ACUMA ONpoint
ACUMA ONpoint
Strengthening Branch-Mortgage Connections and Celebrating Industry Insights
Margaret Greczek, Senior Vice President of Real Estate Lending at Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union, offers an insider's look at the nuances of the credit union mortgage industry. Her story is one of openness and kindness, underscoring the personal connections that have propelled her success. Join ACUMA President Peter Benjamin and Margaret as they discuss unique insights on what sets her credit union apart. Creating bridges between mortgage departments and branch operations is essential, and the discussion digs into the necessity of such relationships. Communication and understanding between the branches and mortgage departments are essential. Margaret and Peter share their thoughts on how branch managers and loan specialists can foster these critical connections, leading to more robust advocacy for mortgage initiatives. With practical strategies for breaking down barriers and empowering teams, this conversation is a treasure trove for anyone interested in strengthening internal collaboration.
Sponsored by Polygon Research
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to Actors On Point Podcast, a series focused on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit union mortgage industry. I'm your host, peter Benjamin.
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Speaker 3:Today I'm joined by Margaret Gretzczyk, Senior Vice President of Real Estate Lending with Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union. Margaret, how are you doing today?
Speaker 4:I am doing well. Thank you so much for having me on this podcast. I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 3:It is absolutely my pleasure, margaret. I met you, I want to say, shortly after I became president of Acuma, so almost three years ago, we'll say two years, 10 months ago Actually, not quite that, not quite that, but it was at the Potomac Curin, I think. You were visiting, because at that point in time the tri-state area didn't have its own Curin and you and I sat down at their. I said, I guess the post-conference, post-potomac Curin meeting dinner, and we started talking and I was fascinated with your story, your credit union story. I was taken aback by how open you were and how kind you were, but I was also blown away with how your credit union really operates and how they do things and against the overall story. So I hate the fact that it's taken us so long to have you on this podcast.
Speaker 3:I'm excited for our conversation today. This is a unique conversation, one that's near and dear to my heart. I said it to you and I'll say it again this is a topic that I feel as though has contributed to my success as a leader within mortgage. So I'm excited to get to it. But before we do, I need to. I need to pause, like I always do. I need to bring Justin in Hawk. How are you doing? And, please, what is the latest and greatest happening over at Acuma?
Speaker 5:I'm good, peter. How are you Live in the dream? That is awesome, you know. For a moment I actually thought that you were not going to say the hawk. It kind of stalled and I was like, oh, it's not coming.
Speaker 3:No, I upset him today. I can't go a pod and not say the hawk, because now that Maddie found the hawk screech and we have that, that sound clip it's. And one thing now, and now that we also know that it kind of gets underneath crystal skin we are just going to keep saying it.
Speaker 5:Do you feel her eyes like staring at you right now? Oh my god, yes, yes, yes there you go.
Speaker 5:Well, it's been cold. It's January, it's cold, but even it's cold. But even though it's cold, we've been super busy getting our next in-person event ready, so registration recently opened up for our Viewpoint Regional Summit, which is going to be held this year in Pensacola, florida, so warmer temperatures are on the horizon. That's the only thing I keep thinking is it's cold right now, but Florida's got sunshine this year. The event's going to be April 8th and 9th, so it is a little bit different. Not only are we going to offer exceptional educational content that we have planned for you, which the agenda is coming together and looks absolutely amazing, but we also have included some amazing experiences also for you to take in, with the Acuma team, I think. This year we're going to the Blue Wahoos, which is a minor league baseball game.
Speaker 3:I'm actually looking forward to it. I mean, again, it's not a crazy idea, but I think our pivot. We've always wanted to do experience-based learning. We couldn't figure out how to execute upon it. You know, really the how and the what and really the, the setting to do it, and the summits just ended up being the right format to do it, or this would end up being the summit. I think it's gonna be perfect. You know, know, really, it's going to be, you know, the half day on Tuesday where everyone comes in. They'll, they'll come in, they'll have lunch, we'll have an afternoon content, we'll go to the baseball game and then we'll reconvene the next day for a full day of content. So it's going to be probably one of the best events that we put on all year. We have this amazing I don't want to call it. I guess I'm gonna call it a party deck. A party deck, yeah Right, yep.
