My Richmond Fed

With over 2,600 employees, the Richmond Fed is composed of over 2,600 unique employee stories. We share and celebrate our employee stories because we know that our strength is within our employees. Take it away, Bill Lotman.

Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, I was a true sports kid. I played outside all day long with the neighborhood kids until the street lights came on, which signaled it was time to go home. 

One of the biggest influences in my life was my dad. He served in the Marine Corps for 23 years, which included two tours in Vietnam, where he earned three Purple Hearts. I followed in my dad’s footsteps and joined the Marine Corps when I was 18, serving for six years. Among other places, I was stationed on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz during Operation Southern Watch, after Operation Desert Storm. I left the Marines in 1995 and was living in Ocean City, Maryland, when I met a current Law Enforcement Officer and former Marine who worked at the Baltimore branch in Bank Security — now known as LEU. He told me about an open position; I went through the interview process and joined the Fed as a guard. 

While working the night shift, I went back to school to get my associate degree and later my bachelor’s degree in finance — with the help of our Bank’s education assistance program. I’ve always been interested in numbers with math being my strong suit in school, so studying finance just made sense. I later moved my way around several departments at the Baltimore office, including Accounting, Checks and Adjustments — those functions eventually moved to other offices or Reserve Banks. In December 2009, I applied for a position in Cash as an analyst and got it, and I’ve been with Cash ever since.

I may be the first point of contact for some regarding the budget, but a lot of my knowledge was achieved by learning from those around me. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a lot of great people throughout the Fed. One of the main reasons I get up in the morning is the people I work with. A retired employee and good friend once said, “If you didn’t like your job, you wouldn’t want to work hard at it, so having a great team is important.” I’m proud to say I work with a great team!