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Who Would Have Known? Vadala is a Rock and Roller

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-Though the leadership of Mike Vadala, CEO of The Summit Federal Credit Union, helps keep the institution humming along, on his own time he likes to crank it up. For 13 years Vadala has rocked out with 11 friends-including his sister-in a rock band. "It's my big release. It's...

By Sarah Snell Cooke | Updated on February 24, 2004

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-Though the leadership of Mike Vadala, CEO of The Summit Federal Credit Union, helps keep the institution humming along, on his own time he likes to crank it up. For 13 years Vadala has rocked out with 11 friends-including his sister-in a rock band. “It’s my big release. It’s what I do for me,” he said enthusiastically. (In fact, he’s leaving CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference early for a March of Dimes charity event he is chairing and his band, Sometimes Three, is playing on Tuesday.) “There’s so much pleasure, so much escape, especially in a numbers business-credit unions are for sure a people business too-but it’s so nice to have a kind of artistic outlet,” Vadala explained. The band generally plays publicly twice a month, once at a venue like a bar and another time for a private function or a charity. One of their annual gigs is at a local camp for mentally and physically disabled children. When they are done playing, he said, the campers are so happy and often come up and ask for their autographs. Vadala makes many self-deprecating remarks about his musical abilities, but commented, “If you can make somebody that happy with that talent, that’s what it’s all about.” Vadala plays several instruments for the band including trumpet, keyboards, accordion, bass, and guitar, and even grabs the mic as lead vocalist. In addition, he said he brings his leadership skills from work to the band and they typically look to him for conflict resolution. “Once a CEO, always a CEO,” he quipped. Though Sometimes Three sticks within the rock and roll genre, they do not limit themselves to any particular decade. They play everything from Motown and soul to new stuff, from Bruce Springstein’s “Rosalita” to “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. [email protected]

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