Speaker 5:Is that fair? Is that fair?
Speaker 3:to call it a party deck.
Speaker 5:I mean anywhere Acuma goes, it's a party.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we got a party deck at the Blue Wahoo Stadium that overlooks the water Right.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and I mean you can't beat. You can't beat looking at the ocean.
Speaker 3:I'm just, by the way, I love minor league baseball games.
Speaker 5:There's so much more I love baseball, but something about minor league, it's just that it's a different game Like we're still trying to make it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's like going to a college football game. They're still trying to make it for that contract, so they got something to play for. Well, we look forward to seeing all you guys out there for that. But if you can't make it out, don't worry. We have educational content for you to take in all year round with our Fast Track and Inside Track webinar series. And then we'll also have our On Point podcast, which runs every two weeks, so new episodes are always dropping. And then we'll also have our On Point podcast, which runs every two weeks, so new episodes are always dropping. And then, lastly, the Young Professional Network meeting is going to be having their Q1 meeting in February. More information coming on that soon. And if you're not part of Young Professional Network and you've been looking for that network for you to join with Acuma, we have more networks that are launching this year and we can't wait to unveil those to you guys in the near future. Awesome.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah, All right, Margaret, back to you so you know before we get to. You know really the heart of our conversation. You know I always start with this, I always start and end with really the same questions, and so I'm going to start with my opening question and I preface it with the same preface. The Atkins On Point podcast is a people piece where we tell the stories of people who are making a positive impact on industry. I said that in my intro. I want people to know who you are because I, like I said, I met you almost three years ago and I was blown away by your story. I think you're doing something special at Polish and Slavic, and so, for those who do not know you, and so for those who should know who you are, do me a favor, Before we dive into our conversation, know who you are. Do me a favor, Before we dive into our conversation, walk us through who Margaret is. So, who is Margaret? Tell us that. Let's go with that first. That's the first question.
Speaker 4:Thank you, peter. Well, first of all, I always consider myself work in progress. There's so much more to improve on. So I am learning every day as I go, especially in my professional career because, as we know, lending is an ongoing, ever-changing industry and there is so much to learn.
Speaker 4:My background I've been with Polish Slavic for 28 years. This was my part-time job, if you will, during college and then it just evolved more and more and I loved it so much that I stayed and I started from the very bottom. I was member service representative back in the day, then assistant loan officer, loan officer, mortgage processor, underwriter, supervisor, manager. Now I'm currently senior vice president of mortgage lending, currently Senior Vice President of Mortgage Lending. I oversee entire residential lending departments. So processing, closing, underwriting and all that good stuff. So I would consider myself a seasoned mortgage professional.
Speaker 4:Polish and Slavic. A little bit of background of our credit union we are ethnic-based credit union. We're the largest ethnic-based credit union. We serve Polish and Slavic community. We were established in 1976 for Polish immigrants in Brooklyn who had the money but couldn't get a mortgage anywhere because they did not fit the traditional cookie cutter mortgage borrower, if you will. So our credit union was established just for that sole purpose, and ever since then we've been serving the Polish and Savvy community, doing just that and helping them achieve the ultimate American dream, and putting people in homes.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's great. Thank you for sharing that. All right, so let's dive into the conversation, because, again, it's one of my favorite topics and again, I said it earlier, it's something that I feel aided in my success when I was a senior vice president oversaw, you know, entire mortgage division for a credit union and it was actually, even when I think back to when I was in the community banks, it's something that aided in my success at a community bank. But and it was one of the actually one of the first things that I changed when I stepped into my role as senior vice president I so one of the first things I ensured that we changed and improved when I took over that role, but it was the mortgage department and branch relationship.
