Finance Career & Leadership Academy

Virginia National Bank is excited to announce the opening of the Finance Career & Leadership Academy (FCLA), a new instructional program designed to provide not only advanced personal finance and employment readiness training, but also a path to career opportunities in banking for high school and college-age members of the community. 

WHERE:  Virginia National Bank (Pantops)
                  404 People Place, Charlottesville, VA 22911

WHEN:    Mondays & Wednesdays from 6:30pm to 7:30pm

COST:      $0.00

 Please contact us directly if you are interested in attending.

Our course will run as an in-person series of classroom sessions at our Pantops location, and will provide superior instruction in employment readiness and advanced personal finance. We have partnered with the Center for Financial Training to develop further credentialing options in the field of banking for those enrolled, and Virginia National Bank will be offering scholarship opportunities to a limited number of students in our program who show the greatest potential for success.

This program is being offered absolutely free-of-charge.

Included in the curriculum is a comprehensive study of employment readiness and professionalism concepts and strategies aimed to increase marketability (and employability) of an age group that has a demonstrated need for this type of education. In order to begin a successful career, they must be prepared to effectively communicate with a multi-generational workforce, and in order to have a successful financial future, they must have the skills necessary to intelligently and productively manage their own finances. The course topics are as follows:

Employment Readiness and Personal Finance Topics

Economic Perspectives
Employment Strategies & Professionalism
Income Studies
Taxation
Budgeting
Loans, Interest Rates, and the Credit System
Money and the Banking System
Insurance
Investments and Retirement Planning

 

Program Goals

  • Improve the interpersonal, technical, and professional skills of the next generation of the workforce with a superior educational experience and without incurring high levels of student debt.
  • Continue our partnership with the community by providing individuals with a deeper understanding and comfort level with personal finances.
  • Provide a path for career opportunities in high-quality, middle and upper-middle class jobs in the banking and finance industry.

Although one of the goals of the program is to encourage and assist with employment in the banking industry, students who decide not to pursue this path will still receive the benefits of a personal finance education that greatly exceeds the typical high school curriculum, both in scope and quality. Satisfactory completion of this course will earn the recipient the FinLit Alpha Certification from Virginia National Bank, which distinguishes the student as having mastered advanced topics in personal finance and exceeded the requirements of a typical financial literacy program.


 

Why We're Different:

We are not only providing a superior education, but also creating a path to employment.

Students are trained not only in concepts of finance, but in critical thinking and problem-solving techniques required to solve the open-ended challenges that occur in the real world.

Topics are studied from the institutional perspective as well as that of the consumer.

Employment strategies and professionalism training are embedded in the course curriculum

The course instructors are experienced educators and finance industry experts.

Enrollment is absolutely free.

 

About FCLA’s Director of Education

John Acchione joined Virginia National Bank in 2018 as the Director of Education for the Finance Career and Leadership Academy (FCLA). John has built the program’s unique, forward-thinking curriculum from the ground up by drawing on his thirteen years’ experience teaching calculus, statistics, and personal finance. John also spent six of those years serving as math department chairperson and co-authored a new statistics and financial literacy course. After an initial career in high net worth portfolio management and as a professional equity and options trader, John decided to pursue his passion for education, and now joins the VNB team in an endeavor to utilize his unique skill set and provide an exceptional product to our community. John has an undergraduate degree in Finance from West Chester University and a master’s degree in Mathematics Education from Widener University.