer it to be more relaxed, and to get to know them before jumping into business because when a business comes to us and asks for lending, we have to convince the credit manager to lend them money. It helps to be able to understand the member and put myself in the members’ shoes and say “this is why these guys should get the money.”
It’s not all work, no play for Edward. When he’s not helping Alberta businesses, his biggest hobbies are investing and basketball. “I do like to research stocks by myself and hopefully grow it, and I do like playing basketball,” he says. His team is the Lakers, but he jokes that he’s only a bandwagon fan. One team he’s not a bandwagon fan of is soccer team, Manchester United.
Edward is competitive outside of sports too. He says one of his greatest motivators is the feeling of “accomplishing something that I didn't think I would.” “I always try to find new challenges. When I accomplish them, I give myself a pat in the back, he laughs.
Ferdinand’s entrepreneurial spirit makes him the perfect fit as an independent business advisor! He runs three businesses of his own, which gives him a true understanding and insight into the entrepreneurs and visionaries he helps out at connectFirst.
“I've been always dabbling with small businesses and own businesses as well, so it's almost like a perfect match,” he says.
“I’ve always loved that independent, entrepreneur life and I love the credit union system. This is a way that I could put my two worlds together.”
Ferdinand started as a Financial Experience Advisor at connectFirst, and worked in our mortgage department before joining our independent business team.
He sees the relationships he has with his members as partnerships. “We are really in it for the long haul. We want to partner with you. You're not just a number - we want to get to know you personally, get to know your family personally. We want you to become part of the connectFirst family,” he says.
Ferdinand is tremendously ambitious, but his ambitions aren’t what you’d expect and are rooted in helping our members. “It’s not about becoming the next CEO. For me, it's about building relationships and helping members grow.
When Ferdinand joined connectFirst, members from the financial institution he previously worked at came over with him – a true testament to his relationship-building skills.
“That’s an accomplishment that means a lot to me – not just building a business relationship, but a lot of times, you build friendships that go way deeper than just being their banker. I think that's the biggest accomplishment for me. It's just like those lasting relationships,” he says.
Outside of finance, one of Ferdinand’s greatest passions is fashion. He owns a fashion business where he does wardrobe consulting, and he’s involved in real estate and the auto industry as well.
His interest in fashion started in Italy. Ferdinand grew up in Germany, and would visit Italy often. When he was a kid, Ferdinand says there was a tailor in a small Italian village who would make suits. They didn’t speak each other’s languages, but he would sit there for hours watching him.
“Just watch him sew clothing - that's where I really found the passion. I always thought it was amazing how you take a piece of cloth and you make it into these beautiful sculptures. That's what I like to call it. It's an art, right?” he says.
His greatest inspiration in life was his grandmother. “She’s my biggest role model,” he says.
“I became everything I am because of my grandma."
Small personal touches can make a big difference. No one knows this better than Jennifer.
Jennifer recently met with a potential member looking to change banks. The potential member met with the big five banks and several credit unions, but Jennifer stood out.
“She said I exceeded their expectations for member service and customer service because I'm the only one that had actually visited their warehouse and did a tour of the facilities,” she exclaims.
“It surprised me that none of the other financial institutions she visited did that. A little touch like that makes all the difference.”
Building relationships with members brings Jenifer joy. It’s not uncommon for members to stop by her house for a visit. “People stop by my house quite regularly,” she says. “I have one member who’s now family. If he ever gets married, I'm invited. His children love me and come over to my house - that's just kind of the normal.”
One of the best parts of Jennifer’s job is helping members achieve their goals.
“The most rewarding part of my role is working with somebody from start to finish - getting them on the path to their dreams,” she says.
“I started on the retail side of the credit union, and I worked with a member for a couple of years - just trying to get him to write his first home. That's the happiest part of the job for me.”
One of the first things you notice about Jennifer when you meet her, aside from her warm, friendly personality, is her vivid pink hair.
She dyed it “for fun” during the COVID-19 lockdowns. “It makes people smile,” she says. “And some people stare because it’s uncommon,” she laughs.
Jennifer grew up in Winnipeg and moved to Alberta eight years ago. She’s been with connectFirst for six years. Her career started in retail, but she moved into finance because she’s always had a passion for numbers.
When Jennifer’s not working, you can find her baking. She’s known for her delicious sugar cookies. “I spent a lot of time baking - Christmas is a big time for me,” she says.
She also has three pets who keep her busy. “I have a 14 year-old Miniature Pinscher. Her name is Pedzi, and she's an absolute sweetheart - she sleeps all day - and I have two tuxedo cats, Kiss and Lemmy. They were named after rock music bands,” she says.