Speaker 3:And when you sent me and just so everyone knows, prior to our recordings, I always send this email to all of our special guests and it's like, hey, what do you want to talk about? And when you said, hey, let's talk about creating an open dialogue between branch and mortgage and how we strengthen that relationship, I was like, yes, that is the perfect conversation, let's talk about that. So let's have this conversation. So, margaret, in your mind, I don't want to ask a stupid question, but I'm going to ask a stupid question. Why is this so important in your mind? I don't want to ask a stupid question, but I'm going to ask a stupid question. Why is this so important in your mind? Let's start with that stupid question, and then we'll kind of go from there.
Speaker 4:Well, first of all, I don't think it's a stupid question, I think it's an important question and I feel that often lending departments or mortgage department whatever you want to call it is seen as an island at the credit union. There is no bridges to it and I really feel that no one wants to be on an island and no one wants to be seen as an island. You want to have bridges and not only one. You want to have multiple bridges and you want to have that open conversation so branches understand what mortgage department struggles with and mortgage department can understand what branches struggle with, because if there is no understanding between the two, it's very hard to work together.
Speaker 3:Agreed, agreed. And if I could add to that, is that for me, I also viewed it as if I could have one more advocate in my corner right. That was one more person that would help in my fight for that one more product or that one more system, because, let's say, hypothetically speaking, I want it. Construction lending, easy example. You know, if I could easily say, well, you know, I want to get construction lending, let's invest in, you know, this construction software. Or let's start investing in, you know, really doing our due diligence and developing a construction loan program, I would at least have, you know, the head of branch ops say you know what. He's right, our members are asking for this. I'm hearing it from my branch managers. They're giving me that direct feedback because I built that relationship, because they're actually actively listening for it, because I've trained them to listen for it. We have that open dialogue. I have those advocates in that network, right, I was out there meeting with them once a month, training them, and they loved it. They absolutely loved it, I agree.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I, I, um, I attend. They have a quarterly meetings in person. I attend those meetings every quarter. I make myself available to go to their branch manager meeting and I listen to their struggles, I listen to their successes. Also, it's not always negative. There's a lot of positive. There's more positive than negative. But by me understanding what is going on in the branch level every day, I can come back to my department and communicate that with my department, because I feel like if the mortgage processor knows what's going on at the branch, what promotion they're having, that there might be busy at a certain time because there are certain things going on. I think it's also a better relationship between the two.
Speaker 4:Our structure currently is that our mortgage applications are taking at the branches. We have loan specialists. We don't have true loan officers yet. We have loan specialists and they all sit at the branches. So a loan specialist will not only do a mortgage but they will also take a consumer loan. They'll take a visa application. Consumer loan, they'll take a visa application. So there needs to be an understanding from my department that they also have a very large array of products that they have to know and just because something is missing on mortgage application. It doesn't mean that someone is sloppy, it means that we're probably busy taking care of a member with other things. So I think that is very important to stress to the back office that you know they're frontline, they're member facing people and they will have the phone calls that have a line in front of their desk and they have to take care of all that. And there must be understanding from the back office what the frontline sees and takes care of every day.
Speaker 3:So the loan specialist, just out of curiosity, who do they report to?
Speaker 4:They report to the branch manager.
Speaker 3:The branch manager.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:And they obviously have their MLS. Yes, they do so they're part of branch ops. I guess they're completely different than like a assistant branch manager. They're just a general. I guess in the banking world if you were looking at, I guess they'd completely different than like a like a assistant branch manager. They're just a general. I guess in the banking world if you were looking at, I guess it'd be like a private banker almost something like that.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay okay, and all they do is just take loan applications all day long yeah, well, not only they open accounts, they take consumer loans.
Speaker 4:They're just usually they're um, they're more seasoned, if you will member service representatives who have more knowledge and they're capable of taking mortgage applications. And you know, by taking mortgage applications I feel like it's a very loose term they're really taking leads, they're filling out the application form, they take whatever the member brings in, they forward it to the back office and then our processors ultimately work as an assistant loan officer, if you will. They get all the missing data or missing paperwork, they're in contact with our members and whatnot.
