ANOTHER FAILED PLAN
“Charles R. Wiggington, Sr., joined Priority One Credit Union in 1992. Since then, he has directed all aspects of the Credit Union's operations. He oversees the organization's loan portfolios, budgets, and investments, and represents the organization at public events. With Chief Financial Officer Saeid S. Raad, Chief Lending Officer Cynthia Garvin, and Executive Vice President Rodger D. Smock, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr., works to maintain the prosperity of Priority One.”
Charles R. Wiggington, Sr., Biography, http://about.me/CharlesRWiggingtonSr
It's been eight months since Priority One Credit Union's President, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. approved the assignment of monthly sales quotas to every employee of the credit union in what he said would serve to motivate staff to increased levels of new business. The ingredient which the President said would fuel heightened employee production was the threat of termination. Not surprisingly, the President's plan failed. Not only does business continue to decline, but in June the credit union was forced to close the doors to it's Burbank branch. The credit union also terminated a large contingent of employees who failed to meet their assigned quotas while many others resigned and some left on medical leave, never to return.
Inarguably, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr.'s ignorance has no bounds. His plan to introduce monthly quotas was developed with the assistance of CLO, Cindy Garvin, and AVP of Sales and Business Development, Joseph Garcia. The President has surrounded himself with people who like him, are immensely inept, as intellectually limited, and who lack the savvy needed to develop effective strategies. The failure may lie in the fact that the President's decisions are dictated by what he perceives to be true and unfortunately, his view of what is true is often mired in self-delusion.
The silver lining to the President's latest failure is that the termination of employees and the resignation of others, has enabled him to maintain high levels of net capital.
What should be asked is how did CLO, Cindy Garvin, and AVP, Joseph Garcia, determine the amount of the monthly sales quota for each employee? Additionally, why were employees not provided the tools needed to achieve their quotas?
As we've pointed out in previous posts, the assignment of monthly sales quotas is nothing more than another Wiggington sham. The President has no idea how to develop new business. CLO, Cindy Garvin, has been provided a task that we don't believe she is equipped to handle. She has been provided a directive by the President which is to increase new business but has not been provided the means or budget through which the President's lofty and unrealistic goals will be realized. From what we've seen, she's also quickly been acculturated into the President's twisted work philosophy which views subordinate staff as intellectually inferior and who can be mistreated and abused when it pleases the President.
In contrast to Ms. Garvin, Joseph Garcia is an utter failure at all he endeavors to do. Since January 2010, he has been granted the titles of Call Center Supervisor, Director of Consumer Loans, Director of Real Estate Loans and Credit Manager. These are all titles he held simultaneously point to the absurd manner in which the President runs the credit union.
Since mid-2010, Mr. Garcia has been stripped of his titles of Credit Manager, Director of Real Estate Loans, Call Center Supervisor and finally that of Director of Consumer Loans. In mid-2011, when he returned to work following a bogus medical leave of absence, Mr. Garcia was demoted to Assistant Consumer Loan Manager but spent the months of September through October wooing the President and convincing him that though he had failed at every position appointed to him, he somehow possessed the experience, talent and ability to lead the staffs of all branches into developing immense amounts of new business. The President who possesses the common sense, wisdom and intellect of a door stop agreed Mr. Garcia would make an excellent AVP of Sales and Business Development and not only promoted the chronically inept Mr. Garcia, but authorized an increase of his salary. Don't expect a reversal of the credit union's misfortunes while President Wiggington and Mr. Garcia remain involved in creating and implementing solutions needed to reverse the decline in business which began after Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. was appointed President. Then again, the real goal set by the President is the rampant termination of full-time staff.
Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. knows too well that the credit union cannot afford to retain the amount of full-time staff it currently employs. He also knows that there isn't sufficient new business be gotten to offset the credit union's above industry average overhead. He's also grown weary of being criticized for the adverse impact his inept decisions have had upon the credit union's business and reputation. Typical of Charles R. Wiggington, Sr., he has chosen not to resolve the problems he created that have resulted in years of financial losses. What's more, under his leadership, Priority One is dependent upon expense reductions as key to it's continued survival. What's more, if employees fail to achieve their assigned goals, then they are terminated for their failure to satisfy the credit union's sales requirements. President Wiggington's reasoning is transparent and further supported by the fact that to date, he has failed to provide employees with the tools and knowledge needed to satisfy their assigned monthly quotas. In other words, the President has set up most of his staff for failure.
