Employee Spotlight: Steve Slayton

Job Title: Special Assets Officer
Location: Verona Operations Center
Tenure: 5 years
Tell us about your family. My wife, Julie, is a real estate agent for a local company. My daughter, Shelby, graduated from Virginia Tech in May 2023 and has begun her working career with a company in Staunton.

Pick your favorite decade and tell us why. The 1980's is definitely my favorite decade. Those were my high school and college years. I had some of the best experiences of my life during that time!

What is your favorite movie, or quote from a movie? I love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story. I quote lines from these movies all the time!

What is your dream vacation destination? I will go back to Germany someday. I was there for a few weeks in 1994. Beautiful country and so much history.

What was your first job? I spent summers on farms baling hay. It was hard work, but it helped develop much of my work ethic as an adult. Nothing comes easy!

Tell us about your pets. I have three dogs. Fiona is an eight-year-old Shi-Tzu mix. Meeka is our five-year-old German Shepherd who just had puppies in March, and we kept one and named her Ziva. They keep us all pretty busy but we love every minute of it!

What is your favorite thing about Farm Credit? I love having a job that I can look forward to doing every day. I think there is a lot of respect and support among peers at FCV. The culture and the environment here make it one of the best places I have ever worked.
What are your favorite weekend activities? I enjoy playing golf, going to a shooting range or just doing projects around my house.

To honor and feature Farm Credit of the Virginias' team members with military backgrounds, we asked veteran employees to answer questions specific to their experience in the military. We're proud to employee a number of individuals who have bravely served our country and we value the impact their military experience brings to their current role at Farm Credit.

What branch did you serve in, and for how long? I served in the U.S. Army for eight years.
Where were you located during your service? For the majority of my time, I was located in Springfield, Illinois. However, we had two short-term deployments to Italy and Germany
What was your primary job specialty after training? My specialty was Automated Logistics.
Were you active duty or reserves, or some combination of the two? Army National Guard
Why did you choose your branch of service? I felt that the Army was the best option for me. I had met with recruiters from all branches of service and liked Army the best.

What motivated you to join the military? I had just finished my second year of community college and like many, I was still undecided about what I wanted to major in or pursue as a career. My military experience helped me mature and become more focused on not only a career, but also the pride that came from serving my country.
Having served yourself, what do you appreciate most about the military? I value the friendships that I have made. There are several that I stay in contact with and we try to get together as often as possible. It is a very unique brotherhood in many ways.
How does your military experience impact your role here at Farm Credit? Being in special assets can be challenging, since we are working through stressful situations and people who are under duress. You have to remain calm. Being calm in stressful situations is very important, especially in the military, as well as in my role at Farm Credit.
Tell us about some of the special and/or impactful people you met during your time in the service. Even though I was discharged in 1997, I still have great friendships with many of the people I served with.
What are you most proud of from your time in the service? I volunteered to serve an 8-year commitment not knowing what could happen in the world during that time. It is something only a small percentage of Americans have done. The experiences I have had will last my lifetime.