Speaker 3:So that makes the relationship between you, as in the mortgage department, and branch even more important, because they're pulled in multiple different directions. They don't report to you, right? It's completely different if you have a mortgage loan officer going in and trying to train an MSR or a branch manager on hey, this is mortgage, sell this product, right. That's a different animal right. And know that's a different animal right. And that was a structure that I had, right, I had a loan officer assigned to a branch and they would do their best to train an MSR, to listen for these cues, right. And then, once you hear this cue, call me and I'll come running. Or same thing with a branch manager or assistant branch manager. But for you that relationship is pivotal. You need to make sure that there's always an open line of communication between those two parties, Because if there's not, the last thing you want is having any type of fight between branch ops and mortgage, Because in my experience, branch is always going to win.
Speaker 4:Oh, 100%. Yes, I agree, and I mentioned before I attend branch managers meeting. But I go further. I visit branches. I go and visit branches in person and I talk to our loan specialists. I even talk to our MSRs and tellers that they don't work with me every day, on daily basis, but I feel like if people know you face to face, they are not shy to call you with a question or they're not shy to call you if they have a challenge. And I really like coming into a branch where they know me and they can come up to me and they can talk to me and I know their stories, you know, because if you have that, that just creates open dialogue and open communication.
Speaker 3:Now, you have a lot of, you have a good number of branches and you also have some branches in like the Chicago area, right, are you going out there?
Speaker 4:Yes, we have 23 branches. We have New York, new Jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania and Illinois, and I do travel to Illinois to visit them.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's good, that's good. I mean that's a lot for you to take on. Do you have any support with that? I mean because I mean, as the head of mortgage, I mean that's, that responsibility can't just be on you.
Speaker 4:Well, I do have support. I have a lending manager that reports to me. She comes with me. So sometimes we'll split She'll go to one branch and I'll go to the other, but then we'll flip flop and I don't visit them very often. I try to visit them once, maximum twice, a year in person, but I do call them. We have branch managers, are on the call with me constantly. We have conversations. They all have my cell phone. If they need support after hours, they know they can always go and I will pick up and I will answer their question, whatever it may be. Sometimes they have a very urgent pre-approval that needs to be, you know, taken care of right away and the underwriters already left home. I will get on our LOS and I will issue them a pre-approval if it's necessary. So, and I feel like if they know they have that support, like you mentioned at the beginning, they will also back me up if I need something and if I need their support. So I really think open line of communication is the key in that relationship.
Speaker 3:Justin, you leaned in.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, I mean, I just think it's amazing because I mean you talk about the open lines of communication and you're making these branch trips, these visits. I think that's the pivotal moment for you, like the communication, like you can't, you can't deny that, that that matters as much, right. But there there's something to be said. When you're walking into the branches and saying, hey, I'm here to support you, you can support me, let's make this, you know, let's make these dreams come true, right. So I love that you're out there doing that. You said you have 23 branches in Chicago.
Speaker 4:No, no, no, Overall, no Overall. We have 23 branches.
Speaker 5:I was like, oh my gosh, how do you do that in a day or two? I just imagine you running from one side of Chicago to the north side and I'm like there's, there's no way.
Speaker 4:No way, no, no. Chicago we have currently seven, and I usually take about four days when I go visit them, because I don't want to just pop in and say hi and then 10 minutes later I'm leaving. I usually try to stay there half a day, talk to people you know, see what's going on, and that way they get to know me a little bit as well.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean you're investing your time in them and letting them know that you're there.
Speaker 4:Yep Exactly.
Speaker 3:That's awesome so so has there been any tripping points when you on this journey to build this strong relationship? You know when I say tripping points, you know stumbling blocks along the way, push back from the branches or or has this just been a natural progression for you to get to this point? Where they're? They're, they've just accepted you. It would tell us about that, because for me, you know and I'm sort of telling you about my story there was some initial pushback.
Speaker 3:There wasn't the, the initial acceptance of, you know, you know p, here he's, he's going to help us out there. There was, it was always the what's he doing in here, you know why is he here? Because there's, there's that. There's always that hesitant, at least from from my experience. There was that initial hesitation, but then they saw there's always. There was that, that, that whiff and what's in it for me, and I started training them. I started teaching them and I started showing them. I'm here to support you just as much as you're here to support me. We're in this together. I have your back just as much as you have my back. We're a team. Was there any pushback, was there any hesitation before they started accepting you for who you are, margaret?
