Women We Love: Ginger Germani

Cute. Adorable. Supportive. Energetic. Happy. Fun. These are the words that immediately come to mind when you hear the name Ginger Germani. Germani, the Treasury Management officer at Virginia National Bank (VNB), is a wife, the mother of four, and involved in many activities in town she finds dear to her heart: such as Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA and helping to organize Quadruplicity, the women’s conference.

Germani followed her passion and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Randolph-Macon College. “My degree in economics was no accident,” she says. “I’m an economics dork. I love spending time looking at how people are operating their businesses and how I can help make a positive impact on that. Banking relationships are very crucial to the success of a business. It’s just a great fit.”

Germani is a dynamo—giving back to her family and her community. She carves out at least 30 minutes a day to just talk to her husband. “It doesn’t sound like much and most times it’s an hour, but our alone time to talk is really important,” Germani says.

And she tries to lead her life by her beliefs.

“My greatest strength is probably my conviction. I enjoy being able to speak so genuinely about the people and organizations I associate myself with. I only spend my time and effort on things that I truly believe in,” she says. “I believe that VNB offers the best possible banking relationships. I believe that our chamber can make a difference for businesses and professionals in our community. I believe that pets are valuable to people’s lives and should be given every chance to have a home because they will give back. I believe that my children are paying attention to everything that I do so it’s important for me to pay attention to them.

“My work with the chamber and the CASPCA can also be part of my day,” she adds. “VNB is very supportive of our community.”

And it’s her job at Virginia National Bank that Germani credits with helping her lead a balanced life.

“I has taken me a long time to figure out the secret to living a balanced life. I would attribute it to surrounding yourself with the right people and letting them know how much they mean to you: my husband, my boss and my friends,” Germani says. “My husband is a true life partner; he understands the importance of my family to me and of my career. My boss understands the same two things and a person spends most of their week working, so this is important. Both of them support me in those endeavors and I appreciate it so I try to tell them often. I don’t think I could have better friends. Most of them have begun as professional relationships and are such positive influences on my life.”

Her days at work are not “typical,” she notes, and she finds that exciting. “I could be analyzing bank statements to create service proposals or meeting with customers to learn about their daily operations and what they are trying to achieve to determine is there are Treasuring Management solutions that can help them.”

While she loves the day-to-day differences, and the strong relationships it affords, it’s her boss who has given her most rewarding professional experience.

“I get a tremendous warm and fuzzy feeling when one of my customers calls me because they want to bring me additional business because they enjoy and appreciate working with me. And as strange as it sounds, I get as excited over an exceptional service proposal as I do over a new pair of shoes,” she says. “But, none of that tops my last review. My boss has spent his entire career in banking. I have listened and learned very intently every time he has spoken. I couldn’t have a better mentor. So for someone that I regard so highly to tell me how pleased he has been with my work, well it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s sort of like Peyton Manning telling you what a great spiral you’ve got. I’m smiling just typing about it.”

As for other women thinking of going into banking, Germani offers this advice:
“Banking is a relationship-driven career. You are selling a relationship with yourself first and your organization second,” she says. “Join an organization that you can believe in so that you will always be genuine to your customers. Keep the dialogue about your career path open. Ask what opportunities will be available and what you need to demonstrate to be given those opportunities.”

8 Things You Might Not Know about Ginger Germani

1)  Who is your favorite author and why? I would love to have something profound to offer up here. However, I raise four kids and three dogs. My reading consists of periodicals that relate to my profession because I can get through an article at a time and blogs because blog posts do not tend to be too long either. I love to read Marijean Jaggers’ blog and Amy Eastlack’s Suzy Has More To Say and her other blog, Finding Amy…Again . Both of these ladies provide a comfortable place for me when I read their blogs. I am reminded that so many others experience all the same things I do. Some better—some worse. But when I have a few moments, I go to my Google reader and catch up on their blogs.

2)  Favorite thing about Charlottesville? My favorite thing about Charlottesville is the beautiful scenery. I come from Richmond, where I never noticed how flat everything was until I moved here. I look around everyday and appreciate the view that I have living in Charlottesville.

3)  What is your favorite hobby/pastime? My favorite hobby or past time is playing softball. I played it all my life until I went to a college that did not have a softball program. I missed it tremendously. I have coach my sons’ baseball teams when they were younger and my stepdaughter’s first softball team. I managed to form a co-ed team a few springs back but didn’t have the time to be in charge of it after that season. I look forward to playing again. I’m not so girly once I step onto that field.

4)  What is one of your hidden talents/skills? Hidden talent other than softball is cooking. I’m no five-star chef, but I have some pretty impressive dishes. Just no actual recipes. I never write anything down when I create it.

5)  What is your guilty pleasure? My guilty pleasure is my favorite consignment shop in Richmond. There are labels in that store that you can not find in this state! When my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday, I said I wanted to go there. It’s a good thing I moved. I would have a completely ridiculous wardrobe if I could still go every week.

6)  What is your favorite movie and why? I would have to pick two movies to be my favorites. The first being “The Notebook.” Love that is that strong is so moving. It’s so refreshing to see a story about two people who aren’t perfect but are perfect for each other. People whose strengths and weakness compensate or compliment each others. My other favorite movie would be “The Blind Side.” I think that knowing that it was a true story made me buy in to every moment of it. I was also so impressed with Leigh Anne Tuohy’s conviction and character. She’s a woman to admire.

7)  Where did you grow up? I grew up in Mechanicsville, a suburb of Richmond. A lot of farmland.

8)  What is the greatest invention of your lifetime and why? The greatest invention of my time. That has to be the Internet. There is an endless list of how the Internet has changed the way we do business and carry out our personal relationships as well.