Helping members is Kris’ biggest motivator.
“When you help them either start their business, or grow their businesss, or buy something they've been waiting their whole life to do – that’s the most rewarding part of my job,” he says.
“That's always the fun part - when you can see them be successful.”
Kris has been in the credit union system for more than 20 years, and he is a strong supporter of banking on local.
“There's been a huge push and focus on acting local and buying local, and that's what we are as a credit union – we’re more involved in our communities,” he explains.
“Just having that local focus, especially in some of the rural places, where a lot of the banks are gone or have left, and we've stuck around. That’s what sets us apart.”
When Kris isn’t helping members, sports are a big part of his life. He plays hockey and baseball, and he coaches his son’s teams.
“My free time is spent either playing sports, watching sports or coaching or watching my boy play sports,” he says.
Before entering the world of finance, Krystal got her start in the emergency room.
“I actually worked as an administrator at our hospital in the ER,” she says.
“But I've always liked numbers, and that’s what brought me to the credit union.”
While the two might appear like completely different career paths, Krystal says working in the ER was a great stepping stone for her role at connectFirst, and there are many parallels, especially when it comes to helping out Albertans.
Krystal has been with connectFirst for more than three years, and her biggest accomplishments are the strong relationships she has built with her members. Relationship-building is the core of Krystal’s role, and making her members feel important is her number one goal.
“I want to make them feel like they’re heard - that we're actually listening and that we will do whatever we can to help them,” she says.
“We truly care.”
Krystal goes out of her way to assist her members anyway she can – and anytime.
“A lot of our Members work the same hours we do. Sometimes they're just not able to meet with us or to talk with us during business hours, So I’ll work on the evenings, and weekends and make sure I’m flexible and can be around whenever they need me,” she says.
When Krystal isn’t helping members, she likes to spend time in Newfoundland.
“It’s beautiful and my husband's family is from there. It's just so peaceful and they're the happiest people you'll ever meet,” she says.
She also has a soft spot for animals and volunteers with a couple of dog rescue organizations, fosters dogs and has two dogs of her own.
Sheila and connectFirst both share the same mission – to make money make a difference.
“We’re building a better Alberta,” she says.
“We want to invest into our communities, and we want people to come to us because the more members we have, the stronger we are, the be more dividends we can pay out, and the better we can make Alberta.”
Sheila has been with connectFirst for 25 years. She started as a teller and worked her way up, position from position, to where she is now, a Senior Independent Business Advisor.
connectFirst’s community involvement and approach to members is what drew her here.
“I like that we are very community involved, that we put people first. We really still think about Members. We're not just a huge corporation where you're just another face. You have the chance to make a difference,” she says.
Her proudest accomplishment is winning a Mentor of the Year award.
“It was voted on by peers and I was pretty proud of that because it wasn’t just someone like my manager giving it to me,” she says.
“It really meant a lot to me.”
Sheila continues to mentor and helps train our new lenders. With her 25 years of experience, many new lenders turn to her for advice and reach out to her for assistance.
Sheila truly gets to know her members and goes out of her way to make them feel like they matter.
“They’re a person, and I want to make them feel like they matter and everything they do matters. They’re not just another number or file. I get to know their business and help them grow the way they need to,” she says.
Sheila doesn’t just make a difference in the lives of members, she also helps out animals. She used to be a long-time volunteer at her local animal shelter and has two dogs and three cats.
She’s also a huge baseball fan.
“I'll probably get shot because my favorite sport is baseball,” she jokes.
“My husband and I went to Boston for our 10th wedding anniversary to go watch some Red Sox games, and that's probably been one of the best vacations I've ever had.”
Sheila’s love for the Boston Red Sox runs so deep that she even named her two kids after Red Sox players.
When she’s not keeping up with Red Sox games, she manages her kids’ sports teams and volunteers in her community regularly.
“I like to help out a lot, and I bring my kids too, so they can see that they should be doing this in their lives as well,” she says.
Victoria helps bring Alberta business owners’ dreams to life.
She has almost twenty years of credit union experience, and building relationships with members is at the core of everything she does.
“When I meet with members, it’s about building a relationship. It’s not transactional,” she says.
“I want to make members feel like I truly care, like they matter, that I’m here for them.”
Victoria makes members feel like they belong. So much so, that when she joined connectFirst last year, members from her previous financial institution followed her here.
She exemplifies the credit union difference and is passionate about supporting our local communities.
When she’s not helping members and supporting her community in Medicine Hat, you can find her golfing or cooking. You may even be lucky enough to try her famed homemade perogies – she’s been know to share them with members sometimes 😉