Speaker 4:They really wasn't. I think they have the way I approached it. I would, when I start doing this, I would call up certain branch managers and say, hey, I want to come visit you guys just to see what's going on. How can we work together closer, you know, so I can meet your, you know your staff in person, so they're not reluctant to call me because you know I'm in the lending department, far, far away, you know, and I may be too busy to pick up the phone, because that's the stigma.
Speaker 4:If, once you get a certain title and you're in certain positions some people who are, if you will, you know they're an MSR, they have a manager they will be reluctant to call me because they might think, you know, oh, I can't call this person because they're, you know, there might be too busy, this or that.
Speaker 4:So I just want to remove all that stigma and I just wanted to see, I wanted them to see that they can call me and they can talk to me, no matter, you know, how silly they think the question is or no matter how silly their problem is. So when I reached out to them, they were very welcoming, they were excited and till this day, whenever I call them and say hey, I'm coming to your area and I'm going to visit your branch. They're very excited. They make sure their staff is there that day, because we work six days a week so obviously somebody has a day off during the week so they make sure whoever takes mortgages they're in office that day so I can see them and talk to them and chat. So I really did not. Luckily I did not have any pushback. It was well received from everybody because I think they saw the value of having that open conversation, especially face to face, that you know they can get something from it too, that we can work together.
Speaker 3:Now are you performing like regular trainings with them, whether it's virtual?
Speaker 4:Yes, we have. I try to do in-person training, in-person training once a year and then we train as needed as we go. Certain branches might need more training, others have less training because they have more seasoned employees. So we just, you know, we pick and choose. Whoever needs more training, we will put them, pull them aside and train them.
Speaker 3:Now, from a structure standpoint, is it, do branch managers and assistant branch managers and loan specialists have MLSs, or is it just loan specialists?
Speaker 4:It depends on the branch. Some managers have MLS, others don't. I would say it's about 50 50.
Speaker 3:And so pretty much everyone is. So is the normal MSR getting trained to listen for cues? Is the normal MSR getting trained to listen for cues?
Speaker 4:For cues? Yes, but then they will. You know, they will refer that borrower to the actual loan specialist.
Speaker 3:Of course. Yeah, I think that's important, right? Because I can't tell you how many credit unions I talk to where they say MSRs don't need to go through mortgage training, and I tend to disagree because that is such a vital component, right, why wouldn't you train them on mortgage? Because the last thing you want is for them not to understand or listen for something like a borrower's talking about needing some additional cash for a home improvement. Well, if a borrower says that, why wouldn't you want them to hear that and immediately say, well, we have a loan officer in the next room or a loan specialist in the next room. I can refer you over to them, right? Like that is a cue that they should be listening for, to say, okay, well, there's a HELOC or a cash out refinance, although cash out refinances, you know, depending on how you look at it, may or may not be coming back, but still that is something that they need to be trained to listen for. So I come from the school of thought that everyone within the organization needs to be trained on mortgage.
Speaker 4:I agree 100%.
Speaker 3:So I think that's that. That's, that's huge now. Now I think I'm gonna ask a question from a marketing standpoint. I know justin's gonna like this we're finally talking marketing from a marketing standpoint, like are you going there and kind of walking, walking in, and are your branches comfortable with you? Openly marketing mortgage in the branches.
Speaker 4:Oh, yes, absolutely. They have flyers about mortgages, they have window displays about mortgages. Yes, our marketing department is 100% behind mortgages and they work with us and we definitely advertise our mortgages at every single branch.
Speaker 5:I'm just saying, I mean it's awesome, but you know what?
Speaker 3:I'm talking about Justin.
Speaker 5:It's the old school frame of thinking that you know sales and marketing have this wall built between them, that it takes two very special people one person from the sales side and I know that's not that's like a faux pas word in credit unions, but being able to offer credit unions or offer mortgages.
