CUNA Operations & Member Experience and Technology Council’s 2022 award winners named
MADISON, Wis., and WASHINGTON – CUNA Operations & Member Experience Council and Technology Council recognized its best and brightest via their awards presented at the recent CUNA Operations & Member Experience and Technology Councils Conference, September 21-24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The winners and their accomplishments will be featured in an upcoming issue of Credit Union Magazine. The award presentations will be available to view here: O&ME and Technology.
“We’d like to congratulate this year’s outstanding award winners for their inspiring achievements,” said Carey Price, chair, O&ME awards & recognition committee, and SVP Digital Strategy and Delivery, BCU. “Thank you to all the credit union professionals who nominated their peers. After the challenges of the pandemic, it was truly rewarding for everyone to be in person and recognize all of the great work together.”
The Excellence in Technology Awards recognize credit union technology professionals who have shown outstanding commitment and innovation in their field. This year’s winners include:
- Best in Show: Unitus Community CU, Rivermark Community CU and Advantis CU in Oregon for their “Development of an Innovative Identity Authentication Solution” entry in the Innovation category
- BCU in Vernon Hills, IL for their “BCU Microservice Architecture Journey” entry in the Technology Infrastructure category
- Clark County CU in Las Vegas, NV for their “Microsoft Power BI – Data Warehouse” entry in the Technology Infrastructure category
- Energy One FCU in Tulsa, OK for their “Increasing Cyber Security Posture, Implementing
- Best Practices, and Upgrading Infrastructure While Providing Value” entry in the Information Security/Privacy category
- PSECU in Harrisburg, PA for their “Predicting Loan Application Fraud” entry in the Miscellaneous category
- Wings Financial CU in Apple Valley, MN for their “How Wings Financial is Leveraging Nuance Technology to Create Safe and Superior Financial Services” entry in the Innovation category
The Excellence in Operations & Member Experience Awards are likewise awarded to professionals who have facilitated unique, innovative or otherwise outstanding approaches to member service at their credit unions. This year’s winners include:
- Best in Show: BCU in Vernon Hills, IL for their “Excellence in Real Time Payments and Account Protection” entry in the Digital category
- BCU in Vernon Hills, IL for their “Online Banking Redesign of Electronic Document Settings” entry in the Digital category
- First Alliance CU in Stewartville, MN for their “High Tech – High Touch Member Experience” entry in the Branch Design category
- Point Breeze CU in Hunt Valley, MD for their “Happy Employees Make Happy Members Onboarding Video” entry in the Miscellaneous category
- West Community CU in O’Fallon, MO for their “West Community Sees Increase in Member Engagement with Plinqit Savings App” entry in the Sales and Service Management category
- Visions FCU in Endicott, NY for their “Visions Wows Members with Big Data and AI” entry in the Digital category
The Professional of the Year Award for both the CUNA Operations & Member Experience Council and the CUNA Technology Council recognizes the individuals who exemplify excellence in all aspects of operations and member experience and information technology. This year’s winners:
- 2022 Operations & Member Experience Professional of the Year: Julie B. Linch, SVP Retail Delivery, Directions CU, Toledo, OH
- 2022 Technology Professional of the Year: Cynthia A. Schroeder, SVP Digital Assets, Visions FCU, Endicott, NY
The Rising Star Award for both the CUNA Operations & Member Experience Council and the CUNA Technology Council recognizes up-and-coming talent in the ranks of credit union operations and member experience and information technology leadership. This year’s winners:
- 2022 Operations & Member Experience Rising Star: Elisabeth Lindsey, Director of Member Experience, Service One CU, Bowling Green, KY
- 2022 Technology Rising Star: Chris Boyle, Service Desk Manager, Michigan State University FCU, East Lansing, MI
The Top Community Contributor Awards recognize the value and expertise shared with peers through collaboration within the CUNA Councils Community. This year’s winners include:
- 2022 Operations & Member Experience Top Community Contributor Award winner: Joe Corna, Branch Manager, Honda FCU, Marysville, OH
- 2022 Technology Top Community Contributor Award winner: Nick Horak, Vice President of IT, Energy One FCU, Tulsa, OK
Finally, the 2022 Speed Rounds provided quick pitch style demonstrations of innovative technology solutions to conference attendees.
This year’s winners are:
Speed Rounds – Best in Show Winner
Our 2022 recipient of the Speed Rounds Best in Show is DoubleCheck Solutions. Joel Schwartz, Founder & Co-CEO demonstrated the DoubleCheck Platform. DoubleCheck is exactly the right product at the right time. It provides a new and innovative solution to overdraft and NSF programs, an issue that has a huge spotlight shining down on it from Washington DC. Many credit unions don’t have the tools necessary to provide the consumer protection that is needed, and they also rely on the revenue that comes from these transactions. DoubleCheck uniquely solves for NSF/Overdraft issues, providing a solution with the most comprehensive consumer protection available for overdraft & NSF practices. DoubleCheck alerts members of overdraft and NSF transactions, providing a window of time for them to reprioritize pay/return decisions and offers new payment options including cash, available balance, credit cards, third-party payment services, microloans, and more. Members get the protection they deserve, and that the CFPB is demanding, while credit unions have the opportunity for new revenue opportunities and the audit trail they need to protect themselves from regulators, legislators and litigators. For more information, contact Stephanie Ivans at (213) 418-9454, ext. 1030 or stephanie.ivans@mydoublecheck.com.
People’s Choice Award Winner – Session 1
Our 2022 recipient of the People’s Choice Award for Speed Rounds – Session 1 is Nuance. Amy Travers, VP Security & Biometrics and Rachel Muench, Fraud & Biometric Specialist demonstrated Nuance Gatekeeper. Nuance Gatekeeper allows credit unions to replace passwords and security questions with frictionless, multimodal biometric authentication and intelligent fraud prevention. Gatekeeper, the number one ranked biometrics solution for authenticating customers and enabling fraud detection. For more information, contact Amy Travers at amy.travers@nuance.com.
People’s Choice Award Winner – Session 2
Our 2022 recipient of the People’s Choice Award for Speed Rounds – Session 2 is Eltropy. Tim Pranger, Vice President of Strategy demonstrated POPwelcome. Eltropy’s Member Visitor Panel enables credit unions to engage with members from a mobile browser using LiveObserve & Agent Proactive Reach Out, Secure Chat with escalation to Video, and to utilize collaborative tools to move a simple request to and complete transactions using Remote Online Notary while on Video. For more information, contact Anne Casanova at (650) 580-5535 or anne@eltropy.com.
About CUNA Councils:
CUNA Councils is a member-led, collaborative community of credit union leaders providing vibrant peer interaction, new ideas and innovation to foster professional development for our members while advocating for the overall success of the credit union movement. There are eight CUNA Councils with a network of more than 7,300 credit union professionals. For more information, visit cunacouncils.org.
About DoubleCheck Solutions:
DoubleCheck, built by bankers for banks and credit unions, notifies consumers and small businesses in real-time if they have non-sufficient funds in their account, allowing them to alter the financial institution’s decisions on what gets paid, using a range of payment methods. DoubleCheck embraces the mission of solving the most common banking problems of our times: outdated overdraft practices that place an unnecessary burden on consumers, small businesses, and financial institutions. www.mydoublecheck.com
CONTACT:
Deshundra Jefferson
CUNA Communications
(202) 809-4081
