Surviving & Thriving she said. Once, a man tried to kidnap her. She wanted to physically fight back, but if she injured him, she knew the police would arrest her. She managed to escape but the experience still haunts her, she added. The four years she spent in active service, and the two years in the reserves provided her with a multitude of lessons that have served her throughout her different career paths. One obstacle that she had to conquer was the limited number of females who served in the Air Force at that time. “I was working in a man’s world and it was an adjustment,” she said. “One thing I learned was to treat everyone as an equal and give everyone the chance to prove themselves.” Shaw currently serves as the vice president of corporate security and facilities manager at Citizens Bank based in Batesville. She’s been in the banking industry for more than nine years. After her service and prior to her bank career, she spent nearly 21 years in manufacturing management. She is responsible for implementing and administering all aspects of the bank’s security program, in addition to overseeing the general maintenance function for all bank properties and managing construction projects of the bank’s new branches. Shaw said she is methodical in her approach to her job. She likes to develop policies and procedures to ensure that the banks are safe for employees and customers. One of her prouder moments was when she was able to start an active shooter training program for employees, she said. Supreme organization and setting standards are among the other lessons she learned from her military service. Those lessons have come in handy during her tenure with the bank, she said. In her spare time Shaw likes to kayak and take action sports photographs, Her son Logan is a student at the Cedar Ridge School District, where she was recently voted to serve on the school board. She takes a lot of action pictures and she gives copies of the pictures to the student athletes and
Helen Shaw was stationed in Saudi Arabia about 50 miles from the border with Iraq.
their families. Several people have told her she needs to charge for the pictures, but for now she’s content to give them away for free, she said. After her son leaves high school, she might consider charging a small fee. “I do it for fun – I really enjoy it,” she said. “I like photographing the emotion that comes with sports.”
THE ARKANSAS BANKER
• 39