Speaker 5:But then it takes a person on the marketing side to be like they know they're, they know their members, they know what their members are asking them for.
Speaker 5:Now I need to be willing to listen and you guys are coming together, you're crossing that you're, you're breaking down that wall. I mean it's it's a it's an age old conversation that we in the marketing field have all the time about breaking down that wall between us and the salespeople, because it that's how you bridge the gap, that's how you move the needle forward. So the fact that your credit union is doing that, I mean we hear all the time the complete opposite is that it's not as big of a focus. And it's not as big of a focus either one, because there's someone that's not advocating, like you are, for mortgage, which I don't find that to be true, because all of our members are super advocates for mortgage. But then it's the other side of it, where, you know, maybe marketing just doesn't see what they, what you're seeing, they're not seeing the vision that you're putting out, and so I think it's cool that your credit union is, you know, ahead of the game.
Speaker 2:And it's such a.
Speaker 3:I mean, listen, we lend mortgage around, right, and it is such. Again, I always say it's such a cornerstone division of any financial institution. It is a pillar, it is something that can hold up and strengthen any credit union. Why wouldn't you market it year round, right? And it needs to be on at least one wall constantly. And Justin, you know what I'm talking about. You were there how many times. It's just a constant fight, right?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean I remember many emails from you. No, I mean it was fun when we were doing it. We saw the vision. It's exactly what I'm saying. Like we saw that vision. You know, I did. I did a lot of design sports back then and it was kind of one of those things. It was like well, you know, I want to make sure that everybody's getting some love, and so like, even from a social perspective, like we had, I think I did mortgage Mondays or something like that. So like every Monday on social, something went out about the mortgage department, right, just just so that way everybody got some love, and it was just, it was to make sure that you know one line of business isn't being forgotten. Like everybody needs to know all the different options that are out there for your membership.
Speaker 3:You know, like, what your credit union offers, and so yeah, but it's important, right, and I think that's good that you got that, margaret your credit union isn't forgetting about mortgage and branch because, again, like Justin said, we talked to a lot of credit unions and they're fighting for space, yeah, and I think it's a testament to your relationship with your branch ops, your head, your head of branch ops, because they're, again, it's about being your advocate. It's about them saying, because it's not just advocating for mortgages or actually being your advocate, it's I hate to say it's a political game, but it's very much political. They're saying Margaret's great, margaret supports us. I'm going to support Margaret.
Speaker 5:But that goes back to you're in the branches, like you are making that appearance, right, like as much as we don't want to be, like you got to play the game, like you're not going to get as much love if you just if you're a ghost, or if it's just me, me, me, me, me, yeah. So, um, but I also you you made a comment earlier that I really um, that was pivotal as well as which is that you know you were saying that you know sometimes the, the, the person at the member service representative or the member representative sometimes doesn't go to you directly because they might have a manager in front of them, and then, like you're out there educating them to come to you directly, right, and it's like really just breaking down that, that old school organizational structure, that old school frame of thought. So I think that that's also great that you're out there doing that too, hands down absolutely, absolutely well, margaret, when you start transitioning um to our second segment.
Speaker 3:but before we do, like I said earlier, I start with the same question and I'm going to end with the same question that I always end with, and that question is you know what motivates you? You know, you take one foot out of bed every single day, and you take one step out of bed every single day. What keeps driving you, day in and day out, to get better, every single day? What is that motivation?
Speaker 4:I want others to be successful. I want them to know where to have the resources to get the knowledge that they need in order to strive at their jobs. I just want somebody once told me a great quote a great leader works themselves out of their own job because they're able to teach everybody around them what they know, and that's what I strive for every day. I come into the office and I want to teach somebody something new. I want to learn something new, but I also want to, you know, provide insights of what I know to others to make their jobs easier. So that is my main motivation to make everybody else's lives around me easier as much as I can.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. I love it and that's a good quote. That is a great quote. Thank you very much for sharing that. Well, margaret, it's time for us to transition to the second segment of our show. Now, the second segment of our show is where we sometimes play Jeopardy, we do trivia, or sometimes we do the most requested segment of dad jokes, only by Peter. No, no, no, no, no, no. There are plenty of people who request dad jokes, but today we're doing Justin's favorite Jeopardy, so bear with me one second while I share my screen. Where's my mouse? There it is.
