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Navy experience helps financial planner
By MARIE STEMPINSKI
| Article published on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 |
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LARGO – When Tish Wold went to her 20-year college reunion, many of the women didn’t remember all the men. But the men sure remembered all the women.
That’s because Wold, who received her degree in 1987, was one of the first female graduates of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.
“We were the eighth class with women. There were 69 women out of a class of 1,000. We girls stood out,” she said.
Wold, who now lives in Largo and is a financial planner in Belleair Bluffs, said her Navy education and experience makes her current job much easier.
“I can combine my analytical side with my people skills. And, it helps to be able to use military jargon when talking with some of my clients.”
She also said belonging to Business and Professional Women is a great asset.
“We support each other and focus not just on networking but bigger issues such as business and family balance and education for women. I talk to women who are 15 years ahead of me. They broke down the doors and made it easier for me.”
After her commission, Wold, a math major, spent a number of tours in Washington, D.C. as a cryptologist.
“I oversaw sailors at sites all over the world. Such tough duty,” she said, laughing. “I traveled to Spain, Japan and Switzerland to check up on them. It was interesting coming out of school; it was almost a year before my sailors knew I went to Annapolis. Some people think you think you know it all when you graduate from the academy. I just wanted to do my job,” she said.
Married to a fellow Annapolis grad, Wold and her husband were initially lucky to be transferred to the same location.
“Curtis went to Nuclear Power School. He was a submariner. We were sent to Hawaii. The Pacific Command.”
While there she was responsible for protocol and met visiting admirals, generals and ambassadors.
“There were two big assignments I remember. I worked with the Secret Service on protocol during the summit between President George H. Bush and representatives of 11 island nations and I was Admiral Charles Larson’s personal protocol officer during the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.”
Then their daughter Samantha was born and the couple were assigned to different duty stations.
“I was in Rhode Island teaching at officer candidate school and Curtis was in Groton, Conn. It was getting harder and harder to get stationed together and so I left the service in 1994,” she said.
Curtis is a civilian now, too, but keeps his Navy ties close.
“He’s just become a captain in the Naval Reserve,” Wold said proudly.
“My military background certainly gives me the discipline, the perseverance and it helps in dealing with people. It also gives me credibility,” Wold said. “Most of the jobs I held in the Navy dealt with people, education and translation. As a financial planner I do the same things … education, help people and translate what’s going on in the market so that my clients can understand.”
Wold also stays active in the community. She is on the development committee for Habitat for Humanity, the local board of the Naval Academy Association and is a member of the council at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Currently, the family is getting Samantha ready to go to a summer seminar at the Naval Academy to find out what it’s like to be a midshipman.
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Article published on Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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