As 2012 draws to it's end, employees continue to be subjected to the President's erratic strategies that consistently fail to achieve their purpose. The President’s frenetic efforts are all focused on striking a mother lode of new business based on sheer luck and not sound strategical planning. His plans are continually fueled by his personal beliefs of what he perceives to be true.
We also have observed that Ms. Garvin is traversing the same dangerous and unstable path followed by former COO, Beatrice Walker, and which led to her eventual termination. In 2007, the President created the AVP sector which was assigned the responsibility of developing new business within their assigned territories. At the time he stated that the AVP's would bring in the business while all "I have to do is sit back and watch."
In 2009, he hired Beatrice Walker to serve as the credit union's first COO. At the time, he boasted that she would be working for him and would be responsible for projects "I'm too busy to do."
Last year, he hired Ms. Garvin so that she could create resolutions for his far flung blunders while he remains seated in his office, speaking to his family from his company assigned telephone and perusing the Internet visiting BMW dealership websites. Expect his latest plans to again fail because Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. is a man who is lazy, who has a horrendous work ethic and who is too ignorant to delve out solutions for the messes he's created and that the Board of Directors has sanctioned.
What should be asked is how did CLO, Cindy Garvin, and AVP, Joseph Garcia, determine the amount of the monthly sales quota for each employee? Additionally, why were employees not provided the tools needed to achieve their quotas?
As we've pointed out in previous posts, the assignment of monthly sales quotas is nothing more than another Wiggington sham. The President has no idea how to develop new business. CLO, Cindy Garvin, has been provided a task that we don't believe she is equipped to handle. She has been provided a directive by the President which is to increase new business but has not been provided the means or budget through which the President's lofty and unrealistic goals will be realized. From what we've seen, she's also quickly been acculturated into the President's twisted work philosophy which views subordinate staff as intellectually inferior and who can be mistreated and abused when it pleases the President.
In contrast to Ms. Garvin, Joseph Garcia is an utter failure at all he endeavors to do. Since January 2010, he has been granted the titles of Call Center Supervisor, Director of Consumer Loans, Director of Real Estate Loans and Credit Manager. These are all titles he held simultaneously point to the absurd manner in which the President runs the credit union.
Since mid-2010, Mr. Garcia has been stripped of his titles of Credit Manager, Director of Real Estate Loans, Call Center Supervisor and finally that of Director of Consumer Loans. In mid-2011, when he returned to work following a bogus medical leave of absence, Mr. Garcia was demoted to Assistant Consumer Loan Manager but spent the months of September through October wooing the President and convincing him that though he had failed at every position appointed to him, he somehow possessed the experience, talent and ability to lead the staffs of all branches into developing immense amounts of new business. The President who possesses the common sense, wisdom and intellect of a door stop agreed Mr. Garcia would make an excellent AVP of Sales and Business Development and not only promoted the chronically inept Mr. Garcia, but authorized an increase of his salary. Don't expect a reversal of the credit union's misfortunes while President Wiggington and Mr. Garcia remain involved in creating and implementing solutions needed to reverse the decline in business which began after Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. was appointed President. Then again, the real goal set by the President is the rampant termination of full-time staff.
Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. knows too well that the credit union cannot afford to retain the amount of full-time staff it currently employs. He also knows that there isn't sufficient new business be gotten to offset the credit union's above industry average overhead. He's also grown weary of being criticized for the adverse impact his inept decisions have had upon the credit union's business and reputation. Typical of Charles R. Wiggington, Sr., he has chosen not to resolve the problems he created that have resulted in years of financial losses. What's more, under his leadership, Priority One is dependent upon expense reductions as key to it's continued survival. What's more, if employees fail to achieve their assigned goals, then they are terminated for their failure to satisfy the credit union's sales requirements. President Wiggington's reasoning is transparent and further supported by the fact that to date, he has failed to provide employees with the tools and knowledge needed to satisfy their assigned monthly quotas. In other words, the President has set up most of his staff for failure.
