In the Spotlight

​Meet Noah Trautmann from United Savings CU – a member service rep who is headed to the GAC as a 2024 Crasher! 

by Shawn Marie Brummer, Communications Specialist

Noah Trautmann was born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, graduating from Davies High School in 2015. His class was the first to go all four years at the school that had opened in 2011. He fondly recalls his freshman year, which consisted of dodging corn husks as the school was the only new building in the area, located right in the middle of a large corn field. Now, with the rapid architectural growth in south Fargo, that old corn field is nothing but a distant memory.

He attended North Dakota State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with emphasis on Philosophy and Political Science. During his college years, he worked in several positions at local grocery stores, from bagger to front-end manager. However, his first full-time job and his first exposure to the credit union industry was at United Savings Credit Union, when he was hired as a Member Service Representative four years ago.

In his role, his primary responsibility is assisting members with account transactions and questions, in addition to promoting the credit union’s services. He also works with escrow accounts, and assists with account auditing, garnishments, and levies.
​
It didn’t take Noah long to discover that credit unions are, indeed, a better choice for consumers. “I strongly believe that the credit union model is the best large-scale financial service model that we have implemented,” he stated. “The banking model has bred rightful distrust from consumers as they operate firstly as a for-profit organization that works to personally enrich their shareholders, often to the detriment of the rest of their account holders. Credit unions work for all their members, regardless of status, equally.”

Noah has found a mentor in his branch manager, Jan Welch. “She is one of the greatest leaders, co-workers, and people I have met in my professional life,” he shared. “She works incredibly hard each day for our members, and the amount of time and effort she puts in to make certain that each individual not only gets the best financial service, but also the best personal experience, is inspiring. She seemingly knows every member personally and many of them refuse to work with anyone other than Jan because she has helped them so greatly for many years.”

United Savings is a medium-sized credit union in terms of membership and assets, however, in the last few years, they have made significant strides through mergers with two smaller local credit unions. Noah says the growth through mergers has not only expanded United Savings’ reach, but it also allows them to offer better financial services for their membership.

Recently, Noah was selected as a GAC Crasher. He will be heading to Washington, DC at the end of the month, where he will join other young credit union professionals from all 50 states. He will proudly carry the North Dakota state flag during opening ceremonies, and undoubtedly, will be making many friends and connections, forming a new network of peers. “The fact that I was chosen out of the hundreds of applicants nationwide is still surreal to me, and it is an honor. I hope to represent the credit unions in this area well,” he concluded.

In his personal life, Noah is a huge sports fan, mainly baseball and football. The Minnesota Twins baseball team is his favorite; along with his alma mater’s football program, the NDSU Bison. He also loves the art of storytelling in all different mediums, and enjoys films, tv shows, video games, comics, and anything else that demonstrates the beauty of human creativity and passion. One of his favorite mediums is comic books and manga. For those who aren’t familiar, manga is the Japanese art form of comics and graphic novels; it is a particular style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. Noah has more than 600 individual volumes in his collection!

---