George Engelke moved to Garden City in 1991 with his wife, Sandra Jaenichen Engelke -- of Jaenichen Realty, Inc. on Seventh St. in Garden City -- and as an avid golfer is a member of the Cherry Valley Club in the Village. He has two grown children, daughters Courtnay Engelke and Jennifer Engelke Skyrm. His career began in public accounting and he is now president, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Astoria Financial Corporation and its subsidiary, Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association. At the Garden City Chamber of Commerce's 1999 Kickoff Luncheon on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at noon in the Garden City Hotel, Engelke, who calls himself an "inveterate crammer" and jokes that he has not completed his speech yet, will address issues of technology, banking, consolidation of banking, and the changing world of finance in his talk before the Chamber.

Engelke commented that when he arrived at Astoria they were a $350 million operation, and are now at over $20 billion. He says he's "seen a little bit of happy change" there. Other changes he's been involved in include the growing trend of bank consolidation. Astoria itself has acquired Fidelity New York, the Greater New York Savings Bank, and Long Island Savings Bank recently. The Long Island Savings Bank offices at 1000 Franklin Avenue in Garden City will be vacated temporarily and all employees will move to Astoria's offices while the LISB offices are refurbished, and then when the work is completed everyone will move over to 1000 Franklin Avenue, according to Engelke. Bank consdolidation is a major new direction in the financial world, according to Engelke.

Another issue which keeps coming up not only in the banking world, but in every major industry, as the media has repeatedly reported in the last year, is the Y2K computer bug. Engleke shared his theories on the Y2K problem with Garden City Life. "My concern is more about the terrible reaction -- the overalarmist reaction -- people see so much media hype. Y2K is something nobody knows too much about -- it's like the bomb shelters people used to build in their basements or back yards during the Cold War, but even then bombs are a real threat, now people are stock piling supplies and talking about bomb shelters again, but the problem here is the general public doesn't know enough about Y2K and they're reacting so strongly because of the hype. It's fear of the unknown," Engleke said. He joked, "It'll be great for the manufacturers of canned tuna fish."

"Banks have been working on this problem for years to properly address the issue. With the media starting to work on people's irrational beliefs about this with their sensationalism as the only thing that's fit to print, the situation could become a little trying, but not because of the computer bug itself, but people's reactions," he explained. He added, "I am confident as far as Astoria Federal is concerned that we will be fine. The problem is well known, and business has been working on it since 1995 at least to make the necessary corrections. The real problem is that because we have these alarmists and the media has the ability to do whatever it wants, they can scare everyone into thinking that they need to take their money out and hide it under their mattresses. If everybody decided to take out $1,000 on Dec. 31 of this year -- do you know how much money that would mean the banks would have to hand out on one day? That kind of rush on the banks would be the real problem -- and for what? -- so they can come back on Jan. 2, 2000 and put it all back? Again, my biggest concern is not Y2K, it's the irrational reaction to it."

He concluded his discussion of Y2K saying, "People think it either has to be 75 degrees and perfectly sunny or hell is freezing over. Reality is that there's a lot of middle ground there. Everything will be fine if people don't become alarmists."

Y2K has been the focus of tremendous attention with countless books emerging from authors ranging from computer experts to Praise the Lord Church ministers advising people to stockpile supplies and find a nice retreat in the mountains to hide. So called Y2K experts have advised the American people to convert all of their money to gold and toilet paper to keep them afloat in the dark times to follow the dawn of the milennium, which technically speaking doesn't begin until 2001, and according to some historians actually began three years ago, but because of a series of mathematical errors, we now think we're in 1999. The actual computer problem stems from the simple fact that computers work on the last two digits of the year instead of all four numbers, so when the calendars in the computers turn to 2000, they may interpret this as 1900 and then crash. Industry has been working to make all computers operating such things as bank records, airlines, utilities, etc. Y2K compliant, and most in the business argue that the problem will not be nearly as big as many sensationalists and book promoters would have anyone believe.

Engelke says that while he will address Y2K, he will likely focus more on the growing trends in consolidation in an increasingly globalized financial world and the importance of readying oneself for all the changes to come in the banking world.

Engelke is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Preservation Corporation, the Advisory Board of Directors of Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Inc., the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Thrift Institutions Advisory Panel, the Board of Directors and Executive/Finance Committee of the Community Bankers Association of New York State, the Governmental Affairs Steering Committee, and the Governmental Affairs Council of America's Community Bankers. He graduated from Lehigh University with a bachelor's of science in business administration. As a certified public accountant he joined Astoria in 1971, becoming vice president and treasurer. He oversaw a number of things, including Astoria's investment securities portfolio. He became executive vice president in 1974, a member of the Board of Directors in 1983, chief operating officer in 1986, president and chief executive officer in 1989, and then received the additional title of chairman of the board in 1997.

Also at the Chamber luncheon, Doug Davidson, representing the Coalition on Child Abuse and Neglect, will present the 60 second commercial and Village Adminstrator Bob Schoelle will provide an update on the Village's business. There will be a raffle prize presented by Waterzooi. Reservations for the luncheon can be made by calling the Chamber of Commerce at 746-7724 by Monday, Jan. 25 at noon. Checks for $35 per person can be made payable to the Garden City Chamber of Commerce and may be mailed to 230 Seventh Street, Garden City.