As 2012 draws to it's end, employees continue to be subjected to the President's erratic strategies that consistently fail to achieve their purpose. The President’s frenetic efforts are all focused on striking a mother lode of new business based on sheer luck and not sound strategical planning. His plans are continually fueled by his personal beliefs of what he perceives to be true.
We also have observed that Ms. Garvin is traversing the same dangerous and unstable path followed by former COO, Beatrice Walker, and which led to her eventual termination. In 2007, the President created the AVP sector which was assigned the responsibility of developing new business within their assigned territories. At the time he stated that the AVP's would bring in the business while all "I have to do is sit back and watch."
In 2009, he hired Beatrice Walker to serve as the credit union's first COO. At the time, he boasted that she would be working for him and would be responsible for projects "I'm too busy to do."
Last year, he hired Ms. Garvin so that she could create resolutions for his far flung blunders while he remains seated in his office, speaking to his family from his company assigned telephone and perusing the Internet visiting BMW dealership websites. Expect his latest plans to again fail because Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. is a man who is lazy, who has a horrendous work ethic and who is too ignorant to delve out solutions for the messes he's created and that the Board of Directors has sanctioned.
RESPONSES
Former COO, Beatrice Walker, has responded to the allegations contained in the lawsuit filed by the former Valencia Branch Manager. As would be expected, the horrendous former COO, denies all wrongdoing.
We also recently learned that this past June, the credit union's attorneys contacted Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks and the President warning that Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. must desist from divulging confidential credit union information. Why would the almost 60-year old President needed to be reminded to guard confidentiality? And isn't it Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. who ordered the termination of several employees he accused of violating confidentiality? Since being "warned" to keep his mouth shut, the President is less talkative and spends more time in his office, with the door closed.
Last month, Beatrice Walker's attorney filed a response to the allegations leveled against his client. According to the attorney, Ms. Walker denies all wrong doing in response to each of the accusations.
Ms. Walker's attorney, Eric A. Schneider, expounds at great length about his client's alleged innocence. There are more than sufficient employees who can attest to the brutal campaign carried out by Ms. Walker. Reading through Mr. Schneider's response, we were reminded that Beatrice Walker is a creature of abominable habits. Ms. Walker's responses prove she is as unaccountable over her heinous acts as is the President. One would have to be ignorant of Ms. Walker’s devices to believe she could never perpetrate the long list of abusive acts she is alleged to have committed.
Undermining her attorney's responses is the fact that Beatrice Walker was terminated on July 8, 2011, due to insubordination though there are many other reasons for her removal that were verbalized by the President in the days after she was fired.
While serving as COO, she established a well-deserved reputation of persecuting, abusing and eventually, terminating employees. In 2010, she publicly stated that the Mexican employees at the credit union were all members of the Mexican mafia. Despite the fact her statement was racist and inappropriate, Human Resources refused to respond as required to under credit union policy. Racist remarks are grounds for termination under credit union policy.
With regards to business, Ms. Walker was an utter failure at implementing products and services that failed to achieve the level of profitability promised by the incompetent COO.
According to President Wiggington, prior to her termination, Ms. Walker informed some employees in South Pasadena that she had taken tremendous offense when the Board of Directors ordered the she submit all planned promotions, campaigns and letters intended for mailing to members, to either the President or Senior Vice President, Rodger Smock who would review and decide if these would be approved or denied further consideration. According to the President, Ms. Walker had said the Board were uneducated and both the President and Senior Vice President lacked her education in business.
Mr. Schneider writes that “Defendant [Beatrice Walker] denies generally and specifically, each and every allegation…” and that she did not injure or damage the Plaintiff. After all, he is being paid to fabricate a story needed to extricate his client from the situation she created.
So if Ms. Walker didn't carryout a vicious campaign against the former Valencia Branch Manager, then are the allegations filed against her untrue and contrived? Is that what Mr. Schneider would like the court to believe?
Please also note that on the first page of the “Answer to First Amended Complaint” are referenced the names of attorneys representing Ms. Walker. She isn't accused of homicide and if she truly were innocent, then why would she require a small army of attorneys? At times, actions speak louder than words and in the case of Beatrice Walker, "The lady protesteth too much."
