BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Credit union data processor USERS, a Fiserv subsidiary, has had a change at the top. Joe Barry has left the CEO position to become president of the Fiserv Credit Union Eastern Region, responsible for Fiserv's USERS, Aftech and Galaxy credit union data processing subsidiaries. Fiserv has a similar regional oversight approach with Western DP subsidiaries. Roger Kuhns, former CUSA Technologies president, oversees XP Systems, Summit and CUSA Technologies. Barry has been with USERS for 25 years, and has been president since June of 2000. He is a bit of a rarity in that he started out on the marketing side of the business, and was able to make the leap to upper management. USERS Chief Technology Officer John Schooler succeeds Barry. Schooler joined USERS in 1987 as VP of Development. He has 25 years of experience in the credit union industry. "It was a nice Christmas present. I'm very sort of humbled and proud to be given the opportunity and very cognizant that a company isn't one person. It's made up of all the folks that work here," said Schooler. Schooler, who has seen a lot in all his years of CUs and data processing, said this is the most unique period he's been through. "Credit unions are facing challenges I haven't seen in my 25 years – privacy, security, post 9/11. They're struggling with some economy issues. The emphasis is much more on efficiency and generating non-interest income where a few years ago it was about whiz bang technology," said Schooler. Schooler said these days DP companies have to be much more in tune with a CU's business needs. "We've really embarked on a cultural revolution to expand into a relationship manager as opposed to a vendor that sells software. We've expanded conversation with customers to understand their needs better." Non-interest income is on the minds of most CUs these days. USERS rolled out overdraft protection functionality to help in that area. One major product set USERS is working on is a consolidated commercial offering. It is collaborating with Fiserv ITI to roll out its commercial products. As for challenges, Schooler said, probably the biggest is getting all CUs disparate systems to work together and avoid errors and duplication. "That's an area credit unions are screaming out for help in. How to handle all these different systems in a manner that doesn't bring their system to a halt," he said. Schooler's credit union DP career started with another Fiserv subsidiary, Summit, back in 1978, where he headed up a conversions and implementation team. He then moved on to become VP of IT with First Financial CU in West Covina, Calif. Next, he worked as a tech consultant for 11 years in San Francisco before joining USERS. USERS has 300 employees and approximately 370 CU clients. "I'm very lucky to inherit a strong management team with a great client base. All the right elements are there to continue the growth path," said Schooler. [email protected]