Speaker 5:I'm going to share my screen. You said my favorite, though, Like you made that sound serious, we're doing Justin's favorite Jeopardy Justin's favorite Jeopardy.
Speaker 3:So, as I always do, I'm going to describe what's on my screen, because obviously you can't see this. This is only an audio podcast but on my screen we have a Jeopardy board with scores ranging from one to 505 categories. Today we're doing New York City Jeopardy, knowing that Polish and Slavic is located in the New York City area, but I also selected because New York City happens to be Justin's favorite place in the world right, justin Place in the world.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's my favorite, one of my favorite places in the US, for sure, okay, well, so you always talk about it like ooh, we should go there.
Speaker 3:Ooh, we should go there.
Speaker 5:I mean I do love New York, like don't get me wrong. But so we're doing that.
Speaker 3:Plus, it was really hard to figure out what type of Jeopardy we should do, so I was like I kind of got lazy, so I apologize. I was like New York City Jeopardy, done All right, so I'm going to just go ahead and describe it again. We have a standard Jeopardy board in front of you. The categories are did you know? Buildings, parks, what else do you know? And important landmarks. Points range anywhere from 100 to 500. For the sake of this game, margaret, you are team one, justin, you are team two. Now, margaret, I am not strict about you. Do not have to answer who is what is, or anything like that. You just have to say it. Now, one thing I am strict about if you get it wrong, I do take points away pretty quickly, and if you try stealing and you get it wrong, I am vicious about taking points away. So don't steal unless you actually know the answer. Okay, okay, so, and don't just blurt out answers, because I take points away. Um, I am a vicious scorer, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 5:Okay, justin knows that yep, oh, and also that 500 is extremely hard usually, just so you know or sometimes they're actually really stupidly easy for some strange reason, I know and also full disclaimer etc.
Speaker 3:Full, full disclosure again. I did not make up this jeopardy board but, as always, I had to get that disclaimer. So, Margaret, you are our honored guest. You get to go first.
Speaker 4:Please go ahead, I will take the first one. Did you know for 100?
Speaker 3:Did you know for 100?, Margaret? The question is New York City was originally named blank by the Dutch.
Speaker 4:Oh, I don't know this, the York.
Speaker 3:I get my my mouse over the minus real quick. Justin, you want to steal? No, all right, I'm going to go and say New Amsterdam. The correct answer is what is New Amsterdam? Sorry, morgan, I'm taking points away.
Speaker 4:It's OK. I have a feeling I'll be in big negatives.
Speaker 3:All right, justin, you're up.
Speaker 5:I'm go with parks for 300 parks 300.
Speaker 3:This park has over 58 miles of walkways and 632 different types of trees central park. The correct answer is what is central park.
Speaker 5:That's good, because if there was another one I was going to be really confused. I don't know.
Speaker 3:All right, Margaret.
Speaker 4:Let's do buildings for 100.
Speaker 3:Buildings 100. This building is named after a famous car company. It also has six levels of stainless steel arches Chrysler building. The correct answer is what is Chrysler building. The correct answer is what is the Chrysler building. Good job, Margaret.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I got one Back to zero yeah.
Speaker 3:All right, Justin.
Speaker 5:We're going to go with. What else do you know for 400?
Speaker 3:What else do you know for 400? The storm that hit New York City last year.
Speaker 5:The storm.
Speaker 3:What is rain? There's no date on this either.
Speaker 5:No, there's not. So what is rain?
Speaker 3:I can't wait. Margaret, do you want to steal?
Speaker 4:nope, I don't know which storm they're referring to the correct answer is Hurricane Sandy this is really old that was not last year wasn't that rain.
Speaker 5:There's rain involved with that, oh God. Okay, that was good.
Speaker 1:All right, Margaret, you're up.
Speaker 4:Okay, let's do buildings 400.
