Paul Elenio0:15
My story is an interesting one and goes back a long time. I'm at the company 27 years. For me, I was blessed to be raised by two parents that instilled at an early age the quality and importance of a strong work ethic, pride in your work, and being committed and devoted to your work product. That was very important for me growing up, something that they stressed highly. So for me, when I started my career, I knew coming in that I had a leg up on most people and that I was not going to be outworked because of the way I was raised and the way my drive was inside me. When I was recruited by Arbor, I was recruited by someone who's a very good friend of mine now, my mentor for many years, the prior CFO John Martello. When I was recruited here, I knew that this place within a few months would be the right fit for me. I sought it out like everybody does in their career at the lowest level, and I think that's the way it should be. I came in at an entry-level position. I was an accounting major, accounting profession, the entry-level staff accountant. I started here as a staff accountant and was able to over the 27 years of my career work my way up pretty consistently.
I knew Arbor was the place for me when I started in the first couple of months because it was an energetic, dynamic, entrepreneurial culture that not only encouraged but supported and promoted growth and development. That was really important for me at a young age. I wanted to grow, I wanted to develop, and I knew I had the drive to succeed, but drive isn't enough. We need to be at a place that's going to support that and encourage it, and that's what the corporate culture of Arbor was and still is today. So for my career, I went from a 22-year-old starting as a staff accountant in 1991 to by 2005 being at the top of what I would call the professional ladder in my career, which is accounting, the CFO. So I became CFO in 2005 at Arbor. Arbor taught me a lot. It taught me everything I know today about how to conduct yourself professionally, how to manage people, how to work as a team, and also how to handle multiple things at one time, to multitask. So I really learned a lot here at Arbor as a young person, and I'm still learning today.
I can't refrain from giving some advice to young people today. I think the world has changed dramatically since I started my profession with social media and the internet, but there are some basic old-school principles that have never changed, and that's work ethic, pride, and commitment in what you do. If I had to give advice to young people today, and I do from time to time, it's make sure you work hard, make sure you're prideful when you work, you're committed and dedicated, and make sure you align yourself with a partner or a company that's going to instill, promote, and encourage that growth.
I think if you look back, I'm somewhat of a human success story at Arbor in that I started at a young age at a low level and then grew to the position I'm at now after 27 years. That's somewhat uncommon in today's world, but I think what's important for people to realize is it's very common at Arbor. I am one of many people who have these human success type stories, and I work with them every day. There are people here that have been here for 30 years, I've been here 27, people been here for 25, 30 years who have similar stories, and that's very unique. It's a very unique atmosphere, very hard to find. So I would say that to young people today: Arbor gives you a culture and a platform for you to be able to grow and develop and succeed both professionally and economically that I don't know that every company would be able to give young people today.