DENIAL
Ms. Walker's attorney is as unimpressive as Priority One's legal Counsel, Paul F. Schimley. Her attorney Under the THIRD AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE shown below, Mr. Schneider, requests the placement of “caps”(limits) by the court on any monetary settlement that may be awarded by the court to the Plaintiff for "intangible harms" such as pain, physical and emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life, should Beatrice Walker be found guilty of the allegations filed against her.
Under the FOURTH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE, Mr. Schneider states that the former Valencia Branch Manager failed to provide substantive facts that would support an award of “punitive damages.” This is a wonderful example of lawyering 101. The response is absurd. The attorney knows the evidence will be presented in a court setting and will prove to the court that Ms. Walker did indeed commit everyone of the allegations contained in the lawsuit. Though his statements are customary and usual to the layman they are presumptuous and lacking the physical evidence that could lend even the slightest amount of credence to the attorney's simplistic responses.
Mr. Schneider states, as shown below, that Ms. Walker "acted in good faith and with absence of malice." So where her reasons for ordering the the Branch Manager's emails forwarded to Ms. Walker's office in South Pasadena benevolent and well-intentioned? And what about Ms. Walker's orders to all AVP's and Branch Managers that they not communicate with the Branch Manager? What was her reason for ostracizing the Branch Manager?
Beatrice Walker was a woman who spent 25-months indulging her obsession for malicious gossip, slander, and creative hostilities. It's just who and what she is. Ms. Walker proved she knows nothing about acting "in good faith" and her actions against many former employees were saturated in malice. Her July 2011 certainly attests that there was something undesirable even insidious about Ms. Walker.
Mr. Schneider's response may be predictable but Ms. Walker is not innocent of any of the allegations leveled against her. The fact is, Mr. Schneider's client, irrelevant of what story is concocted violated credit union policies and state and federal laws and willingly and knowingly entered into an insidious campaign designed to slander, undermine and ruin the reputation of the Valencia Branch Manager. His response to the court is a ploy which hopes to extricate his client of the allegations leveled against her and should the court find her guilty, Mr. Schneider hopes to at least reduce the amount of any monetary award to the Plaintiff.
Ms. Walker's cries of innocence aside, if the case proceeds to court, she will have to endure the presentation of evidence which will prove she victimized the Valencia Branch Manager while abusing her authority as COO. We know for a fact that none of Ms. Walker's many victims will forget Ms. Walker's cruelties, her frequent inane verbalizations, and her obnoxious personality. During her short stay she created a lasting and abhorrent impression.
Under the TENTH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE, shown below, Mr. Schneider requests that any damages awarded to the Plaintiff be reduced by the amount of compensation the Plaintiff "received from any other non-collateral source, including but not limited to unemployment benefits or a settlement with another party”. Evidently, Mr. Schneider is ill informed. The Plaintiff never received unemployment benefits and we believe Ms. Walker is the first person she's ever sued. That should hopefully dispel any of Mr. Schneider's unfounded concerns.
In the 2010, Human Resources Manager, Robert West; COO, Beatrice Walker; and President Wiggington, boasted that the credit union had NOT issued severance pay to the former Branch Manager. What the three ignorant officers never knew was that the Branch Manager obtained new employment immediately after resigning from Priority One Credit Union.
Mr. Schneider concludes by stating that if the case is dismissed that the court award Ms. Walker compensation for all legal fees she may have incurred. So Mr. Schneider would like the court to order that the Plaintiff who was harassed, sexually harassed, stalked, persecuted and slandered to pay the horrendous and inept former COO, her legal fees. Mr. Schneider is in dire need of a reality check as is the chronically deluded Ms. Walker.
Ms. Walker arrived at Priority One in 2009, laden with her personal baggage. As we showed in our previous post, she never mentioned that she'd been terminated from her previous employers or that she had also been a polarizing presence at other credit unions.
While at Priority One she proved to be immensely dishonest. At the end of January 2010, she and the President reported profits for the month of January which is traditionally one of the slowest months of the year. By March 2010, it was revealed that no profits had been gotten in the month of January. The reported profits were actually monies transferred from one of the credit union's ledgers and reported as profit. This is a more than adequate evidence of Ms. Walker's honesty as an officer. While serving as COO, Beatrice Walker was abusive, callous, and unmerciful and viciously victimized many employees though she did so in the most cowardly and detestable manner.