Speaker 3:Buildings 400?.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Buildings. Yeah, okay, the name of the castle in Central Park.
Speaker 5:That's a wrong question. You said 400 or 100? Yeah, butings. Yeah, okay, the name of the castle in Central Park. That's the wrong question.
Speaker 3:You said 400 or 100?.
Speaker 4:You said buildings.
Speaker 3:Oh, my part, my fault. Buildings 400. This museum has art from all over the world, as well as antique and ancient artifacts.
Speaker 4:It could be between the two Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Speaker 5:Justin, you want to steal Nope, that one's here in DC. Oh wait, there's one in New York too. I'm not stealing. No, yeah, I am the Natural History Museum. I think that's here in DC. That's my answer.
Speaker 3:The correct answer is what is the Met? The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Good job, Margaret.
Speaker 5:Sorry, Justin.
Speaker 4:Justin okay.
Speaker 5:We're going to go with not what else do you know? Let's go. Let's go with Parks for 500.
Speaker 3:Parks 500. The name of this park, which is built above New York City Public Library's underground archives.
Speaker 4:I don't know. I might know this one, but I'll be up zero. No, I'll be at negative, but I'll try.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4:The Bryant Park.
Speaker 5:I bet it is that one. I was trying to think which park was over there, but I couldn't remember.
Speaker 3:The correct answer is what is the Bryant Park? All right, At the end of our current round, we have Margaret with 900 and Justin with negative 1,000. Okay, we're going to do one more round and then we're going to wrap. How are you?
Speaker 5:feeling, justin? You know I'm going to start the year off 0-1. How are you feeling, justin? You know I'm going to start the year off 0-1.
Speaker 4:I didn't have a New Year's resolution to not lose Jeffery this year. Important landmarks 200.
Speaker 3:Important landmarks 200. The financial section of the city.
Speaker 4:What is that question? Wall Street? I assume that's the answer. Wall Street, Justin, do you want to steal?
Speaker 5:No, I'm pretty sure she's right.
Speaker 3:What is Wall Street? There we go. What kind of question is that.
Speaker 5:Well, okay, I cannot win, so let's go big um with you know the whole, did you know should be like a gimme, but it's not.
Speaker 3:uh, important landmarks for 500 this area of new york city is home to washington square, the mcdonald's sullivan's gardens historic district and new york university. Um is home to Washington Square, the McDonald Sullivan Gardens Historic District in New York University.
Speaker 5:Manhattan, yep Manhattan.
Speaker 4:Nope, I like my winnings right now.
Speaker 5:We're going with Manhattan. The correct answer is which is also in Manhattan? I was right. I'm not giving it to you. I was right. Yes, it is, you're right.
Speaker 3:You're right, thank you, I'm not giving it to you. I am not giving it to you the correct answer is Greenwich Village.
Speaker 5:So just for the record, two of my answers were correct that I got negatives for, okay, rain and Manhattan.
Speaker 4:Yep, you're right, I'm with you.
Speaker 3:Okay're right, I'm with you. Ok, all right. At the end of New York City Jeopardy, we have Margaret with a score of eleven hundred and Justin with a score of negative fifteen hundred. Margaret, congratulations, you officially won this episode of New York City, or Acumazon Point Jeopardy. Well done, well done.
Speaker 5:Thank you. Thank you Want to know something, though Not my worst.
Speaker 3:Not, definitely not his worst, nowhere near his worst. Well, margaret, thank you so much for joining us. We really do appreciate it, enjoyed our conversation. You are amazing and thank you for being such an important part of the credit movement.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you to Acuma for all the support and I'm looking forward to the next event and seeing you in person at Acuma.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Thank you so much, and Hawk, thank you. Thank you, it was my pleasure, of course, of course, and to close out, thank you again to Polygon Research for sponsoring today's episode and to all of you. We know your time is valuable. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of ACMA's On Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time. Be well, my friends.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time at the ACMA On Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating For more great episodes and information. Be sure to visit us online at acumaorg and to get the latest updates, head over to our LinkedIn page.
