Florida Banking October 2021

STRAIGHT TALK FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

MY TIME IN IOWA, PART 1: APPLYING FOR LAW SCHOOL

BY ALEJANDRO “ALEX” SANCHEZ, FBA PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

T his is the first in a three-part series about the time I spent attending the University of Iowa, College of Law in Iowa City, Iowa. My Iowa experience first started at Torrejon Air Base, located about 40 miles northeast of Madrid. I was there for a three-year assignment at our base we shared with the Spaniards. I had served for almost three years in our military. I worked eight hours a day and attended university classes at night. My typical day was getting to my assigned station to work as a financial disbursement officer at about

I also was thinking about studying law, something that interested me since I was a child. Growing up I had two favorite television shows: “Mission Impossible” and “Perry Mason.” When I enlisted in the United States Air Force, my first job request was military intelligence. I wanted to be an agent on that IMF force. All my military test scores qualified me for that position. By the time I went to boot camp, my top-secret clearance needed for military intelligence had not been completed due to having family in a communist country, Cuba.

8 a.m., working until 5 p.m. At 5 p.m., I went to the chow hall for a quick bite with my school books in hand, then ran to the junior high school on base used by our troops to attend night college courses. I then attended class from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. each night. Afterwards, I did some extra work at the office and then homework until midnight in the barracks. The next morning, I’d go for a five-mile run before starting the day all over again. Looking back, I did all of this without Cuban espresso coffee. “How did I do this?” , I wonder sometimes.

My second job interest was the law, from the “Perry Mason” show. Mr. Mason always got the bad guy all in one TV hour. He always made the right person break down on the witness stand. He was cool, calm and collected. I wanted to be like Perry Mason. Additionally, I had a real-life Perry Mason experience when I was 12 years old. My Dad had limited English skills in his blue-collar job at the factory in New York City. He asked me to go to work with him one day to translate in a meeting with a union official. I am not sure what problem my

“ I LOVED SERVING OUR COUNTRY IN THE MILITARY, BUT I ALSO WAS THINKING ABOUT STUDYING LAW, SOMETHING THAT INTERESTED ME SINCE I WAS A CHILD. ”

I attended college courses all three years at Torrejon Air Base — four hours a night, four nights a week, 47 weeks a year. I also received college credit hours at my previous military assignment, March Air Force Base in California. So the year was about 1980 and I was getting closer to two major checkpoints in my life: completing my military tour of duty of almost five years and graduating with my undergraduate degree. I started to think about what was next on the agenda of my life. I loved serving our country in the military, but

Dad was having with the union, but I was a pudgy little kid and stood between my Dad and the union representative during their meeting. As the union guy spoke, I then translated into Spanish for my Dad. My Dad would then respond, and I told the union rep what he said in English. I went back and forth for about 30 minutes. I don’t know or remember what the issue was, but I remember walking away with my Pop thinking he was getting the short end of the stick. I also remember thinking that, like Perry Mason, I wish I could have pulled out my business

6 — FLORIDA BANKING THE VOICE OF FLORIDA BANKING